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Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

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Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#181

Post by klbarry »

kai-zer wrote: post #172
rdouble wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was one of the poor, unprofessional slobs who only made $100K or so in SF and NYC. I thought I was living a pretty good life, but maybe I should be ashamed that I'm not a millionaire CPA (huh?). Here's a typical programmer bachelor situation. I made about $6000K after tax and contributions to retirement account in SF and NYC. car = $0 insurance = $0, paid for by employer other debts = $0 iPhone = $80 rent = $1000 s…

FYI, no one is paying $1,000/month for rent in NYC... At least not anywhere reasonably close to Manhattan.

I pay 1150 for a one bedroom with a one hour commute to Manhattan via subway.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#182

Post by forinti »

vcadambe wrote: post #179
forinti wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be more specific, to be born Jewish American (or to be born in India and move to the US): http://awesome.good.is/transparency/web/1002/almighty-dollar...

> (or to be born in India and move to the US) This chart is be religion, and not everyone born in India is Hindu.

And not all Hindus are Indian. Still, 80% of Indians are Hindus and the second-largest population of Hindus (Nepal) is 41 times smaller.

So, if you are Hindu, you most likely are Indian.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#183

Post by klbarry »

SkyMarshal wrote: post #80
bnr wrote: post #10

Minecraft's Notch replied: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/frw5l/redditors_e...

And here's another really thorough response further down that thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/frw5l/redditors_e... ------------- entrepreneur_taway: I run a start up media company. I am 26. This year I've made over $100k. Here's how. ... TL;DR: 1) Work for yourself 2) Borrow [build a credit rating buffer] 3) Become an expert, but fake it in the mean time 4) Sell constantly 5) Hire labour 6) Fire ba…

When he gives more details (in the actual post), it is better.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#184

Post by mlgrinshpun »

There are a couple of comments in this vein already, but I still feel compelled to clamor against such an unreflective regurgitation of the word "success." That so many commenters are diving headlong into this cesspool by applying back-of-the-envelope statistical analysis and makeshift sociology to establish some mythic threshhold for entry into this elite is dismaying and speaks to a serious cultural void in the community. We might as well start whipping out the rulers and unzipping our pants right now.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#185

Post by runjake »

petercooper wrote: post #102
tastybites wrote: post #32

$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating. Your bosses and many of your peers earn twice as much as that. Edit: IF you work in the corporate world. Clearly if you're a lifestyle-b…

$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating. This appears to be true of the Americans I know but this level of salary is.. uncommon amongst the Europeans (particularly the British)…

It's uncommon in much of America, as well, except in metro areas -- and not all of us want to live in a metro.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#186

Post by sp_ »

retube wrote: post #149
tastybites wrote: post #32

$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating. Your bosses and many of your peers earn twice as much as that. Edit: IF you work in the corporate world. Clearly if you're a lifestyle-b…

$100k puts you in the top 15%. Maybe that doesn't fit your definition of successful, but I'd argue that having a good, stable, professional job was not only successful, but being, in the majority of cases, off the back of a decent education, pretty fortunate too. Source: http://www.americablog.com/2011/01/us-income-distribution-20...

I just want to quickly point out that making $100K puts you into the top 6% with $150K putting you into the top 2%. The 15% figure is for household income, not personal income.

The income distribution tables from the last US census can be found at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/cpstables/032010/perinc/new11...

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#187

Post by megamark16 »

Here's an interesting comparison of Software Developer salaries, according to Indeed.com. I kept trying to find a city with a lower average than Kansas City, where I live, but of the ones I tried we still get paid the least (on average).

http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=software+developer&l1=Ka...

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#188

Post by quickpost »

ww wrote: post #108

Alternate between billing really high to fix really really screwed up projects and billing a bit lower but taking interesting projects that you can use to update your skillset. I've made 125kish a year contracting this way in the non-major, low cost-of-living cities. Plus these contracts typically last up to 5 years so you have better stability than contracts of 6 months. This is just one way, but its an easy way. I'…

How do you find these contracts? Especially, before you broke into the industry and created a large network of contacts?

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#189

Post by sokoloff »

_delirium wrote: post #124
nandemo wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here you are: http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=%22senior+software+engineer%... http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=%22senior+system+administrat... http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=dba&l1=san+francisco%2C+...

Those all seem to be senior positions, and only in certain cities. So I would agree that $100k+ is a common salary for an engineer, especially a senior one. But the original post was talking about the bare minimum as a professional , which should include various kinds of professionals, at different levels of seniority and various locations. For example, I'd consider jobs like this to be "professional" --> http://www.…

In the US, good software engineers or sysengineers get a "senior" title with 2-4 years experience, and probably closer to the 2. So, it's a "senior" position in title only.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#190

Post by JabavuAdams »

cheez wrote: post #113
JabavuAdams wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toronto is nowhere near as expensive as New York. In Toronto, you can get a decent detached house in a downtown blue-collar neighbourhood or (a nicer one in the 'burbs) for under 500k. You can get a beautiful home in an elite neighbourhood for 750k.

I live in Toronto and I would love to buy a place in downtown Toronto for sub-500K. The house I live in now is "valued" at $500K and is nowhere special, but it's awesome.

http://www.realtor.ca/map.aspx?&vs=VEResidential&bed...

Interestingly, it looks like prices in my old neighbourhood are roughly the same, to 50k higher.

However, in the new neighbourhood things are up 150k+

http://www.realtor.ca/map.aspx?&vs=VEResidential&bed...

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