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Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

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Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#21

A solid article, but it should have commented on single family home prices. If you use the 3x salary rule, a $120k a year techie couldn't afford the median home price in America ($374k). A software engineer in San Francisco would have to make $526k a year in cold hard cash to reasonably afford the median single family home ($1.58 million). Talking about six figure salaries as if they are unquestionably upper-middle c…

Yeah, six figures isn't what it used to be. Same thing with being a millionaire. Inflation has deflated the significance of accomplishing my dreams.

What do you plan to do?

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#22
post #10

It also makes us Europeans feel underpaid :) I have 20 years of experience and don't even make six figures. $350000 base pay sounds like a different world.

Agreed. If you can land a job at a FAANG (not desirable for me), things are different though, even in Europe.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#23
Working in tech is not exactly easy, even if you love computers. You have to move to some awfully expensive part of the country and interact with some extremely thin skinned people all day, and spend hours upon hours examining minute details of systems supporting systems supporting systems that you never even knew existed.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#24
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't feel underpaid, but I definitely feel like I've lost tons of ground in the last 2 years. The floor has risen big time. Entry level jobs are paying up to 60k these days, whereas they were closer to 30k a few years back. Good for them, seriously. But watching the floor rise closer to you is never a great feeling.

You should look into a remote job with a California tech company where entry level is 120k. [1] [1] Filter by "Location independent pay" https://himalayas.app/companies

To be clear, I do quite a bit better than that... I'm not complaining. But using 120k as an example...a person went from making 4x the typical full time salary to 2x the typical full time salary in a very short period.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#26

>the average tech worker’s salary [will] reach $104,566 in the U.S. — a 6.9% increase since 2020, the report found. But inflation is over 11% since 2020. This isn't an increase. The average tech worker is making less than they were 2 years ago according to the Dice salary report. Why do tech workers feel underpaid? Many companies posted record growth and profits over the pandemic, but still give out paltry 3-5% raise…

Annual raises doesn't have anything to do with being over or underpaid, strictly speaking.

To clearly illustrate my point here, if fortune 500 CEO pay is up less than 11% on avg since 2020, I don't think that's an argument they're underpaid.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#27
post #10

It also makes us Europeans feel underpaid :) I have 20 years of experience and don't even make six figures. $350000 base pay sounds like a different world.

Get a remote job where they pay California rates no matter your location [1] [2] [3]. It's the new way for companies to stand out and attract global top talent.

[1] https://handbook.sourcegraph.com/benefits-pay-perks/pay-expe...

[2] https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/28/airbnb-commits-to-fully-re...

[3] Filter by "Location independent pay" https://himalayas.app/companies

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#28

Working in tech is not exactly easy, even if you love computers. You have to move to some awfully expensive part of the country and interact with some extremely thin skinned people all day, and spend hours upon hours examining minute details of systems supporting systems supporting systems that you never even knew existed.

Well said. Working in tech is like writing a book with 50 people instead of 1.

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#29
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does 3X salary rule come from?

It's a rule of thumb that your total debt should not exceed 1/3 of your income. It has no economic foundations whatsoever. Yet, banking institutions use(d?) this rule to reject whatever application they were not comfortable with.

I've never heard total debt should be 1/3 of income. Having a mortgage completely blows that up. Nevermind student loans, a car, or getting a credit card.

I've heard that monthly housing shouldn't be more than 1/3 monthly take home. Is that what you're thinking?

Re: Tech Salaries in 2022: Why the Six Figure Pay Makes Techies Feel Underpaid

#30

Working in tech is not exactly easy, even if you love computers. You have to move to some awfully expensive part of the country and interact with some extremely thin skinned people all day, and spend hours upon hours examining minute details of systems supporting systems supporting systems that you never even knew existed.

It's not that I dislike Jenga so much as I hadn't really expected it to be such a spot-on analogy of what tech work actually entails.
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