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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?

#241

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

jongjong wrote: post #173
ny-anon wrote: post #167

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…

Are you in the US? Where?

Even here in Minneapolis, upper Midwest, there wasn't anyone on the team I managed making less than $80k. And I actually complained to the owner (small company) that we would lose people because their salaries weren't keeping up with the market or even with inflation.

If you're a developer in the US making under $80k I would have to assume that you're in an area with absolutely no tech business or you have no desire to change that.

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

#242

Post by humbleMouse »

belmarca wrote: post #196
IaacForHire wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you might slightly underestimate the sheer # of companies and tech jobs in the Bay Area? I think Hacker News is an echo chamber when it comes to this because there are so many "rockstar" type engineers here.

Probably. But there is worldwide demand for good developers, try looking into remote work. I've spoken with many people who have more than one "job", which amount to long, but not insane work weeks. One thing I think a lot of people underestimate is the sheer amount of _clueless_ (or almost clueless) software developers out there. There are a lot of young people with good intentions but very, very little "real" exper…

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

#243

Post by newaccount2021 »

IaacForHire wrote: post #51
yrgulation wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats odd. I know loads of lawyers living in mansions while loads of “highly paid” developers live with housemates, or rent tiny homes. If anything, software development pay has reached construction worker pay. At least we dont have to sit out in the cold.

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

No post body was provided.

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

#244

Post by giantg2 »

andsoitis wrote: post #233
giantg2 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Federal Reserve, among others. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/12/08/wages-202...

Thanks for the link; I can’t read the article because I’m not a WaPo subscriber (I’ll see if I can find a copy somehow). Do you know whether the Fed forecasts that for software engineering jobs? I think that is what’s most relevant for a large number of folks in this thread.

This was in response to the comment about wages decreasing for the whole economy.

I don't know of any specific forecasts. It's possible the actual report by the Fed does break down by industry, but I'm not sure.

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

#246

Post by swozey »

I'm not in SF or anywhere close to that COL and I make over 200 in Ops (SRE specifically, but no diff from devops). What is your skillset? Can you write go or another language? Learning to develop is what bumped me from a Sysadmin/Devops to SRE and hugely increased my salary.

I thought I was stuck in the 160-170s until I did that.

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

#247

Post by nmarinov »

pembrook wrote: post #162
2rsf wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to pen THIS discussion again, but... the difference is not that big especially if you calculate risk and family in. I live in Sweden with our "known" high taxes and as far as I can tell from conversations with friends and colleagues is that our QUALITY of life is not that different. Of course, YMMV especially if you were a big shot in a big shot place with no family to support, young and healthy.

I don't want to offer the canned rebuttal to this either, but, the free healthcare and education don't make up for a salary potential that maxes out at 2-3X lower than what you could make in the US (especially combined with much lower taxes). The fact is, the Nordics are de-facto the best place in the world to be below average. They're not a great value if your skills offer you above-average earning potential. Sure,…

> Sure, your QOL might be similar while working. But in the US, you can retire by 45 on a FAANG salary (even with a family!). That's virtually impossible on the entire continent of Europe as a salaryman.

Common idea but in IT it's absolutely possible to retire by 30 in several EU countries. Bulgaria, Romania and it might take more time but you can add Poland and several more to that list. Sure it's not Western Europe but then again the US is not just SV.

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

#248

Post by kevstev »

I have more than quadrupled my comp over the last 10 years, and I have not worked at a F*NG. I have not really climbed the ladder much either, I went from a senior to tech lead and manager back to a tech lead/IC. My comp is almost entirely cash as well, though I am fortunate in that regard.

This is in the US in the NYC area.

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

#249

Post by jasonlotito »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #125

Let's not forget how Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, Lucasfilm and eBay, colluded to pay lower salaries [0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...

People forget this. And how this had a greater impact across the industry. Because other companies could pay less and compete. And because of this, even though it happened over a decade ago, it had a long-term affect of keeping salaries lower than they should have been.

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

#250

Post by clintonb »

aynyc wrote: post #194
baron816 wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t study leetcode. If you want to work at FAANG, get some interviews with them. You may discover that you really didn’t need to spend days studying stuff that’s not relevant to your job. At the very least, you’ll get some interview practice and figure out what you do need to study. Those companies will let you interview again and again after a 6-12 month break. Also, companies like Stripe and Airbnb also pay compe…

If you want to work at FAANG, get some interviews with them. That requires Leetcode, no? Am I missing something?

Getting to the interview phase is straightforward if you have a few years of experience. _Passing_ the interviews is another story, and will require study if you haven’t studied algorithms recently.

I’ve never passed, but I encourage folks to apply, use the failure to figure out what to study, and try again in six months. I see many folks feeling unprepared, and they never get around to interviewing, so they never know if they are truly unprepared.

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