Ask HN: Do you make more than $200K? What did you have to do?

Having been writing software for over 10 years, I recently learnt that a friend has been making more than $220K for the past several years (similar background). I'm at $170K and always thought I'm getting paid really well (I'm an engg manager + programmer in bay area, Java expertise).

Curious if people here make more than $200K - what your role/salary/experience is.

How did you get your high salary? How have you been raising it? Do you plan for it, or does the company reward you automatically? Do you switch jobs a lot?

Side curiosity: how much do execs (such has CTO or VPE make?)

Senior eng in big 4 can easily earn these money...(or in bank sector)

First off, are you talking base salary or full package? There is no such thing as $200k base salary for 10 years exp in java. You'd have to specialize. $170k/y base salary for an eng manager is right where you want to be.

If your talking about base salary + bonus + annual sotcks/RSU's then you're way below market.

Probably don't even need to be senior for +$200k total comp at Big 4.

To clarify what people are saying: 200 k$/yr+ in base salary is rare (but not unheard of) in SV/NYC for programmers. It usually implies some degree of specialization beyond "Java programmer" ("highly available systems expert" being an example that I know has garnered that base salary.)

200 k$/yr+ in total compensation (ie, salary + bonus + RSUs, at a public company where RSUs are liquid) is much more common. I personally received that as a SDE II at Google, with 4 years of experience, and from my understanding, I was not in any way an exceptional case.