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My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

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Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#301

Post by eertami »

apexalpha wrote: post #194
CalRobert wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really can't understand why they stay in the UK then, to be honest. We seem to have better salaries and generally lower cost of living across the sea... I have no affiliation with this company but here's a recent example, quoted at 95k so you could presumably push higher: https://www.ninedots.io/job/lead-react-engineer/

Family, friends, football club, being in ones own culture? Not everyone is ready, able or willing to start a new life somewhere. And an important detail to remember is that Europeans usually work a lot less than Americans. Due to progressive taxes people tend to choose for more time off rather than more pay.

>And an important detail to remember is that Europeans usually work a lot less than Americans. Due to progressive taxes people tend to choose for more time off rather than more pay.

Yep, anecdotal but time is just so much more valuable in my 20s than the extra (taxed) money. The sweet spot atleast for me is a 3 day work week. Pays enough and it has a decent balance.

I could never trade this situation for a US dev job even for 3-4x the salary.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#302

Post by sofi12543 »

iykwimthrowaway wrote: post #104
zdgsg wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa. What position for bigco3? edit: yes, I was born after you had many years of work experience :)

Basically what would be a 65 at bigco2 (MSFT) Note that options have turned out to be pretty mediocre on average for me. $400k over 9 years at MSFT was a significant chunk of compensation, but they weren't life-changing. It's possible that startup2 can still make me a bunch of money, because I own the stock and they're profitable, but I basically count the probability as 0. Get RSUs.

How did you achieve the massive jumps from 2016 to now? My last review .. I got a pat on the back and was told I'm awesome, a bonus over target and zero salary raise.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#303

Post by burner_1078 »

I'm from the Midwest, not Chicago. These values don't include bonuses or other compensation, just annual salary. I'm in my upper 20's.

2011 - $ 12/hour - web dev intern - company 1

2012 - $45K/year - web developer - company 1

2012 - $55K/year - software engineer - company 2

2016 - $68K/year - software engineer - company 2

2016 - $80K/year - senior dev - company 3

2017 - $85K/year - senior dev - company 3

2018 - $110K/year - lead dev - company 4 (anticipated offer)

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#304

Post by azhenley »

skj wrote: post #287
azhenley wrote: post #277

You all should compare these dev salaries to CS professor salaries :) As a CS professor myself, it is great to know my students can go and be well paid after graduation!

You could reveal a sample of CS professor salaries :)

In the US, the salaries of most state universities are public (for profs, it will show 9 month salaries). Here is what I found when surveying ~15 states:

A typical salary (9 month appointment + 2 months of summer salary) is 110k-140k. Summer salary is dependent on getting grants though. Plus you get a “startup account” to cover travel, equipment, and student salaries. State workers may also get nice benefits like a pension.

So, as a CS prof you actually live quite well except in big cities. From my survey, prof salaries don’t scale with expensive cost of living areas.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#305

Post by jermaustin1 »

fyfy18 wrote: post #228
LandR wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, maybe. In other countries like the UK, a principal architect is probably not getting half that. I would guess from a quick google that an architect in the UK is on around £50k to £70k. Which is $63k to $90k. I'm a senior software engineer with around 10years experience. I'm on £38k ($48k) plus a very small bonus, maybe £2 to £3k if I'm lucky. Last job was a mid-level engineer on £28k. I've seen junior deve…

Depends of course where you are, but it sounds like you are getting underpaid. In London a senior engineer will get at least £60k (depending on what 'senior' means and how many currently hot languages you list on your CV). I know people in obscure parts of the country, with next to no tech scene, who aren't far off that. The real money in the UK is in contracting though, or go to the dark side and work in finance.

I've seen some sky high contracting rates in London listed on indeed.co.uk (£85-£120 per hour). I was never sure if they were legit.

Also, it doesn't really matter to me since I'm a US Citizen with no cheap Visa route.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#306

Post by sethammons »

ethikal wrote: post #16
akhilcacharya wrote: post #3

I don’t know if I’m misreading it but did OP include the value of the options or did they just leave them unexercised? Box did IPO, and obviously Yahoo was liquid the entire time. What was the total compensation be like with these numbers?

Box IPOed at $14/share but spiked to $23/share on the first day of trading. Assuming 50K shares (and ignoring the strike price / any upfront cost he might have paid), total additional compensation was ~$700K to $1.150M.

why assume 50k shares?

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#307

Post by varjag »

fileeditview wrote: post #295
varjag wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That goes only so far. Macbooks cost the same, and you ain't getting your car cheaper than in the States.

Not everyone needs a Macbook (or a car) :)

Not everyone needs to pay for housing either, but most do.

Point is, cost of living isn't just about groceries on the farmers' market.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#308

Post by throwaway487548 »

I think it is good point to include a brief description of what people are coding.

I could understand that someone, who are writing, say, FoundationDB or some Scala for inhouse finance processing could get ~$200k, but my mind absolutely refuses to accept the fact that Javascript coding is being paid this way.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#309

Post by anon8056 »

After completing a CS degree from a tier 1 school:

  1999 $55k  Developer for Internet consulting firm
       $72k  after promotion to Sr Developer
  2000 $90k  Lead developer at small SaaS startup in flyover country
       $100k after promotion to Technical Architect
  2002       laid off during dot-com bust
  2003 $90k+$20k bonus Developer at Wall St. firm
  2005 $110k+$20k bonus Developer at another Wall St. firm 
  2006 $120k+$40k bonus Developer at another Wall St. firm
  2008 $90k  Sr Developer at line-of-business software company in
flyover country, raises to $130k with promotions to Principal Software Architect over 8 years 2015 $155k Sr Data Engineer at CA-based SaaS startup 2016 $165k Sr Data Engineer at East Coast startup 2017 $185k Sr Software Engineer at CA-based software company

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#310

Post by throwaway487548 »

freditup wrote: post #26

I'm actually surprised that as a 'Principal Architect' he was only making $208,000 a year. Considering that entry-level positions at large companies which can have cash compensation of around $150,000+, it seems he may have been 'underpaid'. Of course $208,000 is nothing to scoff at, and money is hardly the most important thing when it comes to life. Just interesting to see that a reasonably large Bay-area company wo…

> Principal Architect

This could be a title for guy who decides whether to use React or Vue, webpack or whatever.

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