Live data from Hacker News

Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

news.ycombinator.com

81–90 of 111 posts

Re: Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

#83
post #5

I've seen it vary greatly here in the SF bay area. I've seen offers as low as 65k and as high as 95k. The two most important factors that decide where in the range you fall are the company making the offer, and the school you graduated from. You probably have a lot more leverage in asking for 5-10k extra if you are graduating from a place like stanford/berkeley as opposed to sjsu. But then again, 5-10k is nothing to…

That $5-10k delta could be made up within a year or two for a good developer coming from a non-namebrand CS school who puts his/her nose to the grindstone.

That is true. Good engineers will always rise above the bad ones, regardless of what background they have. But we are talking about starting salaries here.

Re: Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay around $1300 for a 1 bedroom apartment. This is a bit on the high side, but I like living in the city center, in summer it's almost European.

Sounds to me like prime motivation for a startup. If you're not getting paid much, you have more motivation to try something a little risky to improve your lot in life.

Hey, my lot in life isn't too bad! :-) I launched a non-profit project that's fairly important to me (http://openphotovr.org) this winter. Now thinking about starting something else, for money, not sure what exactly.

Re: Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay around $1300 for a 1 bedroom apartment. This is a bit on the high side, but I like living in the city center, in summer it's almost European.

$30k + $1300/month rent?? Dang... Are other countries an option for you?

I lack the determination to pack up and move. :-( But I suspect I'll leave eventually. Don't know where.

Re: Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

#86
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that after taxes, but in the US they are usually talking about salary before taxex. So basically your $30K is about $40K here.

Are you saying that $30K is like $40K after taxes? It'd be closer to $55K, I think. Taxes are insane in the US (though nothing like northern Europe).

for a salary of $40K the taxes would be around 20-30% in the US depending on your family situation

Re: Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

#87
post #81

starting at 50-60 in San Diego, CA, graduated from UCSD. Mostly from web programming jobs (php, rails, and java).

Wow. And living in San Diego is expensive, too. Probably a lot more expensive than in Dallas or Austin that have comparable salaries.

Re: Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

#88
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Moscow's supposed to be about as expensive to live in as the Bay Area or Manhattan from what I've read. Rents here in the Bay area are around $1400 for a 1 bedroom apartment. What are they in Moscow?

In San Francisco, 1400 dollars will barely get you a studio (in the interesting parts of the city).

Yeah, sorry, I should have said, "South Bay Area" when I was quoting rent prices. I'm assuming things would be quite a bit more expensive in Palo Alto or San Fran. My quote was also based on a new grad wanting to live in El-Cheapo rent districts. If someone wants to, they can certainly pay $2000 a month for a rather nice one bedroom with a concierge at the desk in the South Bay.

Re: Ask YC: What are starting salaries for CS grads this year?

#90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds to me like prime motivation for a startup. If you're not getting paid much, you have more motivation to try something a little risky to improve your lot in life.

Hey, my lot in life isn't too bad! :-) I launched a non-profit project that's fairly important to me ( http://openphotovr.org ) this winter. Now thinking about starting something else, for money, not sure what exactly.

The website doesn't work so well for me. It says it requires Flash (even though I have a Flash plugin installed).
Post reply on HN