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Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

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Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#71

Post by conjecTech »

arbitrage314 wrote: post #41

If you want to make "big money," you should pretty much avoid WORKING at startups at all costs. Instead, get a high-paying job at an established company, and invest the difference in the startup's equity. I've considered lots of startup jobs because I believed strongly in the companies. Every single time, however, I was able to get a larger chunk of the company by keeping my current job and simply investing. To give…

Your comment assumes your presence/work has no impact on the success of the startup, which is an unfortunate thing to assume. Otherwise the two equity stakes have different payoff expectations.

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#72

Post by ultrasaurus »

As the informal statistics police, I'm uncomfortable with directly comparing jobs such as lawyer or doctor that require specific (and in the doctor's case limited) degrees to ones that anyone can claim to be (there are no 15 year old part time doctors).

Also, while maybe not relevant to a discussion of $200k+ jobs, averages among employed people may not be the average relevant to you -- it's much easier to find work as a junior marginal software developer than a junior marginal lawyer.

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#73

Post by rch »

api wrote: post #58
rch wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't (1) roughly equivalent to working for a monstrous telco monopoly, or stodgy office equipment manufacturer?

Yeah. Any boring money printing machine has to offer fatter salaries to attract talent because there is no other intrinsic appeal. Finance is just a particularly big one. I might also add government, though you want to avoid lower-level contractor positions there and go for higher-end stuff or becoming a direct Federal employee. Also avoid sexy areas like space if your goal is to get rich, since these will have inten…

> telco monopoly

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs

> office equipment manufacturer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PARC_(company)

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#74

Post by arbitrage314 »

conjecTech wrote: post #71
arbitrage314 wrote: post #41

If you want to make "big money," you should pretty much avoid WORKING at startups at all costs. Instead, get a high-paying job at an established company, and invest the difference in the startup's equity. I've considered lots of startup jobs because I believed strongly in the companies. Every single time, however, I was able to get a larger chunk of the company by keeping my current job and simply investing. To give…

Your comment assumes your presence/work has no impact on the success of the startup, which is an unfortunate thing to assume. Otherwise the two equity stakes have different payoff expectations.

Yep, that's a good point. If the startup will be less successful without you, then it's not a perfect arbitrage opportunity. This would be especially true if the company were small or starting out.

For most established companies, however, I think the difference of one person is typically quite low.

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#75

Post by giuscri »

arbitrage314 wrote: post #55
giuscri wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I ask you what is you current job?, the one that pays you $250k per year.

Hi giuscri! I work as a developer at a large company (e.g., think Google, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, IBM, etc.).

how did you get there?, i mean what is your career path?

i'm a CS student, i would be very glad to listen to your story. i know it may sounds rude, but i'm sincere.

if you want, send me an email to

giuscri gmail com

:)

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#76

Post by giuscri »

bdcravens wrote: post #66

Key word: "employee". Where someone else tells you what to do and controls your destiny. You can wrap it up in whatever words are prettiest, but employees serve the founders' visions for the product, financial rewards, etc. (which is of course perfectly fine, given the risk founders take) That doesn't mean the only choice is to become a founder, not everyone is there yet. Looking at the article though, you see the bi…

> Small businesses. Be prepared to rethink how your career works.

could you explain better?

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#77

Post by hacknat »

I know an Engineer at Microsoft who makes in the $500k+ range. Trust me, none of you would envy him (okay, some of you might). The way he does it is he's the guy who solves tough (not necessarily interesting) technical problems in the shortest time possible for x important feature. When .NET 4.5 was shipped you couldn't use the `await` keyword in a try-catch statement, because there was some issue with the debugger. He created a proof-of-concept in one month, but he threw an ungodly amount of hours at it. He's divorced and he lives at work. He's gets huge stock bonuses every time he does something like this, but, IMO, it's cost him a lot to get that money.

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#78

Post by api »

ForHackernews wrote: post #67
api wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great point. Startups are one of the only mechanisms doing that in our contemporary financial pyramid economy. They are one of the only true class mobility engines left.

Are you being sarcastic? I can't believe anyone would really believe this. Look at the profiles of successful VC-funded startup founders[0], it's all about pedigree: "Yet on close inspection, the evidence suggests that the keys to success in the start-up world are not much different than those of many other elite professions. A prestigious degree, a proven track record and personal connections to power-brokers are at…

No, and I meant relatively speaking compared to other mechanisms. Startups mint new money rather than enrich old money, and they create high paying jobs.

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#79

Post by gedrap »

kelukelugames wrote: post #17
philbarr wrote: post #3

At least I can make database connections as an employee in software.

Was the article worth reading? It had a very clickbait title.

A summary of big tech companies (Apple, Google, etc) salaries in the USA according to GlassDoor. You haven't missed anything :)

Re: Can you make “big money” as an employee in software?

#80

Post by ForHackernews »

api wrote: post #78
ForHackernews wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you being sarcastic? I can't believe anyone would really believe this. Look at the profiles of successful VC-funded startup founders[0], it's all about pedigree: "Yet on close inspection, the evidence suggests that the keys to success in the start-up world are not much different than those of many other elite professions. A prestigious degree, a proven track record and personal connections to power-brokers are at…

No, and I meant relatively speaking compared to other mechanisms. Startups mint new money rather than enrich old money, and they create high paying jobs.

I was mostly responding to your comment about class mobility. I don't consider a system that semi-randomly catapults a few ivy leaguers from already-wealthy families into the ranks of billionaires to be a "true class mobility engine".
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