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Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

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Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#111

Post by pavon »

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.

The results outside of major tech areas seem to be overly optimistic, as if it is using the overall US average for those. That makes sense given the label, but they really should be providing "US, Other" that excludes all the higher income areas that they have specific selections for.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#112

Post by personjerry »

catacombs wrote: post #108
EpicEng wrote: post #78

Apparently the only types of developers are front end, back end, 'full stack', mobile, desktop, and game. I don't fit any of those. And only three locations available in the US? How is this useful? I suppose this tool is awesome if you're a web or mobile dev in Seattle, SF, or NY.

>Apparently the only types of developers are front end, back end, 'full stack', mobile, desktop, and game. I don't fit any of those. Do you build houses then? ;)

Production, Site Reliability, Machine Learning and AI, Security, Network, as some other examples of software developers.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#113

Post by gleenn »

olympus wrote: post #101
pascalxus wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently, it's more profitable to pay developers nearly twice as much, than it is for a VC or CEO to take a airplane flight a few times a year.

Or it's theoretically worth twice as much to locate your company near the big tech companies. Can you really not entice people to move out to another city? Say Kansas City, which is quite pleasant. If they moved to K.C., a company could afford to pay devs the same salary as in San Fran, pay for devs to fly to a couple conferences each year, and give a bigger holiday bonus-- and they'd still come out ahead with the ta…

I think the problem is that most people don't get offered the same in cheaper areas, that money gets absorbed by the company. Even if you argue that the actual take-home is cheaper, people aren't as good at evaluating those things, and SF etc sound like more fun. I say this as a dev in SF. I frequently skim different locations in the US and abroad and SF usually is highest paying.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#114

Post by nnfy »

crispyambulance wrote: post #62
Bahamut wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's the point, I dont think, in my search example, a full stack developer with an MS and 5 years experience is going to be making ~90-127k 25th-75th percentile. Sounds like he'd be getting ripped off.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#116

Post by slavapestov »

alexandercrohde wrote: post #19

Meh, garbage. I always see these things that are significantly off, by like $60,000 or more. You're not asking the important questions that relate to earnings: - Were you born in America or has your employer held your pay down because you have a green card? - How many times have you changed jobs (each time probably leads to a $15k bump or more!) What garbage. If you're going to do an analysis like this try to teach u…

> - Were you born in America or has your employer held your pay down because you have a green card?

This might be true for H1-B holders, but a green card gives you the same freedom to leave and join employers as a citizen.

> - How many times have you changed jobs (each time probably leads to a $15k bump or more!)

I don't know about what goes on in the startup world, but at the big-name tech companies you typically get a stock grant vesting over four years every year, meaning your compensation will not top out until at least four years into the job, so switching jobs frequently can actually dramatically cut your compensation, by a factor of two or more.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#117

Post by mortehu »

KirinDave wrote: post #68
dmoy wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

If Apple, Google, or Facebook pays you $150k/yr in stock, you can just sell it on the public market.

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#118

Post by MikeTheGreat »

personjerry wrote: post #112
catacombs wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Apparently the only types of developers are front end, back end, 'full stack', mobile, desktop, and game. I don't fit any of those. Do you build houses then? ;)

Production, Site Reliability, Machine Learning and AI, Security, Network, as some other examples of software developers.

Genuine question: what does a Production Software Developer do?

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#119

Post by celim307 »

MikeTheGreat wrote: post #118
personjerry wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Production, Site Reliability, Machine Learning and AI, Security, Network, as some other examples of software developers.

Genuine question: what does a Production Software Developer do?

In my last teams it was a lot of infrastructure. Deployment, disaster recovery, failover, provisioning, build processes, maybe even building the testing pipeline, etc.

Can't speak for other companies

Re: Stack Overflow Salary Calculator

#120

Post by phyller »

itschekkers wrote: post #106
lbotos wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

even in Greenpoint/Williamsburg/Bed-Stuy/Hoboken you're still paying 1500 a month to share with a few roommates though.

I thought Williamsburg was more expensive than most places in Manhattan now? You can find a ton of cheaper places in Manhattan (still expensive) if you are willing to go farther north. But then you have to deal with a longer subway trip. It's odd that commuting to midtown from Stamford, Connecticut is about the same from Inwood, Manhattan. If you don't mind an hour commute, and you work in midtown, metro north is really good and Stamford and the areas around are really nice and much cheaper. You can buy an actual house.
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