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My Salary Progression in Tech

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Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#131

Post by koolba »

DVassallo wrote: post #118
koolba wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s insane. Do you seriously expect in five years to be in better financial shape then you would have been had you stuck it out?

No. But I'm not optimizing my life to make as much money as possible. I'd like to work on my own terms, doing things that intrinsically motivate me. If I can do that while covering my family expenses, I think I would have improved my life.

I can’t speculate on mindset or motivation, but based on purely financials I’d have suggested sticking it out for a few more years to build up a larger nest egg. It’s not just the risk of not succeeding at your next venture; there’s the follow up risk that after failure you can’t get back in the game where you left off.

That said, best of luck to you. Fortune favors the brave!

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#132

Post by iends »

tiraloafuera123 wrote: post #129

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, an…

How do you make the leap to consulting? Any special skills allowing that rate?

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#133

Post by opportune »

souprock wrote: post #99
sailfast wrote: post #13

To the author: were any of these cleared positions? Typically those command a premium and require some sacrifice as it applies to personal lifestyle choices. CACI often requires clearances for government clients, for example which is why you might see a drop when moving to Motley Fool (a commercial customer)

It's only a sacrifice if you'd actually want to do things that would raise concern. On the other hand, it is a huge benefit if you'd rather not be surrounded by people with those kinds of concerns. It's nice to know that none of your coworkers are likely to steal your stuff, commit acts of violence upon you, spill fentanyl on your desk, embezzle the company's assets, offer you food items with unmentioned unconvention…

Those are pretty extreme. For me and probably 90% of other devs who don't want to get a security clearance, it's because of prior drug use. I don't even do anything like that other than smoke weed these days (which I would easily quit if I needed to for a job, though I still think that's very outdated BS) but the government seems really scared about people who've even previously used drugs.

No, I'm not going to spill fentanyl, weed, or any other drug on your desk and I'm also not going to lie during the clearance process to say that I've smoked weed less than 50 times in my life - but apparently that means I can't get a clearance.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#134

Post by aripickar »

Full disclosure: Im in college right now.

2015: $1.43 per hour (camp counselor) 2016: $12 per hour (Data strategy Intern, NY) 2017: $23.25 per hour (SWE Intern, OR) 2018: $48.75 per hour (SWE Intern, SF) 2019: ~$160K per year (SWE NY)

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#135

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#136

Post by salaryFoo »

About three years after graduating I stumbled into some extra freelance work a school friend passed on to me. Then got lucky again by finding myself in a well-paid (for UK) devops niche.

- 2009: £1,000/yr Mostly depressed, unemployed and unmotivated. Some income from teaching English and arbitraging signup bonuses on gambling websites. Lived close to rent-free by subletting rooms in the apartment I was living in. (Spain)

- 2010-12: £8,000/yr English Teacher (China, full-time)

- 2012: £20/hour PHP dev (China, freelance)

- 2012-13: £16,000/yr Rails dev (China, full-time)

- 2014: £72,000/yr Rails dev (London, contracting)

- 2014: £102,000/yr Devops (London, contracting)

- 2015-16: £60/hr Rails+Go dev (SE Asia, some remote freelancing but mostly not working)

- 2017: £120,000/yr Devops (London, contracting)

- 2018: £158,400/yr Devops (London, contracting)

- 2019: £192,000/yr Devops (London, remote contracting)

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#137

Post by tiraloafuera123 »

iends wrote: post #132
tiraloafuera123 wrote: post #129

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, an…

How do you make the leap to consulting? Any special skills allowing that rate?

How did I? or how does one? ;-)

I feel I got lucky in a way. Along the way I met one small company owner that I worked with on project to bring in some of their developers onto my team. A few years later they were looking for a contractor. Right at that time another coworker bluntly told me that I was way undervalued and literally gave me an hourly rate that they felt I could easily ask for. I asked for even a little more ;-) And got it!

The work is _exactly_ the same. Again, lucky. The logistics of starting the company can be facilitated with a good tax professional/accountant. The majority of that is paperwork.

The technical skills are a combination of deep expertise in both front end and back end, which is kind of rare in government contracting, plus the big 5 consulting background, which gives you credibility, plus being honest about what you know and dont know. Believe it or not, honesty goes a long way. It's your personal brand, after all.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#138

Post by mettamage »

Didn’t read the article, I did read the thread.

How do I get into the USA?

The difference is too big, even when I give 20% to charity.

Or any ideas how to become well off in Europe?

Tech feels so much more difficult than manager or other business roles (cognitively). I feel like I should switch if I can’t get into the USA.

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#139

Post by tiraloafuera123 »

aripickar wrote: post #134

Full disclosure: Im in college right now. 2015: $1.43 per hour (camp counselor) 2016: $12 per hour (Data strategy Intern, NY) 2017: $23.25 per hour (SWE Intern, OR) 2018: $48.75 per hour (SWE Intern, SF) 2019: ~$160K per year (SWE NY)

congrats! you are on a great track. after doing this so many years, the higher you start out, the higher it goes later

Re: My Salary Progression in Tech

#140

Post by why_only_15 »

kartan wrote: post #50

I have worked in Spain and Sweden. My salary as developer has been in the range of €32K-€45K in the past 15 years in Spain. It has been around €65K in Sweden (similar to what now friends make in Spain). And it is below €100K as an architect. The cost of living in Sweden is higher than in Spain. And Spanish salaries in IT has soared. So, economically, it was not worth moving. But, the experience of living abroad is wo…

It is difficult to compare, but the reality is that especially at FAANG companies the company has good services. They provide transport to/from the office, healthcare, retirement stuff, etc. However, the taxes in Europe are higher.
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