My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer • Hacker News Board

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#371

Post by ponyous » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:06 PM UTC

osrec wrote: post #353

ponyous wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if it is a good developer, I don't believe the qualities of senior developer are being acquired so quickly. Do you really need people lying to you that you are senior to make you feel motivated? Ok I can do that, but I think it's unhealthy for you and for the industry. What do you want to convey when you write >Senior Most of the people say they were promoted so their business can sell them as senior. That's BS.…

> Even if it is a good developer, I don't believe the qualities of senior developer are being acquired so quickly. So here's where I have my issue. Why can't someone acquire those qualities quickly? Why should your belief be factored in when gauging someone's expertise? I say, let's just look at their abilities and then decide. You may be surprised at how quickly some people pick up certain skills! > Most of the peop…

> Why can't someone acquire those qualities quickly? Because there is no time to do the full cycle from start to release more than twice in 2 years.

Usually a project that will give you decent insights takes some time to build. Usually at least 6 months and then several months to see what you did wrong. So if you did this cycle once, you are not aware of how you screwed it up and if other methods would yield better results. If you did it twice you already have the basis to compare methods. Senior ideally tried several approaches and there is simply no time for this in 2 years imo.

> I would say yes...

Thanks. Looking at this thread I changed my perspective. 1. it's context based, you can be senior after 3 months if your other senior left and you have couple of new people that you need to onboard 2. titles mean absolutely nothing when hiring 3. If I am doing the same work as others I deserve the same title (age made me uncomfortable)

So yeah, initially I got offended because I called myself senior later than I could and it seemed unfair.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#372

Post by apexalpha » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:07 PM UTC

tobyhinloopen wrote: post #342

apexalpha wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zit in die 12,5%!

Ah, dus ~4% "jaarbonus" naast 8% vakantiegeld. Nog niet eerder gezien, is dat gebruikelijk? Je krijgt 56% belasting over bonussen toch? Kunnen ze het niet beter in je salaris stoppen, zodat je gewoon "normaal" (42%?) belastingtarief betaalt?

Het is salaris, je mag zelf kiezen of je het in één keer in december wil over verspreid elke maand.

Daarnaast kun je van die 4% extra ook pensioen inleggen (bruto), vakantie kopen etc..

Naast dit alles nog winstdeling, die is indd 49% belast en erg veriabel.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#373

Post by gettalo » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:08 PM UTC

dmarucco wrote: post #204

sunaurus wrote: post #141

I always wonder when I read about salaries in other countries - what do the numbers usually mean? Not sure if this is how it works everywhere, but where I live, we have 3 different ways of talking about salary: 1) What you actually get 2) What you actually get + what you pay in taxes 3) What you actually get + what you pay in taxes + what your employer pays in taxes Usually we talk about #2 when discussing salaries.…

Here in Italy we discuss #2 - For example for an annual income of 30.000€ before taxes, it will be around 1.400 - 1.500€ month after taxes. And I had the same experience: it's almost impossible to have salaries jump without changing jobs (and from a business perspective the reasons for that are quite obvious)

In your example, €30000 would be your RAL so #3, not #2.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#374

Post by EADGBE » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:08 PM UTC

toomanybeersies wrote: post #36

quickthrower2 wrote: post #11

Nice money at those big American companies. In Australia, you have to become a plumber to get to those levels :-)

The pay rates for tradies in Australia is phenomenal. If I had kids, I'd be encouraging them to become electricians, not software engineers. Even a lot of unskilled jobs pay really well in Australia. I have a friend who works for Aldi in their distribution centre as a general worker, and he's on $35 per hour (only 6 hour shifts though, I think), plus when he's rostered on Sunday he goes up to $70 an hour. Anecdotally…

American here, I'm not convinced I shouldn't encourage my kids to get into the trades.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#375

Post by UKSalaryPoster » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:09 PM UTC

Using a throwaway (all normalised to GBP):

2005-2007 - London, UK - Cofounder of consultancy - £40k base, £100-120k dividends 2007-2009 - San Francisco - Principal SDE @ FAANG - £90,000, £20,000 signing bonus 2009-2011 - London - Senior Engineering Manager @ FAANG - £100,000, £20,000 bonus 2011-2013 - London - Start-up co-founder - [It's complicated] about £70,000 all in yearly, exited and made up for shortfall 2013-Present - London - Partner @ Large Consultancy - £250,000 base, £200,000 bonus

