My Salary Progression in Tech • Hacker News Board

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#121

Post by tomohawk » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:30 AM UTC

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #25

Some random points of advice after 30 years in tech... First, decide whether you are more interested in pushing forward on technology or on earning more. Yes, you probably want both, but you should decide which matters more. Also, note that the answer will likely change if your personal situation changes, in particular, if you start a family. These points are primarily for those who put earning more above pushing tec…

Totally agree. To add to the point about the boss you do not like. Identify that early and take positive steps to get out of there. One danger in this situation is that this is an incompetent boss (reason you don't like) and you need to get out of the blast radius.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#122

Post by marcins » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:32 AM UTC

tvphan wrote: post #45

I am Asian but was born and raised in Australia. I have a Bachelor of Science and I work as a web developer, e.g. Spring, ASP.NET, React, WordPress, Drupal, etc. 2013 - 23yo - $45K - First job - Magento developer building eCommerce websites for clients. 2014 - 24yo - $54K 2015 - 25yo - $70K - Second job - Magento / Shopify / WordPress developer, building eCommerce websites for clients. 2016 - 26yo - $75K 2017 - 27yo…

Atlassian (Sydney) is always hiring for Java and/or JavaScript. Great company, good compensation, plenty of room for growth. If you’re interested, or want to know more, hit me up - marcins at gmail

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#123

Post by tomohawk » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:34 AM UTC

Lownin wrote: post #28

I have an associates degree in an unrelated field. For work, I implemented and maintain part of the CI/CD pipeline (AWS Code Pipeline configuration, pretty simple), spin up and maintain AWS infrastructure, hack on the cloud formation templates and our internal build scripts, and do a portion of the helpdesk admin work for some of our large clients. Troubleshoot individual nodes. I work remotely in a small town in the…

Talk to other companies about openings and see what they offer. You don't have to take their offers, and you can have some good conversations.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#124

Post by aristophenes » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:35 AM UTC

falsedan wrote: post #119

vecinu wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't forget that this is before taxes, retirement savings, healthcare and other deductions. You can't just hand-wave away "standard of living" and "social services and benefits". These may be things you take for granted but a large majority of the population has to have a large emergency refund in case they get severed from their company without any notice for any reason (Compare that with job security in France or…

The biggest thing I missed when working in the US was 5-6 weeks annual paid leave. 10 days off/year means people are highly incentivised to apply to/present at conferences tho

Was that normal? I'm used to 10 company holidays plus 3-4 weeks of paid vacation.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#125

Post by souprock » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:36 AM UTC

salta2019 wrote: post #55

Some context: PhD in EE, but spend most of my time coding. 2011: $100k, industry R&D lab, VA 2012: $150k, “”, “” 2013: $150k, “”, “” 2014: $0, self-employed and didn’t turn a profit 2015: $100k, academic researcher, Midwest 2016: $160k, industry R&D, SV 2017: $165k, “”, “” 2018: $170k, “”, “” Since 2016, I’ve been working in SV for a company that pays engineers all cash, a modest bonus, and no stock. I like the work…

Ignoring the actual numbers because of cost of living, an EE with coding experience would be doing far better here on Florida's eastern coast. That "studio apartments" bit is horrifying.

My coworkers and I seem to do lots better. I've seen my coworkers use a single income to buy: a condo on the beach, a new McMansion, 11 acres with farm animals and shooting, waterfront property with access to the ocean, waterfront property for an airboat into marshlands, and lots of toys. I went for a simple house, 3500 square feet on 0.38 acres and now fully paid off, within walking distance of work. I also had 11 children and bought 3 cars.

I'll take a hopeful guess that an EE with coding experience might enjoy assembly language. If so, maybe I can help get you into a more family-friendly situation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19284153

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#126

Post by salarythrow250 » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:38 AM UTC

stats111 wrote: post #76

These salaries sound astronomical compared to earning potential in UK companies. As an Architect, average salaries are around £64,000. Does anyone know how like for like roles pay in the UK for US companies? I can't see Amazon paying £200k for a software developer?

I have colleagues that work in the UK office of my US headquartered employer that are making £200k+ having worked there for ~10 years.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#127

Post by opportune » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:40 AM UTC

DVassallo wrote: post #101

opportune wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 origina…

At big companies I don't think that happens. Everyone understands that everybody is there for a temporary period. In my case, I think only about 3 people knew about this, and I believe they genuinely wanted me to stay.

This is really good information to know, thanks.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#128

Post by wishinghand » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:42 AM UTC

Graduated UC Santa Cruz in 2007, did odd-jobs until 2012. All of the following jobs are in San Diego, CA, USA.

2008-late 2014- Odd jobs and data entry as a temp: ~$28k

Oct 2014- 1st developer job, Touch This Media: $50k, no benefits

Jan 2016- company was in trouble, $35k

July 2016- took 3 months off for a programming bootcamp, took two months after to find a job

Jan 2017- The Control Group, $75k plus benefits, 401k, paid time off. Worked as a full stack dev

Late 2017- DiegoDev $91k, remote, front end engineer

Early 2018- raise to $96k

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#129

Post by tiraloafuera123 » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:42 AM UTC

19 - co-op while in well known lower end of 1st tier (not top 5) engr school - 16k/yr

20 - internship at big 5 consulting firm in NYC - 45k/yr (summer only)

21 - full time at same firm - 61k-ish

22-5 some small raises

26 - move to mid size well known federal gov consulting firm in DC - 76k/yr

27-28 - some raises to 86-90k

28 - smaller/mid consulting firm - 125k

28-33 - raises through to 175k

change to independent, and hourly rates, but will list the following as yearly; however from this point, I have to pay my own taxes, insurance, retirement, etc. still better off however, as taxes are lower compared to salary/employee, and rates are higher.

34 - 200k

35 - 260k

36 - 265k

37 - 280k

38 - 300k

39 - 285k

40 - 280k

Last couple years are the same rate, but working fewer hours to enjoy work-life balance.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#130

Post by Bahamut » Fri, Mar 15, 2019, 1:47 AM UTC

I have no qualms letting people know my comp so they know that is possible, and helped many developers in my short 6 year career get better jobs/get life changing comp.

Caveat to my numbers - I am an asian male math PhD dropout from a top 15 graduate program who had hardly coded prior to his first developer job. I also have substantial open source contributions to major libraries, starting from my first developer job.

Nov. 2012 - $51k (in DC)

Sept. 2013 - $75k (new job)

May 2014 - $105k + paid relocation (in Silicon Valley)

August 2014 - $140k (laid off from last job, changed to new one in 2 hours)

Jan. 2015 - $145k (raise at same job)

July 2015 - $160k (laid off from prior job in June)

July 2017 - $280k = $160k base, $15k signing bonus, $105k RSUs in FAANG (laid off from prior job in May)

Sept. 2018 - $303k = $164k base, $14k performance/annual bonuses, $125k refresh RSUs (annual raise from performance reviews at same job - was band limited on the base salary)