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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

#391

Post by DeBraid »

dmarucco wrote: post #240
bufferoverflow wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get on Upwork, you will make more after ~2 years of developing your reputation.

Is that your personal experience? I read almost only negative opinions about Upwork, and it's seems another broken solution looking for a problem to solve.

Work for Toronto-based company. Most of our developers work remote (in S. America, Europe, Asia, etc) and were discovered via Upwork.

We've been growing, so all the good devs have been retained long term (12-24 months and counting). IOW, if you're good (decent tech chops + strong English communication), you can find long-term engagements via upwork in places that pay well.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#392

Post by scarface74 »

Someone1234 wrote: post #296

These threads always invite the outliers (i.e. those who want to humble brag). Here's mine outside Washington/California/Silicon Valley/NYC: - $40K: 2010-2013, "DevOps" at small startup. No ownership/shares. - $45-72K: 2014-Current, Programmer (various job titles) working for state's education department Even management here only make $90K capping out around $115K~. But cost of living is low. These threads never have…

Also in an effort to counter the humble brag, here is my salary with the years changed slightly as not to dox myself. I’m also not in Washington/California/SV/NYC.

I hope this also shows that the best way to make money is by frequent job hopping.

My salary is about average for the area.

1995 - 2000 wanted to get out of the small town where I’m from and my best opportunity was based on an internship I had the year before as a computer operator. Soon they had a programming project and I was the only programmer they had. I was also in graduate school at the time - starting $10/hr - ending salaried at $35K.

2000 - 2007 Software Engineer mostly doing C/C++ — starting $52K ending $70K. The bonuses steadily were cut and the raises were abysmal

2008-2012 Software Engineer at a small company that went out of business. Mostly doing C# with a little C++. Starting $77K, Ending $84K

2012-2015 Senior Software (in reality a mid level .Net developer) - starting 90K, ending 93K

2015-2016 Full Stack Developer - mostly .Net with some Angular. Starting $115K - Ending $115K

2016-present “Architect” at a small company - starting 63hr (contract - I took it for the learning opportunity and there was a position that I was eyeing) - present $135K.

Next on my agenda is to be an overpriced “implementation consultant”/“Digital transformation consultant”, etc. after my youngest graduates in 3 years.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#394

Post by RightMillennial »

U.S., Michigan based, white male, late twenties, began programming as a teen, no college education.

2009: $25k - Junior web developer at A - 40hr/wk

2010: $40k - Junior web developer at B - 40hr/wk

2011: $50k - Junior web developer at B - 40hr/wk

2012: $50k - Junior web developer at B - 40hr/wk

2013: $60k - Web developer at C - 40hr/wk

2014: $70k - Web developer at C - 40hr/wk

2015: $80k + $5k bonus - Lead web developer at C - 40-45hr/wk, on-call

2016: $90k + $10k bonus - Lead web developer at C - 40-45hr/wk, on-call

2017: $100k + $15k bonus - Lead web developer at C - 40-45hr/wk, on-call

2018: $110k + $15k bonus - Lead web developer at C - 40-45hr/wk, on-call

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#396

Post by jacknews »

shubb wrote: post #341

I feel like something went a bit wierd with my wages compared so some people here. Not level - that's about geography and company and other factors. But in progression. I have never asked for or recieved a pay rise, although I have been offered retention money. That said, it might just be the industry, colleagues talked about similar numbers. 2008 - £24k - Junior Electronic Engineer (C++/embeded)- Large engineering c…

Even 8 years ago, £20k ($26k ish) seems extremely low for a developer in a "rich" western nation.

Is embedded development really that poorly paid? I'm quite interested in it myself, but not for that kind of money.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#397

Post by phyller »

apexalpha wrote: post #232
phyller wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It boggles my mind that salaries can be so much lower in parts of Europe, while expenses are about the same as the US. Of course if you are living in New York City or San Francisco area expenses are higher, but most places they are not.

As always: it's not that Black and White. Many people in my country, and NW Europe in general, opt for pay in another currency: time. Dutch people work _on average_ 350 hours less per year than their US counterparts; or about 7 weeks worth when working 40 hours a week. It's not unheard of in my company to have between 30 and 50 paid days off per year on top of the national holidays. These days are negotiated during s…

I hear this a lot, but you can do the same thing in the US with a much higher salary. I have taken 4 to 5 weeks off in a year, plus two weeks of national holidays, with no pay cut at all. You can negotiate for more. US companies will pay for your healthcare basically completely (your entire family), and contribute towards continuing education and your retirement accounts.

Granted, that doesn't continue after you stop working for them, but we do have federal government provided money and medical coverage after retirement age. I think people have a caricature of what the US system is because as Americans we have a culture of complaining about our government, which I usually wholeheartedly participate in :)

The bottom line is, in my opinion, if you like your particular culture, you will be happier where you are because it won't be replicated quite the same anywhere else. But the overall standard of living for software engineers in the United States is extremely high. Even when people are complaining about housing prices, they aren't much higher than in Europe, and you get a really nice living space for it that is usually much larger with nicer amenities. And in many places in the US, including where I live, the prices are cheaper and I get a nice big house with land and a beautiful view.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#398

Post by lotsofpulp »

pc86 wrote: post #338
Someone1234 wrote: post #296

These threads always invite the outliers (i.e. those who want to humble brag). Here's mine outside Washington/California/Silicon Valley/NYC: - $40K: 2010-2013, "DevOps" at small startup. No ownership/shares. - $45-72K: 2014-Current, Programmer (various job titles) working for state's education department Even management here only make $90K capping out around $115K~. But cost of living is low. These threads never have…

Low cost of living checking in, primarily due to food and housing, which are ~50% and ~15-20% of the Bay Area respectively. A Started professional software dev in 2010 after freelancing for $45, raise/promotion to low $50's before getting a new job for $72, raise/promotion to high $70's before getting a new job for $98, promotion to $115 + 10% discretionary/performance bonus. All web development to start, last promot…

If you think you’re better than average, especially top quintile, then moving to a big city will offer so many more opportunities it will more than make up for the temporary pay cut or hit to quality of life. Of course this all depends on your goals and situation such as having dependents and age. But it could pay off big by giving you more chances to network, start businesses, meet a high income earning spouse, etc.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#399

Post by dmarucco »

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)

I think actually it's #2 because companies in italy must pay additional taxes over the RAL (RAL - Reddito Annuale Lordo / Yearly Gross Income). Those taxes are for TFR and other welfare taxes.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#400

Post by blrdev356 »

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…

Here is my salary history for comparison (Bangalore). Every time I dream of hitting $100k gross, my government prints boatload of money devaluing rupee and bringing my $ salary down. I have kinda given up on the 100k milestone at this point:

  2007 -  0 YOE -  350000 INR ( 4600 USD) -  Software Engineer  - American company (indian office)
  2010 -  3 YOE -  900000 INR ( 12000 USD) - Senior Software Engineer    - Small indian company
  2012 -  5 YOE - 1200000 INR ( 16000 USD) - Lead Engineer  - Korean company (indian office)
  2014 -  7 YOE - 2900000 INR ( 38000 USD) - Staff Engineer    - American company (indian office)
  2017 -  10 YOE - 5400000 INR ( 72000 USD) - Principal Engineer - Small American company (indian office)
  2018 - 11 YOE - 6200000 INR ( 82000 USD) - Dev Manager - MNC
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