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

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#551

Post by C1sc0cat » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:46 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #459

xapata wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the positive side, if we all feel like our salaries are low, we'll collectively ask for more money. Don't be jealous, but do ask for a raise.

Outside of Silicon Valley/NYC/DC, no one is going to pay your "full stack web developer", 200K. Full stack developers are a dime a dozen and you can outsource your typical CRUD Software As A Service app overseas or "rural source" it to Middle America.

Really capable of working at all 7 OSI layers :-) many "full stack" developers don't know that databases have a CLI.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#552

Post by 12301231122 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

8sigma wrote: post #380

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…

Both you and tata2020 have asked for advice from sures and, having often been in the position of hiring programmers from India, something really stands out:

I honestly couldn't tell if sures was an American, British or Indian through his writing. The use of punctuation, general cadence and adherence to the standards of written communication popular in America mean I have more immediate faith in him as a candidate (however unjustified that may be).

On the other hand (8sigma and tata2020) I can tell in a flash that you are from southern Asia, and your writing immediately evokes long online pages of poorly qualified Indian programmers seeking work or personal experiences of dealing with poorly-qualified programmers from India.

I'm not, in any way, a stickler for grammar or spelling. However, for reasons I am not sure of, a number of common conventions have emerged from Indians that differ dramatically from American/British usage in casual writing: Not placing a space after punctuation, using "From" rather than "for", "needful", etc.

I suspect you could do very well for yourself if you made a few small adjustments in your writing.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#553

Post by bradlys » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:50 PM UTC

mysalarythrow wrote: post #348

pc86 wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it any surprise that startups pay less than Google or Facebook? I don't know anyone that thinks they'll break even vs. FAANG, and that's even when counting stock options as cash (which 99% of people will rightly tell you to ignore).

> Is it any surprise that startups pay less than Google or Facebook? I always knew startups would pay a less, but I always thought it wasn't that much less. Turns out I vastly over-estimated the chances of liquidity in startups, and vastly under-estimated just how much the BigCos are willing to pay as you climb up the ladder. Was a very eye opening experience when I started having frank conversations w/ peers at thos…

I think your past mentality is what a lot of people have still in the bay area. It seems that every person I meet at startups thinks that their stock is going to be worth significantly more than the strike price.

If a startup has a decent exit, it's usually that founders get a life changing amount of money and then employees get car changing amount of money. Even if my 50,000 shares sell at $10/piece... It's definitely not any better than what I would've received at Google/FB. And I'd be nearly guaranteed to get those shares at Big N and liquidate them vs low single digit chance at a startup. The expected value when it comes to stock compensation at startups, in my rough estimate, is maybe 10% of that of what you'd see at a Big N.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#554

Post by C1sc0cat » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:50 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.

Depends on the culture of the country many counties have custom and practice that you have to do X years as a grade before you can move up.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#555

Post by C1sc0cat » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:52 PM UTC

jobigoud wrote: post #415

azhenley wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being Lead Developer in a one person team definitely sounds reasonable. You are still the lead dev on the project and have to take on all the responsiblities (even more so than if the team was bigger?).

> You are still the lead dev on the project and have to take on all the responsiblities Except the responsibility of leading other people , on a resume this title would imply you gained that experience while in fact you didn't.

"lead" doesn't mean that at all in this context it's technical leadership

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#556

Post by throwawayBLRDev » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:53 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…

Bangalore, India based developer

2004: 2,75,000 INR , Software engineer

2005: 4,00,000 INR, Senior software engineer

2009: 12,00,000 INR, Senior software engineer

2010: 14,00,000 INR, Senior software engineer

2011: 17,00,000 INR, Tech lead

2013: 22,00,000 INR, Senior software engineer (another company)

2015: 30,00,000 INR, Senior software engineer (another company)

2018: 40,00,000 INR, Senior software engineer

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#557

Post by C1sc0cat » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:53 PM UTC

talaketu wrote: post #214

yitchelle wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked in Australia, Singapore and Germany. When mentioning salary, we usually qualify it with either "Gross" or "Net", which corresponds to 1) and 2) respectively on your list.

though "what you actually get" in the long run includes superannuation in Australia, but people do not count it as a component of their gross income.

Deferred pay is the normal way to look at it.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#558

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:54 PM UTC

secabeen wrote: post #525

friedman23 wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>As far as $200K being high adjusted for COLA, in the burbs where I live. $330K gets you a house - brand new build in a top rated school system with five bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3000 square feet with a yard, two car garage, and a separate nice size office. What does that get you in SV? Nobody actually plans on retiring in SF. When I'm done working here for 10 or 15 years I'll have enough to move and own a mansion in wha…

I think you may find it harder to relocate after 10-15 years. Your friends and community will be in SF, and leaving that, especially in your 40s can be very hard. When I moved in my early 20s, it took between 2-3 years to re-establish my friend networks and community in a new city. I would be hesitant to do that again. Kids make it even harder, as you may be pulling them away from their closest friends.

[deleted]

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#559

Post by wernercd » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

bowlich wrote: post #465

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…

This thread's making me feel much better about my starting salary of $35k back in 2011. It always seemed to bug me, the nagging feeling that I had way under billed myself for the first two years of my career (looking at all the big salaries everyone was always claiming). My salary's pretty much followed the same progression that other's have posted for outside of the high-cost-of-living hubs.

I started at $21k in 2010 as a programmer

* 2000-2005 USMC

* 2005-2008 various (Unable to decide what I wanted to do when I grew up)

* 2008-2010 A.A.S. Computer Information Systems

* 2010-2015 Backend Developer, 21k => 50k

* 2015-2016 DevOps/System Admin, State of Delaware 60k => 68k

* 2016-2017 Backend .Net Developer, small company 70k => 85k

* 2017-Pres Backend .Net Developer, major bank 100k

I live in Delaware - in the sticks - and commute to Wilmington, DE.

I probably make under market, but I'm limited on my relocation options and don't have a 4 year degree - so I'm happy with my current position.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#560

Post by sanderjd » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 5:57 PM UTC

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…

Personally neither what you call the humble brags nor your post are very useful. What is interesting is cost-of-living-adjusted salary, but nobody knows how to calculate it, so we just get a bunch of numbers without enough context to figure out what they actually mean. It's like posting a bunch of price data points from the last 500 years without any knowledge of inflation.