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Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

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Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#171
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not with that attitude. If you are healthy, have people skills, and are capable of learning new things regularly then you can generally make as much as you want in this industry.

I feel like this is toxic positivity. People can't just make as much as they want. There's always competition and other constraining factors. It's absolutely reasonable to say that you'll never make $220k (in 2022 $) as a dev when the median is $110k, regardless of one's attitude.

> It's absolutely reasonable to say that you'll never make $220k (in 2022 $) as a dev when the median is $110k, regardless of one's attitude.

If one's primary objective is to maximize income/money/wealth, then you should be prepared to be more flexible with the kind of work you do. There are many careers that pay more than my chosen career, but I am not interested in that work. Hell, it even applies within an industry. There are some companies in tech that have to pay a lot more to attract talent than other companies, because of their reputation, their culture, etc. You can choose to work there to make more money but it does not mean that other companies with better working conditions and more appealing products etc. should automatically match comp. Put differently, there can be many reasons why people choose one job, or career, over another.

It is unreasonable to lament that your chosen work does not pay as much as another job, and more unreasonable to expect all jobs to pay similarly.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, were seeing the largest increases in pay over the past two years (and i think in real pay too), and they're forecasting that will continue this year as well. This is much more prominent in the lower paying jobs than in professional ones.

A little mentioned dynamic is that tech salaries can't be too much out-of-sync with non-tech salaries, because overpriced housing bought up by SWEs making 300K+ eventually leads to non-SWEs demanding wage increases to keep up with rent payments and/or remain able to save for a downpayment on newly priced homes. In turn, the lower disposable income from workers being squeezed by housing costs is lowering growth and te…

Ah so you still believe in the trickle down economy. The problem with that is that anyone making 500k is not going to be able to spend fast enough to keep people around them equally wealthy and it gets worse the higher you go - you physically can’t spend 10M+ on groceries and haircuts near you so the higher proportion goes to financial instruments and assets which does not trickle down to neighbours

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#173

Going anon for this I grew up poor, got in trouble with the law at 18 - but was coding since I was 9, now I have been writing software for 20+ years professionally, no degree, and have never been able to clear more than 250k - moved from coding to mgmt but still cant break 250. I looked at changing companies to a FAANG but haven’t been able to dedicate the massive amount of time needed to prep for the algo whiteboard…

They probably have a rich, well connected daddy. For normal people, $250k is probably as high as you can possibly go. I also have experience with distributed systems, worked 80 hours a week for 10 years straight and built several popular open source projects and I can't get past $80k... Almost feels like a conspiracy against me at this stage but I suspect it just comes down to not having a rich daddy who is connected to politicians and corporate execs.

If you look at any rich person these days with a high salary, there is always a rich daddy, rich mommy, rich sugarmomma, rich sugardaddy or rich buddies pulling strings behind the scenes. It's just the new spoiled brat reality. HR people probably run candidates through an opaque automated system which filters out anyone who doesn't have a rich sugardaddy.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#174
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M2 is flat this year while prices are up. It isn't a good measure of inflation. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M2SL

Is that because the 2 have a time gap? Throwing money in the market does not have instant effects, it takes a while.

You're right there is a gap. We'll find out what happens very soon!

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#175

Going anon for this I grew up poor, got in trouble with the law at 18 - but was coding since I was 9, now I have been writing software for 20+ years professionally, no degree, and have never been able to clear more than 250k - moved from coding to mgmt but still cant break 250. I looked at changing companies to a FAANG but haven’t been able to dedicate the massive amount of time needed to prep for the algo whiteboard…

If you can’t breach the glass ceiling, just try saving more- move outside of NY etc. You can save plenty from 250k

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#177
post #154

European permanent salaries have been coming down. UK contractors take home less now than they did 5 years ago due to taxation changes (IR35). The tax changes have also made the market a bit strange where rates are still advertised at £500 a day even though, contractor takes home significantly less money. These have not gone up inline.

European salaries are still higher than they used to be last year. But they remain significantly lower than the Americans. In the UK, you could hire a decent senior for 80K in London, now it would cost 100-120K. I know a few decent devs whose base salary rose to ~200K, that was extremely rare in the UK and even in London. Also in Germany and Austria I see salaries rising. On UK contractors, the government closed a ta…

Graduates in London should be starting on £80K now.

After putting some contributions away for retirement that "decent senior" on £80K might just about be able to buy a 1-2 bed flat in a soulless development in an "OK" part of London, but definitely not a family home.

A graduate? Min 10% in to a pension (if aged 20), student loan, and they're only taking home £3.8K/mo. £2K/mo for rent is easily spent on a 1 bed furnished flat now, plus cost of living... might be OK, but hardly living like Gordon Gekko.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#178

Going anon for this I grew up poor, got in trouble with the law at 18 - but was coding since I was 9, now I have been writing software for 20+ years professionally, no degree, and have never been able to clear more than 250k - moved from coding to mgmt but still cant break 250. I looked at changing companies to a FAANG but haven’t been able to dedicate the massive amount of time needed to prep for the algo whiteboard…

Have you looked into living in NJ? In honesty, I don't know that there'll be much sympathy for someone able to make $250k/yr with no degree. NYC is an expensive place to live period. Virtually everyone I know who lives in the city rents.

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a cousin who makes $220k as a crane operator at a port. I'll never make that much in my career.

What is the qualify of life at work like for a crane operator? Do their mistakes cost immediate loss of life, possibly even for themself? Do they work evenings, nights, and weekends? Can they work from home, or move to a new country at a whim?

Do they have crushing expectations placed on them and are expected to be connected 24/7?

Re: Ask HN: Have tech salaries been stagnant for the past decade?

#180

Going anon for this I grew up poor, got in trouble with the law at 18 - but was coding since I was 9, now I have been writing software for 20+ years professionally, no degree, and have never been able to clear more than 250k - moved from coding to mgmt but still cant break 250. I looked at changing companies to a FAANG but haven’t been able to dedicate the massive amount of time needed to prep for the algo whiteboard…

Is there any way you can work remotely? If you can get companies to pay you 250k, you can definitely write a nice resumé and probably get a remote job in this market.

I know people who have the kind of history you mention but didn't end up in tech and they don't make anywhere near 250k/y. So all is not lost ;)

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