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How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

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Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#21

Post by axus »

EpicEng wrote: post #4
goodoldboys wrote: post #2

In my experience, just do the following: Be generally likable Write decent to good code Connect on a regular basis with current and former co-workers Be aggressive about finding new opportunities (usually through people you've worked with) I agree with most of the points the author makes here, but I don't think you need to stay 2 years at a particular job - 1 is usually sufficient to avoid the negative resume effects…

>1 is usually sufficient to avoid the negative resume effects A string of one year stints would be a huge red flag to me. I would have a hard time selling this person up as we don't hire FTE's to come and go in a span of 12 months. Too much churn kills you, I'd likely pass unless circumstances where extraordinary.

It's better for the job hopper (and you) if you pass on him, and he's hired by companies that aren't bothered by him leaving after a year. According to the post, there are plenty of opportunities like that. It sounds like consulting to me, though.

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#22

Post by phd514 »

fridek wrote: post #15

In my experience this approach doesn't really scale any higher than junior to senior steps. I was repeatedly told "we just don't hire on levels higher than X". I guess once you reach the famous rockstar level this again becomes a thing, but probably the best bet at moving from 150k to 500k jobs is to stick in one place for ten or so years.

Apart from working at one of the big tech companies (Google, Amazon, MS, Facebook, etc), I can't see staying in one place for ten years as a good way to move from 150k to 500k. In most of the companies I've worked (outside of the big tech companies), going from 150k to 200k in 10 years would have been above average.

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#23

Post by patrickbeeson »

EGreg wrote: post #3

Can someone fill me in, do most jurisdictions allow employers to report to each other how much you made in the previous job? Or is this considered protected data that employers cannot ask for? Which jurisdictions have which rules? Obviously if you don't have to disclose your previous salary you get an advantage. The same advantage as the employer has in not disclosing the salary they paid to the person you'll be repl…

According to this USA Today story, it depends on where you live (down to the city): https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/04/27/whats-your-s...

Personally, I've always been asked and it has definitely bitten me especially when moving from a region with a different cost-of-living.

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#24

Post by patrickbeeson »

dmoy wrote: post #19
corobo wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How realistic (better question - how likely) is it to set the start point at $100k? I think I was earning (the equivalent of) $8k/year in my first job hah

For the big tech employers, specifically as a software developer, a reasonable start point now is probably 140-150k. If that's the premise from GP.

This is highly dependent on where you live. Those figures are very high for the Portland, OR area for instance.

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#25

Post by [deleted] »

phd514 wrote: post #17
acconrad wrote: post #9

How realistic is this though? Imagine you come out of college and work for the Big 4 making $100k. Assuming you make 10% more (compounding) every 2 years, by 38-36 you would make over $200k, by 50 you are making close to $500k. You hit that much sooner if you change those numbers by 20%. At what point do those returns diminish and you're having to do something more creative than simply looking for a job every 2 years…

IMO, you see diminishing returns once you reach somewhere between ~125k (if you're in a low-demand area) and ~250k (if you're in a high-demand area such as the Bay Area). To get above that, you generally need to both switch jobs and be good at what you do.

[deleted]

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#26

Post by fridek »

phd514 wrote: post #22
fridek wrote: post #15

In my experience this approach doesn't really scale any higher than junior to senior steps. I was repeatedly told "we just don't hire on levels higher than X". I guess once you reach the famous rockstar level this again becomes a thing, but probably the best bet at moving from 150k to 500k jobs is to stick in one place for ten or so years.

Apart from working at one of the big tech companies (Google, Amazon, MS, Facebook, etc), I can't see staying in one place for ten years as a good way to move from 150k to 500k. In most of the companies I've worked (outside of the big tech companies), going from 150k to 200k in 10 years would have been above average.

Does moving through smaller companies in 1-2 year steps do better? They don't seem to have that many high paying positions (maybe anymore, or in my region).

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#27

Post by phd514 »

fridek wrote: post #26
phd514 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from working at one of the big tech companies (Google, Amazon, MS, Facebook, etc), I can't see staying in one place for ten years as a good way to move from 150k to 500k. In most of the companies I've worked (outside of the big tech companies), going from 150k to 200k in 10 years would have been above average.

Does moving through smaller companies in 1-2 year steps do better? They don't seem to have that many high paying positions (maybe anymore, or in my region).

In my experience, switching among smaller companies at ~2-year intervals does better up until you hit that area-specific level of diminishing returns. When I was a team lead, I wasn't involved in salary negotiations, but I had access to my team's salary data and they were all over the map based on what their previous salaries had been, not what their value to the company was. It was eye-opening.

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#28

Post by Walkman »

> One strategy to increase your salary 1.5X or even 2X across the next few years is to switch companies every two years.

I did exactly that and my salary is more than double in less then 4 years. I started working after 1 year of experience, I have 5 years now.

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#29

Post by EpicEng »

luckydude wrote: post #16
EpicEng wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, no idea. I'm not concerned with loyalty so much as I am with dealing with the fallout of churn. I've only ever worked at small companies on small teams, so a single engineer leaving tends to hurt. The company isn't loyal to them, so I expect an engineer to look out for their own self interest in the same way. That said, one year is a pretty short time, and if they're _only_ concerned with that next pay bump the…

What EpicEng said. When I went to Sun it was more than a year before I was really worth anything as a kernel engineer. Took that long for the kernel to "come into focus" for me and the feedback I got from peers and management was that I was fast (I did POSIX conformance in the kernel that first year). There is a huge difference between being able to fix bugs and being able to fix architecture problems. I needed at le…

Yup, and there are plenty of places which expect this sort of churn. Where I work (biotech) there is a _ton_ of time dedicated up front to transferring domain knowledge. It takes at least a year for new hires to really understand how the lab works, how the hardware and assays work (even if they're in a more typical IT role, they need to 'get' what the hell we're actually doing), what the data means, etc. If I think they're likely to leave shortly after that investment I just can't bring them on.

Re: How to 2X Your Salary as a Software Engineer

#30

Post by luckydude »

EpicEng wrote: post #29
luckydude wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What EpicEng said. When I went to Sun it was more than a year before I was really worth anything as a kernel engineer. Took that long for the kernel to "come into focus" for me and the feedback I got from peers and management was that I was fast (I did POSIX conformance in the kernel that first year). There is a huge difference between being able to fix bugs and being able to fix architecture problems. I needed at le…

Yup, and there are plenty of places which expect this sort of churn. Where I work (biotech) there is a _ton_ of time dedicated up front to transferring domain knowledge. It takes at least a year for new hires to really understand how the lab works, how the hardware and assays work (even if they're in a more typical IT role, they need to 'get' what the hell we're actually doing), what the data means, etc. If I think t…

Yep, that's my experience as well. I get that people want more money, I paid my people as much as I could (about $400K in the bay area, total comp) so there wasn't much churn.

But maybe the people jumping every year are doing more grunt stuff and the ramp up doesn't take as long? I dunno, I'm mostly retired and sort of a dinosaur.

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