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Ask HN: Is it possible to make $200K/year base salary?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make $200K/year base salary?

#3
Yes, big federal government contractors offer this if you meet the requirements for the job as a base salary, actually have the required work experience and are in the top 25% of the talent pool.

Though, at that level it is extremely competitive, and you will be working on solving some extremely challenging problems that you would never encounter outside the government contracting industry.

You can also work for high end service agencies, or startups, or if you want to make way more then that financial institutions would be a good start. Though note, the pace is very fast in many of those companies and the hours may not be worth the large sums of money you will get paid for putting them in if you cannot handle stress very well.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make $200K/year base salary?

#4
There are some industries, probably (hedge funds, as the other comment says). But a lot of variation is regional: you'll get paid way more in Silicon Valley or San Francisco than anywhere else.

The problem is that housing so much expensive there that it's not clear it's actually worth it.

To put it another way, salary isn't the important thing. It's salary minus expenses, adjusted for local cost of living (really just another form of expenses). While maximizing income is good, cutting your expenses is far more useful (and easier) once your income is high enough: https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/08/08/living-below-your-me...

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make $200K/year base salary?

#6
I'm not sure why you wouldn't care about stocks or bonuses, but 200k base salary is entirely possible at Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Oracle, most hedge funds, and so on. 200k per year doesn't even put you in the 1%. 200k per year isn't even an infinite amount of money -- larger house and nicer car and poof it's gone.

Right now software engineers with AI and Deep Learning experience or Big Data experience are in demand and they can easily clear 200k.

Outside of the US a base salary of 200k less common, but still possible for senior software engineer type roles, or more commonly for CTO or Director of Engineering level roles.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2014/01/12/googl...

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make $200K/year base salary?

#10
As some have said possibly government contracting, or maybe even the medical fields. There is definitely a lot of money to go around if you know where to look and what you're willing to do for it (I'm speaking legally of course). Government contracting may not be for everyone, it depends on the company and what they do if you'd like it or not. Before I got my current job I saw some companies that made things I had 0 interest being involved in. Bear in mind that you must be a US Citizen to do government contracting in the US. This gives you an advantage over others who don't have this privilege.
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