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Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

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Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#271

Post by stale2002 »

ijidak wrote: post #242
3pt14159 wrote: post #21

What I've seen that has worked in the past is this: Pick an open source project that is in a language that is respectable and commit to contributing to it for three or four months. Full time. Try to make sure that your written English is clear and professional in things like PRs. Try to keep your code as clean and as well tested and linted as possible. Once the core team gets to know you a bit you'll be able to reach…

Who is making $500,000 per year as a developer? That seems outlandish. Edge case-ey. Outside of maybe quants, what type of developers are pulling that kind of income?

> what type of developers are pulling that kind of income?

So, the subset of developers who make this much money basically amounts to "The senior engineers, at top tech companies, such as google/FB/ect"

Which.... is less unlikely than you'd think, if you are talking about the democraphic of users who read hacker news.

500k is still definitely up there, but making even something like 250k, at any of these top tech companies, as a mid level engineer, is completely standard. I'd expect anyone who has 5 years of experience, at these types of companies to be making at least this amount.

So, within that context, the people who are making twice that, would be maybe the team leads, or possible even a bit higher ranking than that.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#272

Post by rodrigodlu »

serpen789 wrote: post #247
rodrigodlu wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your considerations. I have a soft spot for financial and educational things. More the second than in first. For the first one is imperative (If I want a career in a company) that I move to Sao Paulo, and I have no desire to do that. Rio is already full of mega city problems, but I manage to have some good life here. In Sao Paulo you need to make more concessions in quality of life to land on the nicest jo…

> Remote working is something that I really desire, because I like nature, doing crafts with wood, you know, some place to get energies back. But I have a intense fear for risking my family safety by doing that. Do you mean financial safety or personal safety? I live in Argentina working remotely for over 10 years now. I moved from a medium city (1.5 M people) to nowhere in the mountains, and can't be happier. Right…

Financial safety.

Personal safety is debatable. The city is dangerous, so as any other big city here (>1.5M). I grew up on a very poor neighborhood in south brazil, half way to BA :D, you learn how to manage "dangerous" people and places to avoid.

It's a short term loss if you got robbed or something. I've been there multiple times (ironically not in Rio), I carry a cheap mobile phone and money for transportation only.

The long term loss is not having a chance to make a decent emergency fund, a retirement fund, or a somewhat successful business.

People working for companies here and doing that three things I said are living with their relatives to make it cheap.

Including in Rio where workers for Big COs are living with 2 to 4 unrelated people near Barra da Tijuca or far away (2hrs) with their relatives.

But hey! They have snacks and videogames on their offices, forgetting about everything else on the long term.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#273

Post by mcharezinski »

garmaine wrote: post #257
NateEag wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People seem to assume Google was wrong not to hire him. Is Google in the business of building open source package managers? If not, why should his experience there mean he should have gotten the job?

Because he develops a tool that other google developers use daily. If hiring him and directing his efforts leads to even a 0.1% productivity improvement in those developers, it would be Worth it.

Google devs dont use homebrew.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#274

Post by prewett »

exolymph wrote: post #236
nurettin wrote: post #158

@noddly I have some actionable advice. You are in an excellent spot. week 1, 2 maybe 3: search for popular android applications that have low ratings that you can implement, sort them whichever way you prefer, do some wireframes and plan your first project. Do not spend less than 3 weeks. Do not spend more. Week 4: This is the most important week. Figure out the tech you will be using. Make lots of demos projects, fa…

Good advice IMO, but I want to nitpick something: "Assuming you did something that has a conversion rate of 1/100 (worst case)" The worst case is making something terrible that no one wants, despite all that effort. And it is definitely possible. (Don't let that hold you back though, anyone reading this! Failure is the best way to learn, because it sucks so much.)

Failure can be useful, too. I made an iOS app that completely failed to get any sort of traction, but it was useful in getting consulting work, because clients knew that I had experience in iOS, in completing a project, and in getting approved (the process was seen as more troublesome back then), plus they could look at the app and get an idea of what I was capable of. Complete failure as a product, but great success in marketing.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#275

Post by [deleted] »

3pt14159 wrote: post #21

What I've seen that has worked in the past is this: Pick an open source project that is in a language that is respectable and commit to contributing to it for three or four months. Full time. Try to make sure that your written English is clear and professional in things like PRs. Try to keep your code as clean and as well tested and linted as possible. Once the core team gets to know you a bit you'll be able to reach…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#276

Post by meestaahjoshee »

