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Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

#71

Post by austinjp »

zump wrote: post #61
karyon wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Making a lot of money is considered the primary goal in our capitalist society It might be the goal of people lacking empathy and people who think happiness comes with money, which is true only up to an amount far below 1M. Unless, again, the money is meant to be given to others. I am not sure what you mean by considering my argument a non-sequitur, could you elaborate? > the sheer mechanics of our economy would gu…

> I am not sure what you mean by considering my argument a non-sequitur, could you elaborate? It shouldn't matter what I do with the money. I don't even have it. The larger point I disagree with is that it's a losing battle to somehow tune their career to fix all the ills of the world, it's better to make as much money as possible to hope that our economy will efficiently distribute the resources for the greater good…

> it's better to make as much money as possible to hope that our economy will efficiently distribute the resources for the greater good.

This is inaccurate on several levels.

Trickle-down capitalism does not work well. Current mechanisms ensure that an increasingly elite few own the vast majority of resources and means of controlling those resources.

Making a ton of cash personally does not equate with distributing wealth. Taxes and the tax system are poorly organised for this purpose.

If you are serious that you want to work hard in in order to benefit society then perhaps consider health care, politics, farming, irrigation, renewable energy, or even space travel. You can be an engineer in these fields. Don't kid yourself that simply by becoming rich personally that you are a benefit to larger society. The evidence indicates quite the opposite.

Re: Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

#73

Post by kamaal »

patio11 wrote: post #4

Most of the more straightforward answers to this question end up with you making the majority of that million from your entrepreneurial skills rather than software development skills. (For example, "Found a software development consultancy and grow it to 8~12 employees.") In terms of straight up W-2ing without taking entrepreneurial levels of risk, I think you're looking at either finance or (restricting 25% to ~10%)…

>>There are probably more interesting goals if you consider your values carefully.

Would be interested in learning more about this.

Re: Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

#74

Post by _dax »

The world isn't so simple that pay scales with skill. There's definitely a base level of proficiency that you need but it's not so high. It's more about making the decisions, choosing industries where this is possible, and managing to stay interested.

I know a few people between ages 40-50 that make this much working at a hedge fund as pure engineers. None of them are incredible, to be honest I could do their job and I'm half their age. They've just put in their time there, didn't get distracted by more interesting opportunities, and don't mind a typical office job with no perks.

Re: Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

#75

Post by lj3 »

zump wrote: post #60
risingintonatio wrote: post #54

I've become more and more convinced that $1M+ per year is not realistic as an engineer. There are compensation spreadsheets floating around and I've been privy to Facebook's and Google's. Assuming the numbers there are accurate (and anecdotally they are), even the "top 5%" engineers getting discretionary equity and bonus don't make more than $600k. Meanwhile, executives easily make twice that in yearly cash bonuses.…

Great answer. I have noticed that because of the extreme focus on technology, our community is tuned to finding ways of becoming a better engineer, but not how to climb the corporate ladder the old-fashioned way.

For all the other flaws the SV startup game has, it's probably the only place you can realistically become a CTO or CEO in your mid-20's.

Re: Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

#78

Post by RestlessMind »

gigatexal wrote: post #8

Doesn't anyone else think this post is full of arrogance? Sure you don't have to be the best programmer in the world to earn millions but this just screams "I want to be mediocre and make much, much more than others." But yes, the quickest way to millions is starting a company as others have said.

If you shoot for 1M+, you may gather enough good advice and land up around 500-600K. Not a bad outcome I'd say.

Re: Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

#79

Post by jdoliner »

vostok wrote: post #70
jdoliner wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP isn't quite asking that imo. If you want to add enough value to justify that salary there's an obvious answer: get better at your job. I.e. don't be in the top 25% of programmers, be in the top 1% or .1%. If OP was asking how do I get good enough at programming to justify this high of a salary then that would be a fair question. If you're asking how do I get more money without getting better at my core competency…

I guess I'm just not convinced that going from a 25% programmer to a top 0.1% programmer is an efficient way of making $1 million per year. I think you are far better off working on your social and business skills. Maybe that's "beating the system", but an incredible amount of money has been made by people whose technical abilities did not go beyond mediocre PHP skills.

Were those people who made incredible amounts of money without technical abilities beyond mediocre PHP skills making their money as salaried software engineers? OP specifically asked about making a $1MM/year while still working as a programmer without social skills.

Re: Ask HN: How to make more than $1mn+/yr as a software engineer?

#80

Post by lutusp »

risingintonatio wrote: post #59
lutusp wrote: post #39

> How can I make pull in $1mn+ as an engineer? > I don't want to have to be in the top 1% like Jeff Dean, but top 25% and still get these results. That's a contradiction in terms. If you made a million dollars, that outcome would place you in the top 1% among software engineers. If the Efficient Market Hypothesis is valid and in operation in the software marketplace, then to make a million dollars, you will have to e…

If the Efficient Market Hypothesis is valid ... More like Efficient Market Fallacy. Information asymmetry, propagation delay, and feed back loops in the dynamical system that is the economy almost surely forbids for such a grand Hypothesis. But people without social skills end up working for people who do have social skills. The latter collect the money, the former do the work. Amen.

>> If the Efficient Market Hypothesis is valid

> ... More like Efficient Market Fallacy.

Yes, maybe. We'll probably never know, since it can't be science. The EMH is one of those things that stands as an icon, a principle, a discussion point, that may or may not have any bearing on the world, but that we often use as a ruler to compare against reality -- like truth and beauty.

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