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Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#51

Post by hardcandy »

goldenkey wrote: post #14

This is a fucking joke guys. Programming is not the career job that will get you those kind of figures, if it does it sure as fuck will be more of a management position. Look guys, salaried work will never make you 'rich.' Believing it will is the same belief that a startup will succeed. You need to get out of the salary game and work for yourself or do consultantcy if you want big bucks

I don't know what you define as rich but if you can pull down $300k/year, keep your cost of living low, and save in a disciplined way, you will definitely retire with many millions of dollars in the bank. You will get rich slow, rather than get rich quick, which may be what you (and most other people) mean by 'getting rich'.

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#52

Post by hardcandy »

eranation wrote: post #7

I have a friend who is a cloud architect at a big-4, he is making a little more than $300k in total comp in NY (base is lower, a lot of RSUs etc), but he is more than just an engineer. He has a friend at another big-4 in NY, also a cloud architect, he is making $400k I think that the $1 million package is incorrectly calculated. This is perhaps the total package for 2-3 years, including signing bonus (vested over a c…

I know of 3 SD4/principal engineers at Amazon who are making $1m/year. I believe there are only about 150-200 engineers at this level in the entire company, so it's obviously a hard position to get. Anyone with experience building out cloud infrastructure has been a hot commodity given all of the companies that are entering the market. Remember that you don't just get a great engineer but you also get the years of experience that person has gained actually building out what you yourself want them to build out for you. Some other company paid for all of the mistakes, learnings, etc. No trade secrets or confidential information but just a ton of valuable experience that the new employer benefits from day 1.

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#53

Post by fosco »

SecConsult wrote: post #33
fosco wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are you working for yourself or another company is compensating that?

I have long term contract with two companies, for one of them I do application security review, I analyze source codes and point out vulnerabilities. For the second one, I do penetration testing, forensics, malware analysis, and... One is paying 230k the other one is paying 190k. I have other contacts and other offers too, but these two jobs are taking all my time. I can switch and work with a new client anytime.

thanks for sharing -- I work in network security but I have not had opportunities to work direct with applications and forensics. clearly have some research to do and how to get in.

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#54

Post by pyb »

patio11 wrote: post #43
goldenkey wrote: post #14

This is a fucking joke guys. Programming is not the career job that will get you those kind of figures, if it does it sure as fuck will be more of a management position. Look guys, salaried work will never make you 'rich.' Believing it will is the same belief that a startup will succeed. You need to get out of the salary game and work for yourself or do consultantcy if you want big bucks

There are many people on HN who agree with you on this. It has a certain appeal to it; I know folks whose sense of justice is offended that some programmers make $30k while other programmers make $300k, even programmers living in the same city. There exist tens of thousands of engineers at AppAmaGooBookSoft who have pay packages which top $300k. There exist thousands whose pay package approaches $1 million. These are…

If AppAmaGooBookSoft are happy to spend that much on talent, why don't they let it be known, rather than complain about a talent shortage ?

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#55

Post by saryant »

goldenkey wrote: post #22
SecConsult wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People might not like your comment and have different opinions, but as person who did exactly what you said and now making around 420k/yr for cyber security consulting, I have to say, you are 100% right.

I am already getting downvoted for putting the truth out there. These fools like the idea that their web development job can turn into a 300k a year salaried job but its a pipedream. I am not saying those jobs don't exist. But they usually are anomalies or due to other things like a PhD.

You're being downvoted because it isn't true. I have seen Staff SWE offers for >$300k with my own eyes—and not just in SF/NY.

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#56

Post by fosco »

pliftkl wrote: post #35
fosco wrote: post #27

can someone find a job posting with this type of pay scale? I am curious what skills I should develop. at this point I do not believe this unless you are the lead architect. for exaple this job posting I cannot see payin more than $165,000 in dc/ny/bay areas... but maybe my previous exposure to the big four has been limited... was anyone able to find a job posting that pays this much?

That payscale isn't for "posted" jobs. That payscale is for "poached" jobs (no negativity implied by "poached", I just don't have a better phrase). When companies need someone who is going to cost them $500k a year, they already know who that person is.

does this mean there is an old boys club of cloud engineers that are being passed around between big companies?

how else could you get an a position to be poached?

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#57

Post by patio11 »

pyb wrote: post #54
patio11 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many people on HN who agree with you on this. It has a certain appeal to it; I know folks whose sense of justice is offended that some programmers make $30k while other programmers make $300k, even programmers living in the same city. There exist tens of thousands of engineers at AppAmaGooBookSoft who have pay packages which top $300k. There exist thousands whose pay package approaches $1 million. These are…

If AppAmaGooBookSoft are happy to spend that much on talent, why don't they let it be known, rather than complain about a talent shortage ?

AppAmaGooBookSoft want few things more in life than for their engineers to remain really, really smart at developing distributed databases and really, really stupid at salary negotiation. They want to avoid further repricing of their entire engineering workforces at once, as that costs (literally) billions of dollars. They take substantial measures to avoid this, including (in recent memory) at least two of those companies illegally colluding against their employees to avoid those employees learning accurate facts about market clearing prices for their labor.

This also helps develop cultural norms like e.g. "We're here to organize the world's information. It is Ungoogley to collect a spreadsheet about Googler salaries. That information should never be organized... by you, that is."

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#58

Post by e12e »

imjk wrote: post #19
krschultz wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick question, who are the "Big-4"? I count Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft at a minimum.

I assumed he was talking about accounting firms: PWC, EY, Deloitte, & KPMG.

Me too - and that was the first hit on wikipedia as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_%28audit_firms%29

However, if we look at the disambiguation, we find at the bottom of the subsection:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four#Companies

"Big Four, the most influential international technology companies Amazon.com, Apple Inc, Facebook and Google".

So I'd say it's pretty ambiguous.

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#59

Post by jorgecurio »

goldenkey wrote: post #14

This is a fucking joke guys. Programming is not the career job that will get you those kind of figures, if it does it sure as fuck will be more of a management position. Look guys, salaried work will never make you 'rich.' Believing it will is the same belief that a startup will succeed. You need to get out of the salary game and work for yourself or do consultantcy if you want big bucks

^ this.

or underwrite really expensive off-line options contract on paper that entitles investors to an equity that they can buy back at huge discounts, I'm talking 99.99% discount to acquire ridiculous amount of shares that will be worth a ton when they IPO or get bought someone else who thinks the equity is worth more in the future.

Re: Ask HN: Who's making $300k to $1m as a cloud engineer?

#60

Post by pyb »

patio11 wrote: post #57
pyb wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If AppAmaGooBookSoft are happy to spend that much on talent, why don't they let it be known, rather than complain about a talent shortage ?

AppAmaGooBookSoft want few things more in life than for their engineers to remain really, really smart at developing distributed databases and really, really stupid at salary negotiation. They want to avoid further repricing of their entire engineering workforces at once, as that costs (literally) billions of dollars. They take substantial measures to avoid this, including (in recent memory) at least two of those com…

Mmmm... it's not clear how salary inversion would build up, when I assume every single Mountain View Googler gets multiple job opportunities a week in their inbox, presumably with salary ranges. Having said this, I'm looking at this from a distance, so who knows.
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