Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success? • Hacker News Board

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#131

Post by wazoox » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 8:42 AM UTC

reason wrote: post #63

idlewords wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe true for the people you hang out with. In the rest of the world, there's plenty of people who prefer doing meaningful or engaging work over earning the highest possible salary.

And I take it physicians, lawyers, dentists, and other professionals, on top of all of the entrepreneurs who have sold their beloved companies for millions, aren't doing meaningful or engaging work. If you're good at any of the careers I just listed, you can easily make at least $300-400k+ per year. It's attainable, and there's a ton of meaningful work to be had at those levels. Success and meaning can be found at le…

Personally I have two (unrelated to each other) friends who've been living without really working for the past twenty years. They're really happy, and live on 500 euros per month each. YMMV.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#132

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 8:42 AM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #98

defen wrote: post #42

Earlier 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…

[deleted]

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#133

Post by oldstrangers » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 8:50 AM UTC

catch23 wrote: post #130

oldstrangers wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100k might not be "successful" to anyone living in SF or NYC, but in 98% of the rest of the country, it is certainly a nice income. Don't buy into the ego.

According to WSJ, the average developer in the bay area makes $99k: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870343950457611... So if you're making $100k, you're just making what everyone else is making :-)

You must have missed the part where I said outside of SF and NYC.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#134

Post by natch » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 8:52 AM UTC

catch23 wrote: post #130

oldstrangers wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100k might not be "successful" to anyone living in SF or NYC, but in 98% of the rest of the country, it is certainly a nice income. Don't buy into the ego.

According to WSJ, the average developer in the bay area makes $99k: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870343950457611... So if you're making $100k, you're just making what everyone else is making :-)

They must be including part timers and interns, because a normal salary for an experienced engineer is significantly higher.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#135

Post by natch » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 8:59 AM UTC

Do you mean to ask what are the secrets to earning more money? Keep learning valuable skills, do good work, ask for more money (or ask for ways to potentially earn it, e.g. stocks), all while changing jobs from time to time.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#136

Post by natch » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 9:01 AM UTC

tastybites wrote: post #38

neilc wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Bay Area and a few other places, you're absolutely right -- but there are other places where $100k for a software engineer is pretty generous pay. Of course, the cost of living in those places is typically a lot less than in the Bay Area.

I've worked with professionals located in SF, LA, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Omaha, Atlanta, St. Louis, Ann Arbor, Boston, New York, DC, Miami, and Charleston. $100k is still the minimum professional salary for someone who has a highly skilled, technical job like sr. engineer, architect, investment banker, CPA, attorney, etc.

$100k is so ten years ago. Things have gone up now, at least in the bay area.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#137

Post by foljs » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 9:02 AM UTC

tastybites wrote: post #32

$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.

And how much do you earn living with your parents and offering such insights?

Because out in the real world, even 50K are hard to get to sometimes, depending on professional field and/or state/city of residence.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#138

Post by natch » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 9:05 AM UTC

SageRaven wrote: post #85

Locke wrote: post #33

Earnings are important, I'm sure -- but don't mistake them for wealth. I've known people with ludicrous earnings who still lived pay check to pay check. In fact, I suspect it's all too common. Here's an eye opener: You're a mid-level employee at a medium-sized company and you realize you're as wealthy as your spend-thrift CEO who is making >10x as much as you are.

This is very true. My last two tax filings showed I [edit: grossed] less than $15,000 for the past 2 years, yet I generally have more discretionary income now than the years when I was making ~$50,000/yr. I also have a wife and two kids. I have no debt of any kind (house and car owned outright), am quite frugal, have two monthly bills (phone/internet and power), and three yearly bills (property tax, car registration,…

Then your case is special (maybe you are just, well, more mature in years than many of us, or maybe you had family help). Most people just starting out don't own their houses outright.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#139

Post by timr » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 9:06 AM UTC

rdouble wrote: post #129

phlux wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>....if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. I'm not sure what you are thinking here. If you make 100K, your take home pay after taxes is ~$6,000. For any reasonable place to live in SF - your going to be between 1800 and 2500 for a two bedroom. Thats not "a small portion of your income" Additionally - you may have health care costs of as much as 750 per month if you have a spouse and child on…

I was one of the poor, unprofessional slobs who only made $100K or so in SF and NYC. I thought I was living a pretty good life, but maybe I should be ashamed that I'm not a millionaire CPA (huh?). Here's a typical programmer bachelor situation. I made about $6000K after tax and contributions to retirement account in SF and NYC. car = $0 insurance = $0, paid for by employer other debts = $0 iPhone = $80 rent = $1000 s…

"rent = $1000 studio or share"

Uh huh. Now, do that when you're 35, with a wife and two kids.

I think it's easy to forget that people in other parts of the country do things like raise families. Also, most people don't generally want to live with roommates past their 20s. It gets old.

I know where you're coming from -- I live a fairly frugal lifestyle, and I'm doing fine while renting an apartment in SF with no wife and no kids. But I'm also in my 30s, and I think I'm on the extreme outer edge of tolerance for the kind of life I'm leading. My friends with children tease me all the time: they wouldn't dream of living the way that I do.

That said, I'd also be going nuts if I lived like I did when I was 25. YMMV, but probably not by much.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#140

Post by natch » Fri, Feb 25, 2011, 9:09 AM UTC

baddox wrote: post #18

feverishaaron wrote: post #9

Be careful about chasing a dollar amount. $100K is pretty baseline for someone who has technical/design etc. skills. Moving into the $200K+ salary range often means working a lot of overtime, which leaves little time for enjoyable pursuits, or side projects which may eventually earn far more than that extra $100K a year.

$100K baseline? That sounds like you're talking about entry-level, which can't be right regardless of where you live. I believe that the mean annual income for a software developer in the USA is about USD 75k. I found one estimate as high as 90k. In non-coastal areas (even big cities in the Midwest, Texas, etc.), entry level positions requiring a 4-year CS degree are commonly 45k-60k.

45k-60k? No. You may be thinking of wages accepted by H1B holders who have just arrived and will take anything they can get. Or people who just don't know better.