I'm in a very similar boat as you, but I live on the coast and loathe front end over some back end. I have been employed at a very small company for coming up on six years now, and the only way I can see increasing salary is to jump ship. The owner of the CO isn't particularly interested in growing, its just a face for a one man band. This means I do everything- code, docs, support, sales, shipping, manufacturing, hiring/firing, etc...which is awesome and has me 5 years down the line still in love with coming to work.
BUT I feel I deserve more and my dream is as yours- (and most everyone else) more dough.
As of recently I have decided that until my quality of life drops (pretty up there right now) then I will not focus on money.
How is the quality of your life?
Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
11–20 of 53 posts
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#12Salary may be misleading and not the best indicator of how much you're really making. For a more accurate number you have to calculate taxes and cost of living at the location where you're working as well as benefits (if any).
1. don't stay at a company more than 2 years (unless they give you what you want) and ask at least 20% more every time you change jobs.
2. become a contractor and eventually run your own business
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#13You're aiming way to low. By the time you're 30 you may be married, might have a child, might like a home. If you drift into Silicon Valley proper, where I live, your $100,000 will not allow you to buy a house. What were once working class neighborhoods are now filled with $2.5 million dollar homes. (But the houses are the same.) Aim higher, or learn to love to commute.
Most importantly, enjoy what you do. No matter how much you make, if you hate going to work, it won't matter.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#14IOS/Android.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#15It's a free market, always be interviewing so that you have offers to leverage your current employer. The cost of talent acquisition is high enough that it's always worth it to bump your salary than loose you to another company.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#16The money's what matters? Go into an investment bank (i.e. Goldman Sachs) and start doing stuff. It's easier to move teams internally than get hired for exactly what you want. Demonstrate that you are willing to put in the time and take the risks and you'll get your 100k, for all the good it will do you. Learning a new language part time is easy - if you're smart you could certainly pick up Ruby or C# in a couple of…
This. They'll treat you like shit, but you'll be making great money.
If you want to be treated well and make money, well you're going to need to be a high-tier professional. Maybe a software architect or data scientist. Both require a lot of knowledge and practice.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why your node recommendation? Does node pay particularly well?
Node.js is a section of services that will be needed now and in the future to create distributed web services/ sites, so yes node js is important to the next level of the web resources.
I don't think you've read my question.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#18Become a full-stack dev and learn to negotiate your skills. If you want to build skills quickly, you can always become a contractor. That way you learn a new skill/framework/etc every 3-6 months. Contractors also make good money, but may not always get the greatest vacation benefits.
I live in Minneapolis, and I've noticed that the bigger companies pay more. Best Buy, 3M, Pearson, Microsoft and Oracle are notable ones near here. If you don't mind giant, slow moving corps then an easy way to make more is to work for one.
100k for a front-end or JS developer is very doable, especially if you know the MVCs and a backend language. Node.js might be a good path as its growing quickly and it's done in a language you already know.
And lastly, build cool stuff in your spare time and list it all on a nice website. Use those projects as proof and reference during salary negotiations.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#19Options not on coasts:
- Own your own company, sell your as* off.
- Sales,
- Management at small company then get hired at a bigger company.
- project management
- consulting preferably at a large firm willing to travel alot.
- specialized platform like guidewire.
- C# or java at a big company(banking or insurance) jump around alot.
Re: Ask HN: I'm 26 and would like to make 100k/yearly before I'm 30. How do I do it?
#20Advice about Ruby or Python is stupid. Sorry, but it is. You focus on that, you compete with hundreds of thousands of willing people, which drives salary down. You have to be truly exceptional to make more than $70k outside of SF/NYC, and in just a few years of learning you likely won't be that special. A trendy language or platform is never going to return the highest salary unless you're in the SV mind-bubble.
If you truly want to make that kind of money, become an expert in one of these: Fortran, Cobol, mainframes, project management and architecture, Oracle, SAP/Sage/SAS (or other ERP dialect). They're boring, but that's precisely why the jobs pay well. These jobs are almost always open, and almost always pay more than 100k with 5+ years of experience. You pay for it in stress though.