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Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

triplebyte.com

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Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#121

Post by cgh »

digitalsushi wrote: post #74

My god this is just another universe to me. I've got 19 years on the clock doing stuff, right now extending the jenkins model to make a usable 2.0 pipeline, for a fortune 50 hiding on the new hampshire seacoast, senior-straddling-principal level and just barely squeaking out a 6 figure salary. I know it all comes out in the wash, but it just blows my mind how different money is across the country. or, i am a country…

The key is to work remotely for a SV company but live in a cheap small town (this is a humblebrag). Higher salary, no Valley real estate madness, no freeway nightmares, placid country bumpkin existence preserved. I do have to bite the bullet and travel down to that blighted land a few times a year though.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#122

Post by dudul »

k__ wrote: post #105

Coming from Germany, these salaries often feel crazy to me. Is this because owning real estate is such a big deal in the US?

Real estate is very expensive in CA. It has nothing to do with owning, rents are crazy expensive as well.

As a side note, even in less expensive areas, US salaries are way higher than European ones. I make probably 4 to 5 times what I would earn in Europe, but I also pay for more stuff that is usually almost "free" in Europe.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#123

Post by albertgoeswoof »

bshimmin wrote: post #100
rb808 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the guys I work with has been working in NY for 30 years, his newly graduated daughter got a first job at Facebook and earns more than him in her first year. Either * SV is a bubble * NY is a bad places for devs * being an old dev doesn't pay probably all 3

For what it's worth, a big company in NYC that we work with definitely pays contractors with lots of experience (10+ years) $1000 a day. That's closing in on a quarter of a million dollars a year and you probably won't even have to invert a binary tree whilst juggling martinis in your interview.

Not quite though, as you get zero benefits or job security with that- in the UK you’d need to knock off 4 weeks of vacation, a couple of weeks for additional training, maybe a week or 2 for sick leave, and then budget a month or so between contracts. Plus buy your own laptop, fund your own retirement fund/pension etc. Plus it can be harder to get credit if your contract can be terminated at any notice.

And your next contract might go down, which is unlike a salary. and you’re exempt from climbing the ladder to a corporate position where the really big bucks are.

So all told it’s probably more like 150-180k/year

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#124

Post by lloyd-christmas »

pm90 wrote: post #71
htormey wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meet a number of people at Apple in this category (i.e 20-30 years + experience). At a certain point salary tends to flatten out unless you go into management or do something incredibly specialized.

Why do these engineers not switch jobs? Wouldn't inflation actually reduce what they are earning if their salaries do flatten out?

This isn't unique to tech. My father has almost 40 years in medicine and his salary hasn't gone up beyond inflation/cost of living in at least 20 years.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#125

Post by celdon25 »

ng12 wrote: post #115
mrweasel wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really raises the question why anyone would put a software company in the Silicon Valley area. You could get cheaper and more experienced people pretty much anywhere in the world for at least 60 - 70% the price.

Quantity is the problem. I'm sure there are some blindingly talented developers in New Hampshire but there's probably only a few of them and they're more than likely gainfully employed by a company that appreciates their value. Hiring an engineer for 60% of the price doesn't help when you can only fill a third of your headcount.

You're more likely than not going to get an equally untalented developer in Silicon Valley, for the same reason. The talented ones are likely already gainfully employed. I would go out on a limb and say that there are more smooth talkers with silver tongues in Silicon Valley, who will talk their way through an interview and only provide the perception of talent. Still think it's wise to start a company there?

It has nothing to do with the actual facts of the job market, and everything to do with the demands of the VC cartel.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#126

Post by kmonsen »

compumike wrote: post #2

(Disclosure: I work at Triplebyte and built this salary tool from our offers dataset.) I was surprised to learn that the median senior engineer earns only $36K more than the median junior engineer (base salary only). The gap does get wider on the right tail of the distribution: The 90th-percentile senior makes $47K more than the 90th-percentile junior. One possible explanation is that our data is dominated by startup…

I think you are doing much more harm than good with these numbers that are just wrong.

The people you are seeing and are willing to give you numbers are not an average of the population working in the bay area.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#127

Post by meebs »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #106
pm90 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do these engineers not switch jobs? Wouldn't inflation actually reduce what they are earning if their salaries do flatten out?

Switch to where? There are hardly any 6 figure professions out there that don’t require a significant amount of training and sacrifice in the early years.

If you rode the economy the past few years and are good enough to be considered value at $BigTech for twenty years, you have enough of a nest egg to... not work. At least that is what I'd do.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#129

Post by mlevental »

digitalsushi wrote: post #74

My god this is just another universe to me. I've got 19 years on the clock doing stuff, right now extending the jenkins model to make a usable 2.0 pipeline, for a fortune 50 hiding on the new hampshire seacoast, senior-straddling-principal level and just barely squeaking out a 6 figure salary. I know it all comes out in the wash, but it just blows my mind how different money is across the country. or, i am a country…

i don't understand why you wrote this if you understand that it "it all comes out in the wash". the cost of living adjustment is absolutely necessary here:

http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html

100k in manchester nh is ~150k in sf. maybe you're a little underperforming but who cares! or maybe you care and you should use this data to negotiate a raise :)

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#130

Post by celdon25 »

guyzero wrote: post #97
mrweasel wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really raises the question why anyone would put a software company in the Silicon Valley area. You could get cheaper and more experienced people pretty much anywhere in the world for at least 60 - 70% the price.

given that the biggest software companies of the last 20 years have mostly been in the Bay Area, maybe there's a flaw in your assumption that there are "more experienced people pretty much anywhere."

I think that has more to do with the VC cartel than the amount of actual talent. Besides, the cost of living has heavily changed over the years, and the amount of feces and dirty needles on SF streets have increased rapidly lately. Talented people are more likely to realize this is a farce, and leave the area. The historical circumstances may not hold true anymore.
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