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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

#251

Post by emteycz »

nicoburns wrote: post #205
emteycz wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because as a tech worker your salary is likely already well above the level that it would need to fall in order for us to achieve meaningful level of wealth equality (not complete equality, but equal-ish) Why would you want that??? I think it's awesome the common Joe can learn programming on the internet and earn huge bucks. Why cancel that of all things? And then, I don't think your suggestion for equality would w…

> If my work was significantly taxed above $100K, I'd stop earning more at that point because work is very stressful to me and I'm not going to do it if I don't get the benefit (now I earn slightly less than $100k, but also live and work in Europe). Everybody would lose - I'd pay less taxes overall. Perfect. You get a less stressful life. And you working less creates job opportunities for others. Other people win jus…

No, I don't get a less stressful life, I'd get a much more stressful one. One, maybe two years I earn a lot, and then 2-5 years next to nothing. I must plan my life according to the needs of my mental health, not fiscal calendars of some social engineers who can't understand that one size doesn't fit all and can seriously hurt some people (yeah, even those who earn a lot some years are still just humans, and sometimes sleep on the street another year too).

And it's a life where I am forbidden to do useful things that others want me to do and I am willing and able (which is not always, or often) - just because someone said "you did enough in this arbitrary period of time, give us your money or don't do it at all".

Don't even start about me owing the society, because in my view the society owes me a lot for the pain it caused me, gave me nothing of value, and tries very hard to keep me from obtaining the little I have. And the bill keeps growing. The idea that this should not only prevail but continue to worsen gives me chills.

Sorry - nothing personal, but I really, truly hate every bit of your idea of the world. From the beginning where people "should earn less so we are equal" to the end where it's "perfect that engineers work less" and the bit where you just assume I'd lead a less stressful life, even though you know nothing about me - typical of people of your opinions.

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

#252

Post by Finnucane »

I'd guess a lot of people, regardless of industry, feel underpaid. Simply for the reason that they are. Growing inequality is real, over the last few decades an ever increasing portion of the productivity gain of the economy goes to a smaller portion of the people. We do the work, others get the profit.

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

#254

Post by maccard »

Nextgrid wrote: post #152
sgt wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

£95k is very decent in the countryside but in London that's nothing to write home about, is it? I don't live in London or even the UK, so my statement is just based on friends living there.

Keep in mind that taxes eat quite a bit of that (seemingly more so than in the US).

US taxes are similar to UK taxes, particularly in california. Putting £95k into Salary Calculator [0] says you take home ~67% of your salary after taxes. £95k is ~$120k today, and putting that into this [1] calculator says you take home ~64% of your salary.

[0] https://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php

[1] https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-paycheck-calculator#...

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

#256

Post by UI_at_80x24 »

I was recently laid off along with >30% of the company.

I really liked the job, I had full autonomy to do whatever I wanted. Research new tech, optimize our existing infrastructure, etc. I was the sole SysAdmin and I ran the operations very well. The problem: Pay was stagnate. The pay was decent for my region, but a far cry from larger metro areas and others with my skills.

So I started looking online and found a great opportunity. As a bonus: The pay is $50k+ MORE then what I was making before.

And I still work from home.

So, yes I did feel underpaid; now I don't.

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

#257

Post by chasd00 »

tomc1985 wrote: post #199
indecisive_user wrote: post #5

>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…

The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company. Especially so if you are in a value-adding position and not something like internal tooling. Management and executives are DEFINITELY underpaying us relative to what we bring to the table for them. Maybe that is one of the reason headcounts have ballooned and complexity has increased so much -- an attempt to minimize individual i…

well we all like to think we're the sole reason "the company" makes any money but there's a lot more to the equation than just the person typing out the code. Without the code there would be no value but the code is meaningless without all the other expertise required to turn it into bank deposits. The technical part is maybe 10% (if not lower) of the overall effort to get a paycheck in your hands.

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

#258

Post by mrfusion »

tomc1985 wrote: post #199
indecisive_user wrote: post #5

>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…

The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company. Especially so if you are in a value-adding position and not something like internal tooling. Management and executives are DEFINITELY underpaying us relative to what we bring to the table for them. Maybe that is one of the reason headcounts have ballooned and complexity has increased so much -- an attempt to minimize individual i…

> The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company.

That’s a tautology though. They wouldn’t hire someone to break even and they wouldn’t hire someone to make a little more money since there’s work and risk in hiring.

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

#259

Post by maccard »

gambiting wrote: post #127
DogLover_ wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We pay taxes in the EU as well. Often the rate is much higher than the US but it depends on the country.

Sure, but things like health insurance can easily cost $1000+ a month if you want full coverage and/or have some bad health conditions(and you still need to have a big pot of savings in case you need to use it, because your out of pocket excess might be 10k or more). In most european countries the monthly cost is nowhere near that, it scales with your salary(down to zero if you don't earn anything) and still covers y…

> Sure, but things like health insurance can easily cost $1000+ a month

I've posted this multiple times before, but a developer on $120k, paying $2500/month on rent and $1k on health insurance in california will have more left over at that point than a mid level engineer makes before tax in the UK. That gap is inexplainable by anything other than "You get paid a crap ton more"

> Obviously once you start making 300k+ in US none of that really matters, you win at life in general - but it's not like people in Europe making 60k(euro) as software devs are in poverty or anything.

Honestly, it doesn't matter at half of that, but the second part of your comment is bang on the money. I wouldn't take a tripling of my salary for a move to the US, for example.

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

#260

Post by Beached »

danachow wrote: post #41
silisili wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no way in hell it's close to 8x. Just crunched the numbers, and an 8x mortgage would exceed my monthly take home. I felt pretty uncomfortable at 2.5x. I feel a lot of people are probably extending out to 4 or even 5, but 8 would be irresponsible and I doubt you could even find a lender for that.

Maybe you miscrunched? A 5x mortgage over gross pay should be just over 30% of monthly gross take home. Maybe too much for some, but not absolutely irresponsible - especially if you choose to stay in a stable housing market. 2.5x is completely ridiculous to expect - that’s going to be far below rental payments in most places that anybody would want to live. Its definitely not the norm. It’s obtainable in some areas o…

but total cost of home ownership is supposed to be 33% of take home. how do you pay electric, gas, internet, trash, water, sewer, umbrella insurance, AND routine maintenance on just 3%?
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