Are you an underpaid developer? • Hacker News Board

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#11

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:03 AM UTC

coolsunglasses wrote: post #7

SV here as well, independent contractor. 190k a year, ~6 years of experience, was making ~120k 3 years ago, ~40k a year 4 years ago. Contracts are remote, so I could leave but choose not to for various reasons. Starting a product and services company soon for developers (the customers) based on the schleps I've encountered. Just need to wrap up the current contract...

[deleted]

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#12

Post by throwaway1979 » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:07 AM UTC

Just curious ... does an MSc or PhD give a salary bump anymore? Most of the young people I know with PhDs don't seem to be making much over 130K. And this is data points in NY and the Bay area.

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#13

Post by nsxwolf » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:08 AM UTC

I have no idea what those freelancer hourly rates translate to after taxes, benefits, etc.

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#14

Post by yekko » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:10 AM UTC

sherm8n wrote: post #10

yekko wrote: post #2

My total is around 185k in SV. It was 115k about 1.5 years ago...

How did you make a big jump from 115K to 185K? congrats!

2 job changes, I did not plan this actually... Also, I specialized, no longer a generalist.

Edit: the green card helped!

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#15

Post by tfe » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:12 AM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #13

I have no idea what those freelancer hourly rates translate to after taxes, benefits, etc.

The rule of thumb that I've heard is that you should look for 2x your hourly-ized salary.

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#16

Post by yekko » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:13 AM UTC

throwaway1979 wrote: post #12

Just curious ... does an MSc or PhD give a salary bump anymore? Most of the young people I know with PhDs don't seem to be making much over 130K. And this is data points in NY and the Bay area.

Only if you can get into Microsoft Research. I know a H-1B phD at Google that wasn't making much. I also know a phd at Microsoft doing test... He was making peanuts!

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#17

Post by hdub » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:15 AM UTC

There's a lot more to a total comp package than just straight salary. I'm probably an outlier on HN as a .Net dev in finance in NYC. I was making ~250k as a freelancer but went perm. I now make ~200-220k after bonus but I now have a gold-plated health plan, 5 weeks vacation, a retirement plan and a training budget. It isn't always about straight up cash.

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#18

Post by nilkn » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:22 AM UTC

I live in Houston, so those numbers are all a little ridiculous here. But, outside of the city center, $200k gets here you a pretty nice house in a nice neighborhood. Hell, you can find decent ones for under $150k too if you look around.

Edit: Just did a home search (I just live in an apartment downtown right now) and actually it seems you can get a decent house for <=$100k here outside the city center.

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#19

Post by sherm8n » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:23 AM UTC

throwaway1979 wrote: post #12

Just curious ... does an MSc or PhD give a salary bump anymore? Most of the young people I know with PhDs don't seem to be making much over 130K. And this is data points in NY and the Bay area.

From my experience hiring at large corporations, the degree you get is counted as "experience". So someone who completed a 2 year master's degree right after their bachelor's is considered to be equivalent to someone who has a few years of work experience.

In short, no it doesn't matter. Someone without a degree can earn as much as those with advanced ones.

Re: Are you an underpaid developer?

#20

Post by hcarvalhoalves » Wed, Apr 03, 2013, 4:27 AM UTC

I'm depressed looking at those figures now. I'm not in the US, but still... As a developer who works both on backend and frontend, let alone sysadmin work, I'm not making 1/3 of that.

I should look into working with US contractors.