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2018 UtahJS Pay, Education, Job-title Survey

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Re: 2018 UtahJS Pay, Education, Job-title Survey

#31

Post by necubi »

suresk wrote: post #27
necubi wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no ceiling for developer pay (or at least, you're likely nowhere close to it). Large companies with technical tracks pay 1MM+/year for high-level engineers. Mid-level ("Senior" in title) engineers can easily clear half that. A few things to note: * Salaries like that are basically only possible at large public, engineering-driven companies, or finance firms (possibly also high-end consultancies, but I have li…

I think it's important to note that this is very location-dependent. In Utah, where this survey was taken, I'd be willing to bet the number of people with developer-like titles consistently bringing home > $250k take-home probably is less than 0.1% of the dev population, whereas in a place like SF/Seattle/NYC, it is a lot more common.

It's definitely location-dependent. My experience is primarily Bay Area/NYC/Seattle, and salaries will likely be lower outside those hubs. However for very skilled or in-demand specialists, it's definitely possible to get SF salaries while working remote in a cheap CoL area.

Re: 2018 UtahJS Pay, Education, Job-title Survey

#32

Post by ddoolin »

wesleytodd wrote: post #11
dsnuh wrote: post #7

An interesting data point is that the highest salary ($206,000) also reports as"self-taught".

I noticed that as well. I have always thought there might be a correlation between self-taught and self selection for success in a topic. Anecdotally, I was self-taught, and many of the highest performing engineers I know where also. Most of the average performing engineers I know were traditionally educated in CS.

I'm self-taught and that salary is within a couple $K of my own. Regarding your own experience though, I have noticed the inverse wherever I go. I moved from Charlotte (NC) two years ago, and there nearly everyone was self-taught and the skill level, generally, was much lower. The ones with degree educations were still stronger. When I got to SoCal, way more engineers were college-educated and still stronger than the self-taught ones, myself included.

Re: 2018 UtahJS Pay, Education, Job-title Survey

#34

Post by hathawsh »

swalsh wrote: post #14

Why does salary and experience stop correlating after 9 years?

There is almost certainly selection bias at play. For example, people making a lot more money than their peers may have chosen not to take the survey. I don't see anything in this survey that attempts to correct the biases. I really like this survey and the info it provides, but it's not possible to draw very many conclusions from it because it's probably very biased in invisible ways.

Re: 2018 UtahJS Pay, Education, Job-title Survey

#35

Post by wesleytodd »

ddoolin wrote: post #32
wesleytodd wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed that as well. I have always thought there might be a correlation between self-taught and self selection for success in a topic. Anecdotally, I was self-taught, and many of the highest performing engineers I know where also. Most of the average performing engineers I know were traditionally educated in CS.

I'm self-taught and that salary is within a couple $K of my own. Regarding your own experience though, I have noticed the inverse wherever I go. I moved from Charlotte (NC) two years ago, and there nearly everyone was self-taught and the skill level, generally, was much lower. The ones with degree educations were still stronger. When I got to SoCal, way more engineers were college-educated and still stronger than the…

Yep, anecdotal evidence :)

I will say, where I am now (bay area FANG company) it is WAY more common to have traditional CS background and also be a high performer.

I attribute that to a biased selection in SV, and not an actual correlation of CS education to higher skill level.

Re: 2018 UtahJS Pay, Education, Job-title Survey

#38

Post by suresk »

ddoolin wrote: post #32
wesleytodd wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I noticed that as well. I have always thought there might be a correlation between self-taught and self selection for success in a topic. Anecdotally, I was self-taught, and many of the highest performing engineers I know where also. Most of the average performing engineers I know were traditionally educated in CS.

I'm self-taught and that salary is within a couple $K of my own. Regarding your own experience though, I have noticed the inverse wherever I go. I moved from Charlotte (NC) two years ago, and there nearly everyone was self-taught and the skill level, generally, was much lower. The ones with degree educations were still stronger. When I got to SoCal, way more engineers were college-educated and still stronger than the…

I think it is hard to infer much from some of these data points.

There may be some correlation between "high performance" and "self-taught", since it takes a decent amount of motivation and talent to even get your first few jobs as someone without the educational background, but I don't know how long that is significant for.

I'm self-taught, and while it has worked out well for me so far, I do wish I'd gotten a CS degree. I've spent a ton of time studying stuff you'd learn in a CS degree, but I do feel like - especially for the first 5 years of my career - I made a lot of mistakes I probably wouldn't have, spent more time "inventing" things that had already been invented, and designed things in less optimal ways than I could have.

Plus, it took me about 10 years to understand just how fascinating and fun some of this stuff is. Although, who knows if I would have appreciated it in college?

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