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Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#51

Post by FireBeyond »

oblio wrote: post #33

I have the opposite question for people here: what drives you to more money? A very expensive house costs a few million dollars, which you should afford quite easily, especially if you have a partner making a decent amount of money. Children and their education cost quite a bit in the US, but even that shouldn't cost a lot. A few expensive holidays per year plus retirement money should be easily doable. So, basically…

"A few million"... say $3M?

So a down payment would likely be $300K-$600K.

Let's say $400K income.

NerdWallet says that even at $600K down with under $2K of monthly obligations, you're still "stretching" to get to $2.25M, so "afford quite easily" seems a bit questionable.

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#52

Post by Tiktaalik »

samsonradu wrote: post #28
hackerboos wrote: post #13

I'm at $95k Canadian. These threads make me feel bad.

Makes me feel bad also, until I think of the living costs in US big cities. I would really like to see an European version of this thread. Probably the bar would be set somewhere around EUR 100k?

The living costs of some Canadian cities are also very high. Both Vancouver and Toronto are currently experiencing a housing bubble that has made housing extremely expensive. At this point a software engineer in Vancouver is certainly priced out of being able to own a detached home. It is unlikely a duplex or townhouse would be affordable either.

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#53

Post by throw20170226 »

Around 400, depending on the yearly bonus. Programmer at one of the big tech companies, 10 years. As best I can tell I got here mostly by doing my best to solve whichever problems were most important for my team. I feel pretty lucky. I never worried much about compensation and have never negotiated or asked for raises nor have I been forced into management. I think there are others who have done exactly what I have done and haven't been rewarded as much.

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#54

Post by derFunk »

Side question: What is the current average rent per apartment in SF/SV? What's the current average income? This report from 04/2016 states around $118k/year for income, probably base, and $4,5k rent: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-05/san-franc... - What do you think - still up to date and realistic?

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#56

Post by bsvalley »

throwawaysv wrote: post #46

Staff level at Google/Facebook/LinkedIn will give you ~200k base + stock + bonus without being 'specialized' like others claim here. E.g. for me at Staff level it's 200k base (>400k total with stock and bonus for last year) with ~5 years working as a Software Engineer. As a Senior at these companies you'll likely max out at 180-190k base but with stock + bonus you easily break 300k after your stocks starts vesting. T…

Of course, google has the highest salaries. If you're a staff at Google I'd expect $200k base. Same if you work in finance. Though, in most of the case you won't make $200k/y base salary with 10 years of exp in "java" or anything related to java technologies. Except if you're at the big 5 + financial/stock market related companies in NYC.

There are way too many people doing Java... It's easy to find and most of the contractors do java.

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#57

Post by throwaway-vamoo »

Bay area, early 30s, making $200k base at non-public ~200 person company. I was an early engineer at the company and have done significant work that has directly contributed to the success of the company.

Get good at what you do. Try to maximize the direct impact your work has to the company's bottom line. You are more likely to be compensated well when you are working on a core product.

Once you have demonstrated your value you can ask for more (don't be afraid to ask if you think you deserve it).

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#58

Post by throwaway-vamoo »

derFunk wrote: post #54

Side question: What is the current average rent per apartment in SF/SV? What's the current average income? This report from 04/2016 states around $118k/year for income, probably base, and $4,5k rent: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-05/san-franc... - What do you think - still up to date and realistic?

SF: my 1br+parking is $2500 a month in the mission.

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#59

Post by toephu2 »

13of40 wrote: post #41

I've made a little over 200K for the past few years, but my problem is how to keep it and build wealth from it. I store a fair amount in home equity, 401k, etc. but any time I've tried anything in the stock market I've lost my ass. But to answer your question, I will echo a lot of people and say "specialize". My brother made a lot of money in the 00's by becoming the last expert of an obscure database product used by…

Give up trying to beat the market, just call it a day and invest in a S&P 500 index fund. Hedge funds and money managers that get paid $1m+/year can't even beat the S&P 500 in the long run (20+ years). The only one that has beat the S&P year in and year out is Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, but even now he admits his conglomerate is so big it will be tough to do that in the future and he also recommends a low cost S&P 500 index fund instead.

Re: Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

#60

Post by mvp »

samsonradu wrote: post #28
hackerboos wrote: post #13

I'm at $95k Canadian. These threads make me feel bad.

Makes me feel bad also, until I think of the living costs in US big cities. I would really like to see an European version of this thread. Probably the bar would be set somewhere around EUR 100k?

About £500/day is fairly common in London for contractors.
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