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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

#461

Post by bogomipz »

jcadam wrote: post #400
buscoquadnary wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something I don't think gets discussed enough. In my first 10 years of career I basically doubled my salary, by moving every 2-3 years, but I also now know I am pretty much hitting a plateau, anytime I talk with recruiters and talk about the salary I'd like to move which is about 10-20% (which is pretty reasonable given the benefits I got now) then people express reservations. Some people will end up making 2…

15 years in. Stuck at 200K, and I doubt that's going to go up much because the layoffs have started and we're heading back into "lucky to have a job" territory.

>"Stuck at 200K, and I doubt that's going to go up much because the layoffs have started and we're heading back into "lucky to have a job" territory."

Where have there have the layoffs started? What evidence do you have that we are "heading back into 'lucky to have a job' territory"?

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

#462

Post by LightG »

adamweld wrote: post #455
bastardoperator wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I used to think developers in tech did well, then I worked with some really good sales people in tech and realized they're making WAY more on top free vacations and spiff (even more money) opportunities. It's night and day. We've heard about developers making upwards of 500K, I've seen sales people make triple on a single deal with similar deals lined up for following quarters. It is insane, and most de…

What industry are you in?

Operating bastards.

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

#463

Post by mrep »

acchow wrote: post #439
edgyquant wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do and so does my whole team. I live in Seattle but a lot of our guys are in the south making six figure salaries. Not being paid the average salary seems to be fud I’ve heard from anti-remote people.

By “in the south making six figure salaries” do you mean $300k on 4 YOE?

My target is $250k, I'm getting $350k due to stock growth and I am remote with 6 YOE.

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

#464

Post by dathinab »

Because averages are misleading, inflation is high, but also do they?

Most people I know might complain they get relatively less then before, but so does anyone who gets less then before.

But I don't know (m?)any which feel they get too little if put in context of jobs outside of IT.

Or at least where I live in the EU? Did the living cost in the US explode to a point where a 100k$ salary isn't enough to reasonable nicely rise a kid?

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

#465

Post by jcims »

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…

How far down the stack does this mentality go? My brother does fiber construction and repair for a major telco. I bet there's been a trillion dollars of economic activity conducted over glass he's put into place, but he just gets paid an hourly wage plus overtime.

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

#466

Post by twblalock »

atwebb wrote: post #275
dcolkitt wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would a single person need to buy a 3 bedroom home (the median American home size)? A household with two $120k earners can very comfortably afford a $1 million home at current mortgage rates.

Am I so out of touch that this sounds insane? Mortgages are leverage and that's a whole lot of it.

Mortgages are not just leverage. They also lock in your cost of housing.

For example, people who rent in major cities have seen their rents increase by 30% or more over the past few years. Housing prices have also gone up by that much.

On the other hand, someone who bought a home a few years ago has not seen their monthly payment change -- and it will not change for 30 years if they got a fixed-rate mortgage! In the next few decades, their mortgage payment will be increasingly smaller in real terms due to inflation and will eventually be substantially lower than the rent for a similar home.

2 people earning $120k each have a monthly pre-tax income of $20k. They can easily afford a million-dollar home, and the property tax (~11-12k per year), in the San Francisco area. The problem is, a home that cost a million dollars 2 years ago now costs $1.3 million.

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

#467

Post by colinmhayes »

b3morales wrote: post #358
simonh wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're able individually as a sole contributor to create 10M of value, sure, off you go, quit you job to go solo and generate all that sweet revenue for yourself. It turns out someone identifying a market opportunity, getting funding, renting office space, hiring HR, infrastructure, service and support personnel, product designers, QA, sales, etc, etc all costs a surprising amount of money and effort that for some…

This is a deflection: the original comment didn't say that there was no value in other parts of the business. It said that the price/value ratio was wrong.

But you can't unlock your value without those other parts of the business. Again, as an employee you aren't paid the value of your work, you're paid your replacement cost.

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

#468

Post by 22SAS »

dimitrios1 wrote: post #209
eru wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only America's productive cities did not ban building more housing..

If only Americans reignited their imagination and didn't just settle on having a few big cities in opposite corners of the country. America is huge. There's land everywhere. Start dreaming. China has 160 cities with 1+ million people. We have 10. Granted, there is a massive population difference, but we should most definitely have more than 10. There are major issues when you only have a few cities with the bulk of t…

China may have a 160 cities with a million+ people, but, do all of these cities have the infrastructure and opportunities that are the same as or come close to Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzen? IMO, this is a case where quantity alone is a poor metric.

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

#469

Post by giantg2 »

eutropia wrote: post #435
giantg2 wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"So many entitled people arguing for an economic caste system…" I don't see that anywhere in my argument. "Arguing that your wage should always match or beat inflation is arguing for defacto permanent income inequality." Do you have an alternative approach? I have not heard any mainstream argument for setting all salaries/wages to be equal. You have to define income inequality and then determine what level of inequal…

I'm saying that if you give everyone a raise matching inflation (all things being equal), the people's wages who rose naturally (and contributed to CPI by virtue of raising labor cost of goods) are no better off than they were before. My software engineering salary buying less of car/house/food than it did last year is a reflection (in an abstract sense) that my total share of "value" is relatively smaller by compari…

"My software engineering salary buying less of car/house/food than it did last year is a reflection (in an abstract sense) that my total share of "value" is relatively smaller by comparison to the factory worker, farmer, etc"

That's true if that factory worker or farmer is also getting a raise. It can still be true if those workers are getting raises higher than inflation even if you as a dev gets an inflation adjustment. The thing I was saying is that I should get inflation adjusted and those other people should be getting more than inflation adjusted by moving up the floor.

"it's a lot less convincing than "I'm 11% more productive"."

It can still be convincing if the company is able to charge 11% more for the same output you are producing.

"Now of course, the reality of the situation is that a lot of productivity increase went straight to the top instead of improving compensation. But wage-inflation for all doesn't solve that."

Not entirely, but maybe a little. The fact that the top are absorbing the increases while the workers absorb inflation is the problem. If wages are inflating as they are now, the at least puts pressure on the top to stop sucking up the extra to stay competitive. Maybe. I can't imagine how good life could have been if real wages hadn't decreased for the past 50 years.

"I'll take increase costs relative to my personal lifestyle if it means less people with essential jobs living paycheck to paycheck."

I'd rather make the top pay. I don't make all that much.

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

#470

Post by colinmhayes »

maxsilver wrote: post #354
jolux wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't true. Most major metros are experiencing a serious housing crisis right now. We see similar problems to SF here in Somerville and Cambridge, albeit to a lesser degree. There's certainly not enough being built to keep pace with demand. The suburbs around us are even worse.

> We see similar problems to SF here in Somerville and Cambridge, "Boston saw a historic building boom during the seven years (2014-2021) that former mayor Marty Walsh, a former construction union leader, occupied City Hall. The city’s skyline transformed, and continues to do so. Tens of thousands of new units of housing were created. An entire neighborhood rose from the ground." - https://www.boston.com/news/politic…

Of course a housing shortage has to do with supply and demand. Yes, we're building, but not nearly fast enough.
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