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My Salary Progression in Tech

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Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#61

Post by crummy »

narcindin wrote: post #21
sometechie wrote: post #19

In the spirit of this discussion, I’ll share my journey. In 2015, my base was $95k. Today, it is $150k. Including stocks and bonuses, my total compensation went from ~$140k to $220k. In California, but not the Bay Area. I hold a Bachelor’s from a pretty good university, but by no means an elite institution. White guy from a modest background: grew up lower middle class, single mother who worked in retail, got free lu…

An income over 220k is easily > 90% percentile. I do not know what upper middle class is supposed to mean. Does it mean 90-95 percentile?

I don't have an answer for the question but I remember watching a series of recorded interviews with Americans from all walks of life and all described themselves as middle class, from the poorest to the wealthiest.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#62

Post by loblollyboy »

2011-2012 Epic in Madison, WI 60k

2012-13 unemployed

2013-15 grad school position ~1200/mo 20hr a week python developer

15-16 unemployed

2016-2018 29k GBP in London, python dev

First half of 2018 65k usd in DC

Second half unemployed

2019 50k IT staff

I’M SUCH A FUCKUP

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#63

Post by opportune »

DVassallo wrote: post #38
nicolashahn wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How common are these huge annual salary bumps at Amazon?

I got a big bump in 2016 because I got a competing offer from Oracle, and Amazon matched it. 2017 and 2018 growth was from stock appreciation. If the stock hadn’t increased so much, the last 2 years would have been at around the 2016 level. AFAIK, people with ~10 years experience commonly get offers at around my 2016 level.

This is less a direct question and more of a discussion: I always thought it was considered a bad move to stick with your old company after receiving a competing offer and negotiating a higher wage at your old company. Conventional wisdom I've read is that your old company will slowly phase you out (thus missing out on promotions/raises).

Have other people been so successful using an offer for a raise at your original employer and staying?

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#64

Post by kthejoker2 »

Well, yall can have mine.

2005: Graduated with a BA in Political Science and a fairly strong background in SQL. I've stayed in Texas my whole career.

2005: first job, web dev, $34k, govt pension

2006: salary bump to $40k

2007: new role as data analyst, $55k

2008: cola bump, $58k

2009: data warehouse lead at school district, $72k

2010: cola bump plus a raise, $78k

2011: first contracting role, equivalent of $100k

2012: lead BI architect, $125k, company pension

2013: same role, bonus, $130k

2014: same role, bonus, $130k

2015: consultant with a firm, $135k

2016 and 2017: cola bumps to $140k

2018: promotion, $152k

And I've turned down offers of $180k because I like my work life balance.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#65

Post by ChuckMcM »

DVassallo wrote: post #38
nicolashahn wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How common are these huge annual salary bumps at Amazon?

I got a big bump in 2016 because I got a competing offer from Oracle, and Amazon matched it. 2017 and 2018 growth was from stock appreciation. If the stock hadn’t increased so much, the last 2 years would have been at around the 2016 level. AFAIK, people with ~10 years experience commonly get offers at around my 2016 level.

I was wondering about that. I mean when I was at Sun they paid a market wage and had an employee stock purchase plan[1]. When I left Sun in '95 the stock I had left was worth about $1.2M, it had gone from the $20's to over a $100 and split twice (if you do the math that was $60,000 worth of stock to begin with, which had accumulated over about 6 years).

I don't think of my wages being $1.2M so much as I happened to get lucky with that equity. (I have also experienced the reverse where > $1M worth (on paper) of stock was worth less than $10K when I could sell it, it isn't all roses.)

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#66

Post by person_of_color »

DVassallo wrote: post #27

My progression: 2008: Graduated with a BS in CS from University of London. I grew up in Europe. 2008: €30K - Joined a small company in Europe as their only programmer doing vehicle GPS tracking. 2009: €30K - Still there. 2010: €50K - Joined Amazon in Dublin, Ireland as an SDE-1 (entry level) in the AWS CloudWatch team. 2011: €75K - Still at Amazon, same team. 2012: $120K - Moved to Seattle with the same team. Promote…

Can you do the same but only include base salary?

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#67

Post by meritt »

beamatronic wrote: post #39
DVassallo wrote: post #27

My progression: 2008: Graduated with a BS in CS from University of London. I grew up in Europe. 2008: €30K - Joined a small company in Europe as their only programmer doing vehicle GPS tracking. 2009: €30K - Still there. 2010: €50K - Joined Amazon in Dublin, Ireland as an SDE-1 (entry level) in the AWS CloudWatch team. 2011: €75K - Still at Amazon, same team. 2012: $120K - Moved to Seattle with the same team. Promote…

Graduated in the late 90s with a degree in CS. I read this and I wonder, where the hell did I go wrong? If this is commonplace, then how did I fail so spectacularly?

A significant portion of his compensation was via recurring Amazon.com stock grants (RSUs). By year 4+ most employees are looking at least 3 separate stock grants vesting every single year.

Had you bought $100,000 of $AMZN in 2010, it'd be worth $1.35M today (and $1.6M in September) which would go a long way toward evening things out in a similar manner.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#68

Post by alaskamiller »

charleshan wrote: post #10

It would be interesting to see something similar from someone that worked in SV for 10+ years.

Grew up in Silicon Valley:

1998-2002 High school, Barista, Subways, $7/hr 2003-2007 USMC, $25k/yr 2007-2008 Apple, knowledge manager, $50k/yr 2008-2009 Gawker, BusinessInsider, writer, $30k/yr 2010-2011 SF startup, marketer, $55k/yr 2012-2013 Google, HR admin, $60k/yr 2013-2015 Berkeley startup, tech lead, $80k/yr 2015-2017 Started own consultanty agency, $50k/yr 2018-2019 Digital agency, PM, $100k/yr

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#70

Post by jimmy1 »

hk__2 wrote: post #18
snrji wrote: post #9

As a developer based in Europe looking at these numbers is quite depressing.

Can we really compare them, though? I live in France, where €90k/y puts you in the top 1% salaries. In the US, you’d need to earn $400k/y to be in the same position. Standard of living and other social benefits come to mind.

lol I'm sorry but no. 400k a year in US puts you in "I am a millionaire" status after like 5 years. 90k euros and big city purchasing power in France is most likely comparable to 180k in US. Remember, all these jobs we are talking about come with full benefits -- 401k with between 5-8% matching, stock options, healthcare, vision, dental, etc.

And I am assuming you are talking about 90k euro after taxes not before because the French have one of the highest tax burdens in the world.

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