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#376

Post by akhilcacharya » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:09 PM UTC

freditup wrote: post #54

akhilcacharya wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I noted in another comment he’s for whatever reason only counting cash salary. I agree with your point though, no matter how bad it makes me feel :(

Fair points, though I don't know how high of an expected value I'd give to 50k of Box options . It's hard for me to imagine that options given that late are that valuable. I'd imagine the equity compensation at lots of other places would be better. Don't feel bad though, these high salaries typically happen at large companies in extremely expensive areas. So, the money isn't as much as it seems, and you likely will f…

I think I do fine, but I do already work in a very expensive area at a very large company.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#377

Post by PeterFBell » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:10 PM UTC

skj wrote: post #280

ponyous wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like it's more important to change titles than company according to your history. To be honest I'm a bit offended you consider yourself senior with 2 years of experience.

The "senior" title is not about the length of your tenure. It's about your ability to independently solve difficult problems and provide leadership to those around you.

And I think it's even a little more than this. I've certainly seen college grads come up with impressive algorithms and "solve hard problems". For me senior is having seen other people solve hard problems in the past and fail spectacularly when their math meets implementation details. Maybe the approach requires too much precision from data entry clerks., Maybe it's particularly sensitive to GC pauses or doesn't distribute well given potential bandwidth issues between DC's. Maybe its a awesome but future devs will find it so terse as to be un-editable. A lot of being a senior to me is having seen many production systems and learned the weird ass ways they can go wrong.

Still not saying you can't do that at 18, but you probably needed to quit high school and start consulting for teams at 14 to get the experience in by then!

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#378

Post by kspaans » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:15 PM UTC

grecy wrote: post #359

kspaans wrote: post #333

I studied at UWaterloo and had many internships from 2007-2010 for which I forget the pay I was making, but I remember all of my full-time amounts (I started with around 2 years of work experience): 2012-2013: RIM/Blackberry in Waterloo, Canada: CAD 70,000, no bonus or stock, 15 days of vacation or so, 40h per week, software developer 2014-2016: YourGolfTravel in London, UK: GBP 41,000 first year, GBP 43,000 second y…

> 2017-present: software developer & architect at TELUS digital in Toronto, Canada, for not less than I was paid in the US Huh, it's good to know Telcos in Canada will pay Software People well. I worked in Software for a wholly owned subsidiary of Bell and the IT staff were paid a tiny fraction of your US salary.

TELUS digital is hiring! https://labs.telus.com/careers

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#379

Post by EADGBE » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:17 PM UTC

hyperbovine wrote: post #259

zdgsg wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost but not quite - at high ends of salary the marginal tax rate is 38%, so $50k->$100k doesn't necessarily make you richer, it just makes Uncle Sam happier.

By my calculation it makes you 62 cents richer for every dollar you earn.

Exactly. Parent is exaggerating. Also, highest tax bracket is 37% (2018). Yeah, I'm arguing about 1%, but that's also for individuals making over 500k, or couples making over 600k.

50k to 100k income raise bumps you up 2% in tax rate from 22% to 24% (assuming individual).

If parent was talking about raise on top of what they have, then the worse affected rate of change would be the 24% rate ($82,501 to $157,500) to 32% rate ($157,501 to $200,000).

These numbers are similar, but less affected with MFJ.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#380

Post by 8sigma » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 2:18 PM UTC

sures wrote: post #103

I am a brown male working in India. The salaries are rounded to the nearest 100000 INR. USD values are rounded to the nearest 1000 USD. These are salaries per year . Need to emphasize this because when you see numbers like 3000 USD you may think this is per month. No it is indeed 3000 USD per year. When there are stocks involved, only the stocks that vest per year is included as part of the yearly salary. 2003 - 0 YO…

Hi,I am also from India(staying in Bangalore) and would like some advice from you.I have over 5 years of experience as a Programmer.For the first 3 years I have worked as a contractor.From the last 2 years I am working as a Software Engineer in a small startup and my take home salary is 70000INR(monthly).I want to switch to a more stable job with better salaries.I have never worked for a big company.What does it take to earn such salaries in India?I did not pass out from any Tier 1 institute.Currently I am preparing for interviews with help of CTCI and CLRS books.It would be helpful if you can give me some advice on what measures I can take to get a job at one of the better paying companies.