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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?

#211

Post by smanek »

gjm11 wrote: post #144
smanek wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, the money/time tradeoff breaks down pretty quickly - you've almost certainly used all the easy wins by the time you're even earning mid six-figures. Basically, there are only so many hours of outsourceable stuff in your day. Once you've made the trade for cooking (eating out/chef/stay-home-spouse), cleaning (maid/stay-home-spouse/etc), errands, scheduling, minor research, and other miscellany (secretary),…

You say "by the time you're even earning mid six-figures ", but "mid six-figures" is a whole lot of money. (Of course it's not much relative to Warren Buffett. but then what is?) ... Oh, wait, by "mid six-figures" do you mean $150k or $500k? Even $150k is a very nice salary by most people's standards, but I was assuming you meant $500k. (Six figures: 100k to 999k. Midpoint of that range is $550k. Perhaps the geometri…

I meant around $500K. I think that's the point where it's reasonably likely you have a secretary/personal-assistant to take care of those last little bits of outsourceable work.

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

#212

Post by salemh »

sokoloff wrote: post #189
_delirium wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My experience recruiting Senior Developers (not a coder, take it for what its worth) for top-3 eCommerce firms, top 10 Las Vegas Casino's and Casino game design firms (which normally offer lower compensation) and top financial firms.

Low-cost of living, "Senior" developers were making ~$80-$90,000 base upwards to $120,000 base (rare).

High cost of living areas the Senior developers were making $90,000 (probably poor negotiation or "title" based "Senior" vs skill level) to $160,000 base. In higher cost of living area's the benefits and "perks" were always higher, but tended towards a lower work-life balance. The work-life statement is generalized, since it is, of course, company dependent. In lower/mid level cost of living, "breaking" $100,000 was difficult to negotiate.

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

#214

Post by danssig »

tomkarlo wrote: post #192
danssig wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This a million times over. I've tried to explain this so many times to my friends who insist on making sub $80k in backwater places citing cost of living "advantages". Uh, no. A BMW or iPhone will cost about the same in Tulsa as it does in New York City.

As much as I love New York, this isn't true, at least for the car. The base payment on the BMW will be the same (call it $600 if you buy) but your insurance will be higher in urban areas, you may pay as much as $300-400 a month for parking in Manhattan, and gas is probably higher as well. So that car ends up being 20-30% more expensive in NY vs. a rural area, or even vs. say Los Angeles, where a parking space runs ab…

Fine, some things cost more but my point still stands: national products are the same or almost the same cost.

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

#215

Post by nickthedart »

willyt wrote: post #147
petercooper wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$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)…

$100k == £60k. 60 less 33% / 12 = 3300 take home per month. London rent for 2 bedrooms is about £1500-2000 anywhere you would want your kids to go to school. £100 for commuting. £200-£300 for food. Car £150. Local tax £200 ...

one strange thing about the UK IT industry is that the majority of jobs are in London and the SE, where the cost of living is so high that you may well in fact be better off financially if you live somewhere cheaper and work in retail or as a bus driver or some other job that while not totally stress-free, does not require constant updating.

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

#216

Post by gte910h »

jhamburger wrote: post #86
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…

This post is a good example of a phenomenon I keep seeing when it comes to how people view incomes- People pay much more attention to their own circle and to those making more money than them, so they get a skewed outlook on what is 'normal' and 'average'. That's why everyone in America thinks they are 'middle class', whether they make 30k or 500k. Lawyers and i-bankers are a different story, but you won't find any s…

97k is the median income in the valley. That's why you keep seeing this figure. Pedestrian engineers a couple years in earn this all over the valley....and drive 60 minutes because they can't afford a 3 bedroom house near their work on that salary.
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