i really love when shitty developers complaining about compensation while completely demonstrating their inaptitude.
unable to establish database connection? well, i'm unable to give a fuck about your whining. fuck off.
Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
11–20 of 90 posts
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#12startup case: the short answer is no. Why ? Statistics. 1-2% doesn't get you anywhere, after dilution, vc's getting, stake and if an eventual takeover happens. A 50mn takeover will leave a founder with about 6mn is an O.K aprox. Granted he had 50% of the company to start with, where does that leave you? established company case: As an employee you can hit the 1mn mark over a few years depending on the company. But th…
As a co-founder, how much does 10-15% leave you with?
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#13At least I can make database connections as an employee in software.
[deleted]
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#14Fuck money. Hacking is about the novel manipulations of technological systems, and you're supposed to be poor while you do it.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#15Yes, in a few ways I am familiar with: (1) Finance. They make so much "free" money that they can afford to just pay massive salaries and not blink. You just have to be okay with doing things that basically add no value to anything. (2) As a very early employee in a hugely successful startup. But this is roulette, since most startups fail and some only succeed after so much dilution that your share ends up tiny. (3) W…
Google/Facebook both minted several thousand millionaires at IPO. The vast majority weren't CXAnything. I don't know whether the article is about income or wealth, but if one puts "big money" at, say, $250k of gross income, then it's clearly achievable in software. Options include a) get a job at AppAmaGooBookSoft and stay in it for 5~10 years or b) hang out your shingle as an independent consultant and charge $8k+ p…
Google/Facebook level IPO's are quite rare, and you had be in relatively early to get enough.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#16I have a term I call "win at money". You've won at money when you have enough capital to live comfortably for the rest of your life just on the interest from low-risk investment.
Can you win at money in software? Yes, but pretty much only by founding your own company or being among the first handful of employees at a startup that gets huge. On the other hand, you can make a comfortable middle-class living at software very easily.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#17At least I can make database connections as an employee in software.
Was the article worth reading? It had a very clickbait title.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#18At least I can make database connections as an employee in software.
Maybe they should have thought faster.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#19Yes, in a few ways I am familiar with: (1) Finance. They make so much "free" money that they can afford to just pay massive salaries and not blink. You just have to be okay with doing things that basically add no value to anything. (2) As a very early employee in a hugely successful startup. But this is roulette, since most startups fail and some only succeed after so much dilution that your share ends up tiny. (3) W…
(3) also probably takes something akin to an MBA, from what I've observed. Not a hard and fast rule, but just what I've seen.
I would also add that the "billion dollar VC series-B startup or bust" is not the only alternative to grinding away under the yoke of someone else. If you find a nice little niche that isn't drenched with developers (non-profits, serving lawyers, etc.) - You won't be a billionaire, but you stand a much better chance of creating a $million+ sustainable product or service company in that space.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#20In between GlassDoor data he talks about founders being the Lords of the Startup Feudalism and I kinda agree, companies used to pay 25-40k to an employee, a programmer/engineer can take several jobs from the industry henceforth the salary is 3x the regular salary. However the successful founder become rich and invest in other companies small, medium, big and help raise the inequality.
That is the broken narrative.
An employee can get stock in 5 different companies in 5 years, a founder is, at best, able to get one company off the ground in 5 years. An employee can move change jobs (and often get a pay raise) when the unexpected hits a company puts it on the skid. A founder will never be invested in again if they jump ship on the company when it hits a big problem. An employee can work for a cash salary every year, a founder often will spend one maybe two years without salary. Founders file for personal bankruptcy, employees generally don't.
And the interesting thing is that any technical "employee" can work for 5 years in the Bay Area and get up enough cash to be a "founder" for their first startup. (I went 12 years before going into a startup but the earliest I've seen it be successful is 5, you have to know enough about running a company to make it work).
The reason the narrative is so skewed though is because you here stories about the successful founders but few about the marginal ones. You rarely hear about the person whose personal bankruptcy has made every part of their life that involves running a credit check harder. For every successful billionaire founder there are THOUSANDS of millionaire employees.
The problem here is the notion "big money" and perceived inequity of distribution. But if you actually put everyone who identifies as a "Founder" in a group, and everyone who identifies as an "Employee" in a group, it is much more likely the people in the latter category will have retired early.