$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating. Your bosses and many of your peers earn twice as much as that. Edit: IF you work in the corporate world. Clearly if you're a lifestyle-b…
This post is a good example of a phenomenon I keep seeing when it comes to how people view incomes- People pay much more attention to their own circle and to those making more money than them, so they get a skewed outlook on what is 'normal' and 'average'. That's why everyone in America thinks they are 'middle class', whether they make 30k or 500k. Lawyers and i-bankers are a different story, but you won't find any s…
Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
101–110 of 216 posts
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#102$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating. Your bosses and many of your peers earn twice as much as that. Edit: IF you work in the corporate world. Clearly if you're a lifestyle-b…
$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating.
This appears to be true of the Americans I know but this level of salary is.. uncommon amongst the Europeans (particularly the British) I know. I know you weren't speaking for other countries, but salaries are a lot 'flatter' over here.
Contractors will be earning at that level without too much difficulty but for a typical full-time employee to be earning $100K in London, say, they'd need to be an experienced manager or be into the 15+ year point of their career in my experience. It's night and day from the US experience.
This is part of the reason I work for myself. If I were in the US, I could earn $100K full-time pretty easily with my skillset. In the UK, it would be really hard work getting a similar position. Self employment wins for that here since I can just have American customers used to American prices anyway ;-)
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends where you live. In San Francisco or New York, 100K isn't going to go very far. In Houston or a rural area, it will. According to a cost of living adjustment calculator I found online, 100K in Houston is equivalent to 186K in San Francisco. http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_...
That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should w…
Sounds like a great project for someone: realcostofliving.com
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
This post is a good example of a phenomenon I keep seeing when it comes to how people view incomes- People pay much more attention to their own circle and to those making more money than them, so they get a skewed outlook on what is 'normal' and 'average'. That's why everyone in America thinks they are 'middle class', whether they make 30k or 500k. Lawyers and i-bankers are a different story, but you won't find any s…
Here you are: http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=%22senior+software+engineer%... http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=%22senior+system+administrat... http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=dba&l1=san+francisco%2C+...
Things shift significantly when you start looking outside the 10 most populous cities in America. I'd even bet that if you exclude SF/The Valley, Seattle, and New York, you'll find a pretty decent cliff.
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
> $100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. As a professional what? Man this place can be a fucking drag sometimes.
Professional is almost any area that requires either higher education or some hard to learn skill.
I used to associate professional and one's education or income until I realized that often the most professional people I've encountered don't make much money. Professional to me means excellence at a service for which someone is paid to perform. Improving the human condition or chasing money both attract professionals of a completely different definition.
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should w…
Sounds like a great project for someone: realcostofliving.com
Just wait until the Square API comes out.
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#107work for the government? i wouldn't call it success though
One-fifth of the federal govt earns six figures or more. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-12-10-federal-p...
So roughly the same as the US population as a whole, where ~16% make > 100K. (Note that this percentage is of all workers, including part time workers. Part time workers are under represented in the federal government workforce compared to the broader workforce)
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_...
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#108Alternate between billing really high to fix really really screwed up projects and billing a bit lower but taking interesting projects that you can use to update your skillset. I've made 125kish a year contracting this way in the non-major, low cost-of-living cities. Plus these contracts typically last up to 5 years so you have better stability than contracts of 6 months. This is just one way, but its an easy way. I've been doing this since 1996 throughout the midwest and southern states.
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#109Earlier quoted context omitted.
It depends where you live. In San Francisco or New York, 100K isn't going to go very far. In Houston or a rural area, it will. According to a cost of living adjustment calculator I found online, 100K in Houston is equivalent to 186K in San Francisco. http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_...
That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should w…
One big thing: you probably need to maintain one car per adult member of the household in Houston, but can live well with With insurance, maintenance, and amortized vehicle cost, you're probably $1500/year/car minimum. More if you want a car that's a status symbol.
Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
By "entry-level," I mean a first job for an individual. Do those companies often employee programmers with no previous job experience?
Of course. Microsoft and Google are likely the biggest recruiters for cs students.
Usually those CS students have had multiple internships and/or research experience, however.