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How to avoid the software salary ceiling

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Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#51

Post by mattbrewsbytes »

dudul wrote: post #21
mattbrewsbytes wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he means stuck financially, not career wise since they have chosen to stay as a developer. His answer to how to move ahead financially is to specialize. So maybe that is the general advice is to find something to specialize in or you are just seen as a commodity by management. If you are a commodity (e.g. general web developer with X years) then you may not get higher rates.

I agree with the general idea. You can remain a "simple" developer and still ask for more money if you specialize and bring significant value. I disagree with the idea that moving to a management position means that you get "unstuck", especially financially. To me, becoming a manager is pivoting or branching out, not specializing. And as I stated, a manager should not necessarily make more money than the people they…

The management role is different and in most large companies is higher valued and more highly paid because they bear the brunt of whatever happens, good or bad, from their team.

Depending on the level of management and the systems involved it could also become involved in audits, regulatory matters and potentially handling confidential information for the company. Think of it this way: a manager of a team of 10 developers probably has a budget of 1.5 - 2.0 million dollars in just headcount, maybe higher. If your average developer on that team makes $100k, isn't it worth it to have the manager make about 20% more because of the responsibilities?

Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#52

Post by alain94040 »

fecak wrote: post #45

I recently blogged about this similar topic ( http://jobtipsforgeeks.com/2015/05/20/moremoney/ ) and listed a handful of ways to avoid what I referred to as a salary plateau. The basic list was change jobs, get promoted, ask for a raise, brand additional benefits to your hire (network, visibility, etc.), consult/contract, moonlight or add revenue streams, and specialize. I haven't read "Career Superpowers, but it sou…

Here's my tip to negotiate a significant raise without burning bridges: https://medium.com/@colunchers/how-to-negotiate-a-raise-9166...

In the end, your salary is roughly proportional to the number of people you impact. Management is an obvious path, since you directly control a group of people. But senior engineers can give technical direction and influence a lot of more junior engineers without having to be formally their boss. Also known as the technical track at companies such as Intel (principal engineer -> fellow).

Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#54

Post by knodi123 »

EGreg wrote: post #6

Or just be a CONSULTANT and raise your rates usng the wealth of information like patio11. Seriously, FTE is considered "the" way to fo by far too many people. Is it really that hard to manage your own health insurance plan and deduct taxes?

no, it's not that hard. what's hard is dealing with inconsistent income flow, lack of stability, and, most relevant to me, the psychological block against taking vacation or personal time when doing so has a real and immediate cost to my paycheck.

I'd rather make a little less at a job that has vacation benefits, than make a little more at a job where every day off comes out of my salary- because I recognize that I'm a human with certain hangups, and this is the way I can best optimize quality of life.

Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#55

Post by alain94040 »

RogerL wrote: post #15
svisser wrote: post #3

"I worked at Google so treat me differently" shows up several times in this article.

It was pretty much - whiteboard interviewing is stupid. BUT, if you for some reason value it, recognize I already went through a much harder version of it and passed." That's entirely reasonable, and not entitled, it's just facts.

I think having Google on his resume did help him in getting the interviews (as opposed to a stack of resumes no one ever called back), but once you get the interview, they still make you go through the same format as other candidates. Hard to compare candidates otherwise.

Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#57

Post by FragenAntworten »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #31

Moneyquote: "Now I understand why older programmers complain about rampant ageism in Tech. Younger workers are cheaper, and programmer productivity is notoriously difficult to measure, so most companies opt for the cheaper option." Wow that is so spot on, as a "generic" programmer asking $150K versus a "generic" programmer asking $75K ? Easy choice, we'll get two and double our productivity and halve the sick days! I…

A list of potential domains from a Google job posting[1]: cloud computing/infra storage, security/cryptography, embedded systems, distributed systems, machine learning, engineering tools, real-time media/audio video, operating systems, virtual machines, computer vision/graphics/3D rendering, front-end/UX, mobile application development.

[1] https://www.google.com/about/careers/search#!t=jo&jid=34154

Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#58

Post by ivanhoe »

mattdeboard wrote: post #20

I agree with the premise of this article (if you wanna get paid, specialise) as it strongly echoes my own, perhaps limited, experience. I am a generalist. I like being able to solve problems across a wide spectrum of fields. Working at a startup for the last three years has given me plenty of time for that. The flipside is that I have not had much opportunity to specialise. I take pride in being comfortable diving in…

Additional problem for a senior full-stack devs is that you'll usually be assigned at solving various tricky issues, and even when you get to dig deeply into something and get a decent expertise on that niche, it's very likely that as soon as you setup everything you'll have move to work on something else, usually completely unrelated. After a few months of working on something else you'll almost completely forget the most of those little insights and details that you previously learned, and you'll be back at the start...

Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#59

Post by genericuser »

RogerL wrote: post #11

"We can't hire 3D graphics people" "I'm teaching myself 3D graphics" There's more than a hint here. It's not hard to hire competent people and then give them space to grow. As engineers, that is what we want, to grow, challenge yourselves. And it is the only way that experience occurs. If you as a company are not willing to invest in that, don't be surprised when people don't walk in your door and agree to do exactly…

Just because you are specializing does not mean there is not room for growth of your knowledge, it just may not be in programming manner.

Consider specialization in say Expert Systems, you get to learn immense amounts about each domain which you are developing expert systems for, but I can understand employers wanting you to have a firm base in expert systems before hiring for you such a job.

The same can be said for 3D graphics, real time simulation software, and most other types of programming you could specialize. Just because you know everything there is to know about making realistic vehicles with 3D graphics does not mean there isn't plenty for you to learn about making realistic 3D dinosaurs and the nuances necessary to make them look amazing. You may not always be given tasks that require you to learn and develop new skills, but if you actually care about challenging yourself and learning you can generally find a way to incorporate challenges and learning new things into your job. You just have to be willing to put in the initiative to avoid forcing problems to be solved with the solutions familiar to you, and put in initiative to try new things learning enough about them to be able to advocate for their use when necessary.

TLDR: Just because the job doesn't force you to learn and be challenged, doesn't mean someone who wants to can't learn and challenge themselves on the job.

Re: How to avoid the software salary ceiling

#60

Post by eeprom1 »

moistgorilla wrote: post #50
sammyo wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue with a narrow specialty in Tech is that the lucrative niche can evaporate almost overnight.

This is most obvious in front end web but the simple solution is to not be an "Angular JS specialist" but a "Front End specialist".

Right, but now you are back to square one. The solution to terrible market dynamics for grown-up programmers is to specialize. The solution to specialization risk is to become a generalist.

I guess you could repeat this until you are 40, then get a nursing degree (not easy!), and actually start your life. :)

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