Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have a lot of old RSU? I think that’s worth more now?
I have some which has benefitted me. My TC would be same ballpark without it though.
Well done, my friend! How’s your WLB?
Tech compensation in 2021
251–260 of 631 posts
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been remote for 5 years. I have been happy to take a 50% reduction in what I could be making. In the past, I would wake up in the morning and find myself willing to pay more money than I would make that day in order to not have to go into work. The economics of that didn't work out. I also work for a mission driven organization that is on a tight budget. I make enough money, but more importantly, I have not had…
I hear you on that. When I switched to remote I thought “I’d take about a 25% pay cut to be full remote.” Having done it for almost four years I’d probably take a 50% pay cut to stay remote. It’s just completely life altering. Especially given I have two young kids I want to be deeply involved with raising.
I completely agree. (largely because of covid), I got to see both my children grow up and then go to elementry school. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#253Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brilliant read, thank you for sharing. Looking back, would you have stayed in Portland?
A very good question, thanks for asking! I think about that a lot. This answer is going to get a little bit deep (for me) so please forgive me. My career later took me to Los Angeles in 2009 and then to Seattle in 2018. Both my wife and I gave a lot to our careers. My wife also worked at Apple, but had a huge change of heart and went back to school to get a masters in social work. She was also an Army Reservist and w…
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Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
Brilliant read, thank you for sharing. Looking back, would you have stayed in Portland?
A very good question, thanks for asking! I think about that a lot. This answer is going to get a little bit deep (for me) so please forgive me. My career later took me to Los Angeles in 2009 and then to Seattle in 2018. Both my wife and I gave a lot to our careers. My wife also worked at Apple, but had a huge change of heart and went back to school to get a masters in social work. She was also an Army Reservist and w…
Thanks for sharing and raises a lot of points people miss about work-life balance.
A good friend shared Brian Dyson's 1991 commencement speech recently, of which I will quote this section: Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them — work, family, health, friends and spirit — and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls ~ family. health, friends and spirit — are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked. nicked. damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
I'm a bit confused about what you're saying. levels.fyi is accurate and there are plenty of remote jobs available. So the 300k+ salaries are certainly available from Boston. If you're not willing to prove that you can pass system design, coding, and leadership interviews then that's a different matter. FWIW I recently interviewed for staff at a bay area big tech company and there was no leetcode-style coding intervie…
The comment I'm replying to specifically mentions Leet Code (I am assuming that is what LC stood for) which is the only reason I brought it up. Your point is exactly my point, leet code is not relevant to the type of position I'd be looking for.
So assuming Levels.fyi is accurate (their numbers are $20k more than salary.com which is more accurate in my opinion): my point was that I am average, right in the middle. But this article is telling me (and by extension, since I am at the mean, 50% of software engineers) are extremely underpaid.
And maybe on a nation wide scale that includes non-Boston metros, I am. But for Boston... I'm not over or under. I'm right in the middle.
Basically based on my research I think this article is for a very niche group at the top 25% of pay ranges and is not accurate or relevant to 75%+ of software developers (numbers are ballpark).
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#256Man, 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…
> looks like it’s leetcode time Haven't searched for a job in a few years, but would consider based on TC. Are all these good-paying software jobs behind the "leetcode firewall", even for non-FAANG? I guess my willingness to practice on leetcode would be partly driven by potential TC reward, but I really would like to be judged on the merits of the development I've already done for previous companies instead of havin…
Leetcode will only cover the easiest part (IMO) of the interview. For senior roles, expect to spend half or more of the interview on “system design” and “behavioral” interviewing.
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why are these numbers so massively different across the world? Do European companies generate that much less revenue? Or are labor unions in Europe just that much less effective at bargaining? Or is productivity that much lower in Europe? (I'm not sold on any of these)
If anything, if there are unions, they keep the engineers salaries down. At least that was my experience in Berlin, Germany. Unions don't want "privileged" engineers to earn much more than average office worker.
Unions do what their members want. A software engineering union can do plenty of work to push salaries upwards.
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#258I’m wondering if I’m just not worth as much money or if I’m not paid as much because I don’t work in California or both, lol. I work for an enormous company. I’ve got about 8 or so years experience. As of right now I’m a sr architect and I work on enterprise-level systems - either designing or enhancing existing processes and platforms. I don’t really code much these days, though I do write a lot of sql, build lots o…
Writing SQL and drawing diagrams for enterprise systems inside of a huge company is not what the highly-compensated senior engineers tend to be doing. If you want to make more money, move out of being an “architect” and into being a principal engineer at a tech company (one whose business is making software; not a company that just happens to employ software developers).
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#259I’m wondering if I’m just not worth as much money or if I’m not paid as much because I don’t work in California or both, lol. I work for an enormous company. I’ve got about 8 or so years experience. As of right now I’m a sr architect and I work on enterprise-level systems - either designing or enhancing existing processes and platforms. I don’t really code much these days, though I do write a lot of sql, build lots o…
You can use a CoL converter to see if you're getting paid what you're worth in the Bay.
But if you're content, you're content. I wouldn't worry about it too much if that's the case.
Re: Tech compensation in 2021
#260I’m wondering if I’m just not worth as much money or if I’m not paid as much because I don’t work in California or both, lol. I work for an enormous company. I’ve got about 8 or so years experience. As of right now I’m a sr architect and I work on enterprise-level systems - either designing or enhancing existing processes and platforms. I don’t really code much these days, though I do write a lot of sql, build lots o…
Just for comparison, I'm a staff ~ level engineer not at FAANG, not in California, similar experience to yours and this year I will make about $400k.