Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

stackoverflow.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 172 posts

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#61

Post by timClicks »

rb808 wrote: post #56

The Salary chart is interesting, both because of how US developers earn more than other Western countries, but mainly how a median developer with 20 years experience earns 60% more than a first job developer. I wonder how many other professions have that low a rate of pay increase - or maybe its just grads are overpaid, not sure.

I certainly haven't reached 20 years of developer experience, but I wonder if many (most?) individuals with that level of experience will move up the hierarchy rather than staying focused on software. Those managerial or client-oriented/sales/"solutions architect" roles pay more.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#62

Post by crispyambulance »

Bahamut wrote: post #43
bradlys wrote: post #28

Seems inaccurate for SF. It was saying that half of devs were making less than $90k for 3 years of experience. I find that hard to believe. Yes, maybe that's the listings but I think it's insane to think you get paid that when almost every company here past seed stage will pay $100k+ for any new dev.

Maybe inaccurate for the Bay Area in general. It said $146k or so was 75th percentile in the South Bay for 5 years of experience, but I am at the second to lowest level of software engineer at my company (which is one of the biggest tech employers in the area) and my base is $160k.

I think it's "accurate enough".

How much closer can you expect? The purpose of these calculators is to let folks know whether or not they're in the "right ballpark" when considering salary for job offers. $14K less than your salary is still very much the right ballpark for your job.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#63

Post by bostik »

joezydeco wrote: post #38
runT1ME wrote: post #33

Why does SO seem to completely omit "backend engineers". I don't work on web stuff, I write network applications/cloud services. There are a lot of folks similar doing that at amazom, google, etc. Does this seem like a huge oversight to anyone else?

No embedded engineers. No graphics work. No UI work. No keywords for things like "microcontroller", or "driver", or "Linux".

And no security engineers either.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#64

Post by afpx »

rb808 wrote: post #56

The Salary chart is interesting, both because of how US developers earn more than other Western countries, but mainly how a median developer with 20 years experience earns 60% more than a first job developer. I wonder how many other professions have that low a rate of pay increase - or maybe its just grads are overpaid, not sure.

Yeah, the numbers are weird. I'm in SF, full-stack, with 20+ years of experience (and leading several successful exits), but I can't seem to get a job making as much as a mid-career developer (according to that calculator).

To be fair though, I don't have time or patience for long interview processes. But, on the other hand, a lot of times I get rejected just after the phone screen (with no feedback, of course).

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#67

Post by rokhinip »

runT1ME wrote: post #33

Why does SO seem to completely omit "backend engineers". I don't work on web stuff, I write network applications/cloud services. There are a lot of folks similar doing that at amazom, google, etc. Does this seem like a huge oversight to anyone else?

Oh definitely. I am a performance and runtime engineer (low level systems) and I fit in nowhere.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#68

Post by KirinDave »

dmoy wrote: post #60
KirinDave wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but I think this is much better for not including funny money from startups that give private equity grants, at least I in the lower bands of the range. I know people for whom half their pay is equity and they can't even afford to take the options. And for many places I've been, the stock was never sellable outside of shady private stock trading groups that your board may or may not let you sell to.

I agree that you probably shouldn't include stock that can't be sold. There's gotta be a middle ground though, because if you're at a big established tech company with a senior-ish role, your comp is like nearing or exceeding 50% bonus&stock, which you can liquidate on the spot and turn into actual cash. So if you take someone whose base salary is 180k at whatever big tech, you're missing the part where they actually…

It's only cash if the company find a way to make it real, though.

I certainly never made 150kyr,in stock. How would you even exercise that and then handle the taxes? I guess if you have a retention salary?

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#69

Post by YesThatTom2 »

lbotos wrote: post #42
EnderMB wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the UK, but I've always thought of moving to NYC one day (despite the man in government at the mo). Is it really only a 30 minute commute into Manhattan?! I live in Bristol, and at times I've had an hour commute by bus. I always assumed that Americans spent longer on commute in the larger cities.

Currently in Brooklyn, NY, it's 30 min to lower manhattan on this side. On the NJ side, it's probably about the same from Hoboken/Jersey City.

NJ can be 30-120 minutes depending on many factors.

From my house in NJ to the office is 90 minutes including a 15 minute walk to the train station. Last Monday there was a delay on the NJ train and the subway so it was 2 hours door-to-door.

That's why I work remotely 2-3 days a week.

PS. I work at stackoverflow.com

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#70

Post by PeterFBell »

lbotos wrote: post #42
EnderMB wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the UK, but I've always thought of moving to NYC one day (despite the man in government at the mo). Is it really only a 30 minute commute into Manhattan?! I live in Bristol, and at times I've had an hour commute by bus. I always assumed that Americans spent longer on commute in the larger cities.

Currently in Brooklyn, NY, it's 30 min to lower manhattan on this side. On the NJ side, it's probably about the same from Hoboken/Jersey City.

But Brooklyn hardly avoids the additional costs of NYC. That said, if you find a 4 bedroom on 1/4 acre of land somewhere near a subway for under $300k, let me know and I'll move back :)
Post reply on HN