WesleyJohnson wrote: post #184
3pt14159 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know many people that did this. Not all of them are making $500k a year, but here is some more examples: - Multiple Rails contributors, one that turned core. Those folks are making well north of $200k a year. - Ember contributors or contributors to projects around ember-data or similar. Multiple people making north of $200k a year. - A guy that dove into contributing to Postgres. He wouldn't even share how much his…

This frustrates me a bit, personally. I've been a professional developer (as in getting paid to do it) for 15 years, full time. I know a lot of tech terms are overused and misused, but I consider myself full stack. Frontend, Backend, Database, some devops. I've worked, in depth, with MSSQL, .NET, C#, Apache, Nginx, MySQL, PHP, Python (Django/DRF), JS, NodeJS, React, Flash/Flex. I've dabbled in Java, Clojure, ClojureS…

Location is a factor but also tech salaries have seen tremendous continued growth over the last 20 years.

new grads are getting jobs at FAANGs out of college starting at 150-200k+ tc these days.

granted these are mostly in higher col areas - sf, seattle, nyc.

you just need to get a new job if you want to make more money, it's that simple.

in 2015 i had my first job as a junior engineer at a startup at 60k. over 3 years i worked my way up to a tech lead and 100k. not bad but i could've made more faster had i just switched companies sooner.

i finally started interviewing and got up to a 150k offer at another startup of the same size, same area - my current company valued me at 100k and this new company 150k.

a year later this startup was acquired and i negotiated my way into a 200k+ offer at the acquiring company - mostly because the bigger company was bigger and just paid more in general than my small startup company.

making more money isn't that closely tied to your job skills actually. it's tied to your interviewing skills and desire to get a job at a FAANG or similarly large tech company that pays high comps.

i'm not saying it's the easiest thing - the FAANG interviews are fairly hard and require quite a bit of prep. But if you really want it I'm sure you could do it - it's more about dedication, preparation and time than anything else.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#277

Post by meestaahjoshee »

netizzio wrote: post #196
WesleyJohnson wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This frustrates me a bit, personally. I've been a professional developer (as in getting paid to do it) for 15 years, full time. I know a lot of tech terms are overused and misused, but I consider myself full stack. Frontend, Backend, Database, some devops. I've worked, in depth, with MSSQL, .NET, C#, Apache, Nginx, MySQL, PHP, Python (Django/DRF), JS, NodeJS, React, Flash/Flex. I've dabbled in Java, Clojure, ClojureS…

I'd consider myself in the same boat. Also been a professional developer for 20 years. Wouldn't say I'm full stack anymore as I'm a little out of the loop with all of the changes with front-end development in recent years, but trying to improve in that area and become a better, more-rounded developer. Also in Florida and in the low $100k range. Always a bit surprised to hear these stories on HN and elsewhere of devel…

col in florida is so low though plus no state income tax right?

100k in orlando is like 220k in sf so you're probably doing alright.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#278

Post by sah2ed »

safog wrote: post #159
sushshshsh wrote: post #149

I see two options for you: -Try to emigrate to a country with a strong tech sector and get a day job there. -Build a web service that people love and will pay money for, because it does something very useful for them. Everything else probably isn't going to result in you making money.

Out of curiosity, can you build a service and collect payments from US customers while not being a US resident?

Yes.

Not affiliated in any way, but Stripe offers a service called Atlas that will help you with the paperwork so you can begin processing payments. Setup fee is a one-time payment of $500 but be sure to read the fine print as there are other yearly costs you need to take care of.

https://stripe.com/atlas

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#279

Post by downerending »

WesleyJohnson wrote: post #260
downerending wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been in a rather similar boat. I spent a few years in "the show", but am back down in the real world now. Not sure I regret getting it out of my system, but it did harm my life. Am also an introvert, and it does reduce the possibilities, in my opinion. Still struggling with that. But trying to meet technical people who can hire or refer you is pretty useful (and try to maintain relationships like that when you l…

Appreciate the insight. Definitely seems location is a big factor, but I'm not incentivized to change that right now - so I'll need to look at this from different angles. Networking seems to be key.

Sure thing. Either way, don't torture yourself about it. Probably getting a dog or learning to ride a motorcycle would give you more enjoyment than working at a big-bucks tech job.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#280

Post by umut »

I think your best bet is to find someone

- who thinks (s)he can generate $3k/mo (essentially 2x of your target),

- who has reasonable proof that this is plausible and

- who cannot build it (her/him)self.

It is also great to have company, to keep you on track, motivate each other when you need it (and you will), and help you sell.. Don't take this as a freelancer gig, make sure you are cofounders/partners in this

Best of luck for whatever life throws at you! Cheers

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