231–240 of 631 posts
> According to Robert Half, Bay Area salaries are 42% above the national average, so that range translates to $110k-$205k unadjusted.
can someone explain the math here? wouldn't this imply an unadjusted range of $134k ($190k/1.42) to $246k ($350k/1.42)?
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My point is: it seems to me that it is possible that labor unions in Europe are less effective at bargaining than individuals in the US, but I'd like to see research. I didn't intend to imply the US software industry is unionized; the US barely has any union jobs in 2021.
> the US barely has any union jobs in 2021 In software, sure, but to say there barely are any union jobs in the US currently is wildly inaccurate.
There are estimated to be 4.4 million software developers employed in the U.S.[1] and about 150 million total jobs[2], so about 3% of employed persons in the U.S. are software developers.
About 11% of U.S. workers are union members[3], so there are more than 3 times as many union members as professional developers in the U.S.
[1] https://dqydj.com/number-of-developers-in-america-and-per-st...
Are a lot of these 300k-500k TC positions putting in 40 hour work weeks or more? I think that's worth bringing up because it's a huge factor at the end of the day. For example, getting 400k TC but you routinely put in 60-80 hours a week is much different than 40 hours a week. Personally I would much prefer working 30-40 hours a week for X vs 60-80 hours a week for X * 2. The amount of taxes you pay in the X * 2 range…
I work in the bay area at a large company. Generally, people at big companies work less than at small companies. Most software engineers I know making more than 400k work ~30 hours a week. Things get different at the super senior levels making several million, usually a lot more meetings, hard to speak to their specific hours. But on the other hand, they get to retire after two years if they want so...
Right, everything changes at that point of income. Putting in ~70 hours a week for a few years to make 3-5 million seems like a no brainer.
But grinding 60-70 hours a week for 300k-400k, I don't know. That's a much harder sell. You'll probably burn out before you could retire. I don't know what taxes would look like in CA but it would probably be like an effective 9.5% in state taxes and then another effective 30% in federal. I know there's maxing out a 401k for deferring taxes and other deductions but quick napkin math probably puts you at like 180k take home on 300k income. Not sure on the total cost of living in SF but maybe 40k to live in a studio with no family while living reasonably well? So you have 140k to save and invest every year. That's a lot of years of 60+ hours / week to retire comfortably.
These articles always undershoot the top end comp. I’m staff+ with ~15 years exp at a FANG like big tech company. I currently make low seven figures. I don’t think I’m unique among my peer group. When you add in refreshers and stock appreciation it gets even higher. Currently remote.
It's because they are estimating new offers given out today. It's understood that people with a few years' tenure could be making a lot more due to stock appreciation, but if you are in the job market today that data point is useless and only messes up the expectations.
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Or are labor unions in Europe just that much less effective at bargaining? Ah yes, the famously powerful US software engineer's union.
My point is: it seems to me that it is possible that labor unions in Europe are less effective at bargaining than individuals in the US, but I'd like to see research. I didn't intend to imply the US software industry is unionized; the US barely has any union jobs in 2021.
Man, every time I think I’ve finally caught up to the market rate, I find out I’m behind again I’m a senior FAANG coder making 350k TC, and it looks like I should be able to net 400-600k at this level if I go to Apple or Google. Hoo boy, looks like it’s leetcode time again…
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It's all of that. European tech companies are smaller than US tech companies, have lower gross revenue per employee, make less profit per employee. Taxes are higher in Europe, which disincentivizes risk taking and ambitious individuals. Labor productivity is also lower in Europe. Finally, Europe still has a culture where software engineers, cloud architects/products/managers/etc. are viewed as code monkeys and the pe…
> Europe also suffers from a brain drain to the US (and Canada to a smaller proportion). Many of Europe's best and brightest software engineers have already emigrated to the US, leaving behind the less productive ones. Of course not, it is just mind numbing regulation coupled with systematic risk aversion. Many SV startups would never have gained traction starting over from Europe, neither financially nor for large-s…
It's also exceptionally difficult and time consuming to rapidly scale through the EU with its many local economies/languages/cultures, versus the giant and quasi homogenous US market. And you get Canada pretty much as a freebie with the US market. That's $24.x trillion in economy in just two markets (nearly 50% larger than the EU). By the time you slog your way through a bunch of the EU markets, you'll find that a US venture capital funded competitor is already several times larger and turning its attention to your home market/s (putting you on the defensive, while they've locked up the lucrative US market and can pummel you endlessly with the financial resevoir that comes with that).
If you're in a smaller nation in the EU, the ideal is to go right after the US market first as a springboard (assuming the product/service is globally useful and will benefit from grabbing the US market). That's especially true if you're early and have an opportunity to lead the US market.
These articles always undershoot the top end comp. I’m staff+ with ~15 years exp at a FANG like big tech company. I currently make low seven figures. I don’t think I’m unique among my peer group. When you add in refreshers and stock appreciation it gets even higher. Currently remote.
The beauty of remote work: I make, let’s say somewhere between 100-200k. But because of where I live, this is enough to fill two college funds, pay off a mortgage, let my wife follow her dream of being a full-time mom, and retire by 50. Absolutely need more remote work in this world. There’s so many wonderful places to live that aren’t ridiculously priced.
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>every time I see an article like this, I think I am doing something "very wrong" there's a comment like this in every single thread like this. and the recommendation is always the same: grind LC for however long you need in order to be comfortable solving hard problems cleanly in 35-45 minutes and then collect your pay bump. the fact that the 1. data 2. complaint 3. recommendation crop up with 100% perfect regularit…
It was data. The "I must be doing something wrong" was tongue in cheek. The specific data point was that I am not seeing any salaries anywhere near that. And Salary.com actually backs me up. Just the fact "grind Leet Code" is a recommendation to someone who's most recent job title was CTO and has written two books may be a sign these interviews are broken. But point taken, I'm sure if I studied specifically for inter…