411–420 of 609 posts
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It's not what you make, it's what you keep. That 300K+ in SV comes coupled to an extreme cost of living. :)
Good thing there are such things as remote jobs…
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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…
> 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 of the northeast like Pittsburgh and the Midwest. But usually the catch is property taxes are outrageous. The funny thing is: you just explained why property taxes are basically 'free'. (They are basically the best tax. Twea…
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> Meanwhile for those that have the time and willpower to grind leetcode, they know they can command a 20-40% raise every few years. One thing a lot of people forget about this 20-40% number is: It's only true early in your career. It might be hard for younger folks to believe, but you will all hit a ceiling and plateau. My first job hop was for +50%! The next one was about 40%, the next one 15%, and so on. Now, with…
Due to anecdotal reasons, going to have to disagree. Last switch was a 39% increase at 11 years in industry. The market is hot. Most of my friends/colleagues have seen a similar increase the last year. Obviously market, location, expertise will vary, etc. YMMV.
The thing about pay that the job hoppers apparently don't take into account is that levels aren't static. Looking at my own network over the years, virtually everyone I know has been promoted or otherwise landed more senior roles, to varying degrees on both sides. You may also have noticed a significant increase of "staff engineers" in the past few years, whereas the role was basically unknown some 10 years ago. Many companies also have been quietly giving out retainer bonuses/raises to slow down attrition.
Since I started my career, I've had multiple significant compensation increases, some from raises, some from promos, one from a team move, and some from changing jobs. Increasing your experience/expertise over time can have a huge impact. Going from no-name companies to household names can have a huge impact. Relocating can have a huge impact. Negotiations (even internal ones) can have a huge impact. There isn't a one-glove-fits-all when it comes to an individual's opportunities for comp growth.
On the other hand, stagnation is very much real. There are plenty of people that do nothing in terms of career progressions, negotiations, etc and just wait for year-end bonuses to fall into their laps. It'd naive to be surprised these folks aren't keeping up pay-wise.
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Buddy of mine solved 1400 leetcodes and still failed several rounds
Did they fail because they couldn't solve an algorithm? Or was it due to something else - e.g. soft skills, solving without explaining your thought process, system design, behavioral questions. Algorithms are only one part of an interview. I wouldn't hire someone who was rude or condescending, regardless of how fast they can write an O(n) solution.
>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…
However, that revenue goes to support accountants, lawyers, marketing, internal tools, HR, healthcare, employer side taxes travel that’s not related to a customer, infrastructure costs, etc.
I am not saying in a perfect world I shouldn’t be making more and honestly, I probably could. But, I like having a large corporation to take care of all of the stuff I mentioned above.
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.
Exactly my thought when I read the title. I know the cost of living is higher in US but I'm always baffled by how much tech workers make on the other side of the pond. To me it sounds like a dream.
The US is huge.
I work in the Southeast. Where I'm working Junior SWEs start around 60k. Mid Level Start Around 75k. Senior start around 95k. Manager/Our new "Super Senior" level start around 120k.
Our cost of living is still higher than yours. In my area a 3 bed/2 bath home with a small yard within 1 hour drive of my work costs 450k minimum and that would be a full hour out and the siding would be vinyl.
We have horrible public services, many of us are in debt to have obtained our CS degrees, child care is soo expensive, healthcare is crazy expensive even after we get our employer healthcare plans. Going to a local soccer match costs me $50 for nosebleed tickets, a beer is $14, and nachos are $15. Parking costs me $25 at the game and you have to pay for gas here too which is close to $5 a gallon(but keep in mind we drive further, to EVERYTHING, and owning a car is a requirement unless you're in NYC or SF).
I just want to represent for what is probably the majority of US SWE's.
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> The money we make pales in comparison with the size of our contributions to the company. That's unfortunately not how markets work. If you create 10M of value every year, and are only paid 250K for doing it, it's because there is someone else out there who is willing to do it for the same. (Yes, there are asymmetries in information and power, but broadly, tech salaries are market-driven)
That's why people unionize. Hasn't happened to tech yet, don't know if it will, but it isn't a forgone conclusion this is how markets have to work.
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> Due to the nature of my employment and some benefits, it doesn't make sense to leave right now. Do the monetary value of these cover for the missing 4x on your base?
I can't speak for the parent commenter, but I can say that in my case, I just found out that my blood pressure is through the roof because of bad exercise/snacking habits during the lockdown. If I die while I'm working for BigCo, my wife and kid will get something like $2.5M from life insurance and immediately-vested RSUs I'm very confident that I could buy a nice house in a low cost of living area, throw together a…
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…
Now that value delivered is disconnected from location, live somewhere inexpensive and push for your actual value. The only real requirement is US friendly timezones and 10+Mbps up speed internet. I'm sure there are 100s of cities in America that meet this expectation and would make you "rich" in that locale with a $200k TC . Choosing to live somewhere for the "lifestyle" is in itself a form of expenditure for which…
>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 cost savings of work from home must have been enormous for these companies First I agree overall, however I think you overestimate how much any companies saved on the WFH shift. 1. They still own the buildings or leases/mortgages. I doubt many were able to get out of leases which in commercial are usually 3-5year min. Mortgage only goes away if they sold the building. 2. They still have to pay the cost of main…
The smaller startup I worked at also had to get a second office a couple blocks away from the original office.
In the current remote-forward world, while these companies have to keep their existing real estate, they get the benefit of not having grow their real estate portfolio relative to their employee size. I was also told it cost that large tech company 20-30k a year per physical seat in the office. So I'm pretty sure the savings have been decent, even if they didn't dump their office spaces.