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Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

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Re: Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

#171

Post by djjose »

killion wrote: post #45
badave wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in San Francisco and it is probably 138% more expensive than Miami, FL. A cheapo 1br in the city runs around $1200 a month. Nice places cost $1500-2500 a month. I'm paying $2k a month myself but it's a really nice place w a Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and city view. How much are places in Miami?

As someone that moved to the bay area from Miami 6 years ago 138% sounds about right to me. Comparing apples to apples you would need to compare Biscayne, Coconut Grove, Coral Gables in Miami to SF. Those neighborhoods are $1,000 to $2,000 a month.

As someone making the move from Miami to SF I can give some approximations that are hopefully time-accurate. Brickell/Downtown/South Beach/Grove 1BR prices are in the $1200-1600 range down here now for a now standard pad. You can of course go much higher, but not much cheaper (cheapest I've seen is $1100, a total steal these days). I myself have paid $1250 or so the last few years, however the building I just left in Brickell now has 1BRs starting at $1400. Demand has certainly moved the price needle up in the cooler parts of town here. For a similar looking place in SF I'm looking at the $1800-$2000 range in similarly cool parts of town. I could of course venture out to the Richmond and save/get more space but that's the same anywhere. In keeping apples to apples I'm comparing the Miami areas above to Nob Hill/Russian Hill/North Beach/Marina/Pac Heights/Inner Richmond areas. If I'm off in the SF comparisons someone please DO let me know. :)

Re: Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

#172

Post by chanux »

I'm on my first real job. I had no idea what to ask for and what I am really worth. I wasn't really desperate for a job but I only asked for something now seems too low (feels way too low after this thread). I screwed up in salary negotiation (Actually I didn't even negotiate.)

Anyway what matters right now is I love the job and it's pretty much what I'd be doing even if I was on my own. There are times that economy gets tight. I feel bad but I always move. Perhaps I'd MOVE ON someday.

Anyway I think there should be some resources that helps a guy going for his first job have an idea what black magic salary negotiation is. Perhaps the fellow HNers have some good stuff to share.

Re: Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

#173

Post by graywh »

smackfu wrote: post #22
jaxn wrote: post #16

If you look at how salaries are distributed across the US public, the 60k - 100k category is way too large while 151k-200k should probably be just one range and not two. As someone who hires programmers, I am much more interested in how many people make between 60-70, 70-85, and 85-100.

Unevenly sized buckets give weird data anyways. How would you show it on a graph? The buckets should be uniform, except for catch-alls at the ends, then you choose how to display them afterwards.

Statistically speaking, using buckets is like throwing away 1/3 to 1/2 of your data. There was a salary survey on here a couple of months ago.

Re: Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

#174

Post by ajryan »

zmj wrote: post #110
kingofspain wrote: post #70

This has got me thinking. I would literally pay someone to figuratively sit down with me, go through what I've done/can do etc and then based off their experiences tell me what I could be getting. Of course, it won't be too accurate and location makes a big difference but perhaps an enlightened recruiter type with a bit of experience in a couple of parts of the world could give a ballpark figure, say X in SV, Y in NY…

You're making a mistake in thinking that there is an objective value that you can apply to yourself. It's not you.value, it's you.valueTo(other,now).

other.valueOf(you,now), I think

Re: Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

#175

Post by mgkimsal »

justin_vanw wrote: post #130
neild wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That calculator is making a very common and yet very fundamental error: It assumes that cost of living adjustments should apply linearly across a salary range. It costs more to live in San Francisco that it does to live in Detroit. However, that additional cost is largely static: You'll pay a lot more for housing, you'll probably pay noticeably more for food, and you may pay somewhat more for clothing and other items…

I think you grossly underestimate the difference in housing costs. In the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, you can get this 1300sft house for $643/month: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/211-Barbary-Ct-Cary-NC-275... In Palo Alto you are looking at this 1140sft house for $4922/month: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4205-Wilkie-Way-Palo-Alto-... This is not an extreme example. Housing costs in NC are a sma…

So after you subtract housing, assuming purchase, the Raleigh engineer is better off initially. Of course, assuming Palo Alto housing prices don't plummet, the valley engineer is putting equity into the house which he can use if he moves for retirement.

And the NC person isn't putting equity in to a house?

Re: Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

#176

Post by iamjoshua »

bartonfink wrote: post #2

Again, this doesn't make a tremendous amount of sense without location data. I'm voting with my salary adjusted to San Francisco levels by using the following adjustment tool: http://www.bestplaces.net/col/ I'd recommend that people do the same so we can remove a substantial source of noise from this poll and actually get a meaningful distribution.

I think that in addition to location, degree of expertise or years of experience are important factors which often correlate with location. For instance, if you live in the midwest and make your living tweaking wordpress themes, you may consider yourself a "programmer". However, that wouldn't fly in a major city. So I would speculate that salaries are higher in SF, for example, but the quality of the "programmer" is significantly higher than in other locations. Just my 2 cents...

Re: Poll: How much do you make as a programmer?

#179

Post by EmployedRussian »

kingofspain wrote: post #107
sanderjd wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem with this is that negotiations are very sensitive to starting terms, what he would pay for (and I think many others would as well) is basically an intelligent idea of where to start.

Exactly. I don't want to know what an employer thinks they can get away with or even what level I can push it to (which may be higher or lower than my 'recommended' level). To get a proper idea I'd also have to do a lot of interviews. Hence where someone who's got a bit of experience/knowledge in this area can save me a load of hassle.

ex-Googler Piaw Na offers just the service you are seeking: http://books.piaw.net/negotiate/index.html
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