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This comes after the realization of having no visible career path despite being good and working hard and most friends (Java / C#) jumping to $150k+ jobs.
Thank you, responses would really give some helpful insights.
It's the role, not the languages that provides that kind of career path. If it was purely that, becoming a mainframe systems programmer would probably provide you a good sinecure these days. Instead it's using your Python to become, for example, a cloud orchestration expert or something in sufficiently hot demand. I'm not convinced that becoming another Java zombie would be any more lucrative that what you could do w…
My theory is languages like Java and PHP that have higher popularity have lower salaries because there is a bigger base to hire from and thus it is easier to find people. And that in turn keeps salaries slightly lower. On the up side, it's easier to find those kinds of jobs.
It's the role, not the languages that provides that kind of career path. If it was purely that, becoming a mainframe systems programmer would probably provide you a good sinecure these days. Instead it's using your Python to become, for example, a cloud orchestration expert or something in sufficiently hot demand. I'm not convinced that becoming another Java zombie would be any more lucrative that what you could do w…
That said, due to its high cost of living, $150K isn't that outrageous in San Francisco. You can use online cost of living adjusters to see what the equivalent salary would be in areas you're familiar with.
Most programers will tell you that the pay scale in software is like a hockey stick curve. Up really fast then flat line. Therefore, you move to the top of the S curve and then stick around long enough to approximate O(n).
Learn Java, Javascript, and Python, then move to San Francisco. You can pull in a base salary of $150K within 4 years of graduating if you get jobs at hot/popular companies. That said, due to its high cost of living, $150K isn't that outrageous in San Francisco. You can use online cost of living adjusters to see what the equivalent salary would be in areas you're familiar with.
Living and making $90k in Atlanta is the equivalent of living and making $150k in San Francisco.
Got 90k job out of college in NYC. Worked on a legacy PHP app with some Python, Java, Hadoop occasionally in there.
Negotiated salary to 100k + 10k bonus after one year and good performance reviews.
Next year asked for a bonus increase. 120k total now.
Started getting bored at the job. Asked around, got a 135k offer from another company. Went to my current employer and said if I don't get 150k I'm leaving. They said they could do 140k. I went back to the other company and told them their offer and they gave me 150k.
It has less to do with skillset or language choice than it does with just being able to negotiate and iterate on offers and take the opportunity when you can.
Sorry for not mentioning what areas I had in mind. I was talking about friends in Dallas, Atlanta, New York and Raleigh among others.
We are talking 5-8 years of experience.
I have seen and tried to follow the advice in this thread and it has not worked out.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or I'm just not good enough yet. I get a lot of interview calls, but the salaries offered are nowhere in the ballpark of $150k.
Also, every friend of mine, that I have spoken to, is doing either Java or C#, none that I know mention Python. When they offer me referrals I politely turn them down due to lack of experience in the Java and C# stacks.
I'm not a ninja or a rockstar but I get work done. My current role is one that requires me to learn all sorts of new things and thus my resume is a splattering of all kinds of skills.
I just want to stop worrying about my future and focus on enjoying family, hobbies and hobby projects instead. (But then who doesn't?)
It would also help me greatly if people could mention if the advice being given has worked out for them also.
I don't want to sound mean/ungrateful/rude, I really do appreciate all the help.