The link was dead. But to answer the question - I've known several engineers who have done very well. It's not $100+ million money, but in the 5-10 million range. The key was both being visibly talented (the kind of people universally recognizable as being capable of solving the hardest problems) and joining companies that grow like a rocket (Apple, Google, etc).
Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
31–40 of 90 posts
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#32Yes, 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…
(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.
This is a very poor way of describing the risk / upside of joining a startup.
In the aggregate, the odds of any randomly selected startup may present odds similar to roulette, but practically, you have the ability to choose who you work with and which company you work on.
Given the ability to be selective, you can dramatically increase your odds of a successful outcome, assuming that you have the skill set to a) identify / evaluate market opportunity / team capabilities and b) utilize your technical ability to add significant incremental value to the company.
The early team at PayPal did not have a 1/48 chance of success; it was probably closer to 1/10.
Edit - (Not actually 1/10, but significantly higher odds than those of a startup selected at random) Odds were chosen to correspond to the given example of roulette.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#33Yes, 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…
Yes, but I think those events are rare enough to be classed as outliers. Ultimately, the guidance of 'work at a company that's going to make it really big in the future' isn't all that helpful in practice!
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#34site is down.
after starting my own company and seeing modest success, i wouldn't want to get rich any other way. i feel much more in control this way, and even if it is an illusion, it's a useful one.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#35Yes, 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…
> You just have to be okay with doing things that basically add no value to anything. So, most silicon valley startups?
Silicon valley startups are good at redistributing the money from the top to the bottom.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#36At least I can make database connections as an employee in software.
Yes, but will they lead to Big Money?
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#37Yes, 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…
(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. This is a very poor way of describing the risk / upside of joining a startup. In the aggregate, the odds of any randomly selected startup may present odds similar to roulette, but practically, you have the ability to choose who you work…
I would say that being a developer on average doesn't give any special ability to evaluate the probability of success of an early stage startup. And if you don't have an special ability to evaluate the probability of success, 1/48 is probably generous.
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#38Yes, 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…
Isn't (1) roughly equivalent to working for a monstrous telco monopoly, or stodgy office equipment manufacturer?
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#39Yes, 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…
(4) sounds interesting, can anyone contribute some details?
Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?
#40Found an archived link of it if you get the database connection error. https://archive.today/WyTCF