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

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#581

Post by laluser » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:54 PM UTC

jiveturkey wrote: post #540

laluser wrote: post #533

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Titles are not standard across the industry. Also, comparing Box, which has had a mostly flat stock price, to FAANG is a bit unfair. Most of the FAANGs have done really well over the past few years, so when you hear about compensation, people will often quote you their expected comp. Netflix and Facebook are probably the only true outliers though.

The base comp at FAANG for principal is double his total comp.

Half of the FAANGs don't even have such a title and the title even among those companies varies quite a lot. Google principal >> Amazon principal, for example.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#582

Post by nebusoft » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:55 PM UTC

varjag wrote: post #291

pjc50 wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably also needs some kind of purchasing power parity adjustment - divide by the cost of a specified size of house within a reasonable commuting distance, for example.

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

I completely agree with this. Throughout my career people have always spouted the same crap about "cost of living" for an area. Unless you're barely surviving paycheck to paycheck, or your household is poor to lower-middle class (which imo should not be a common case for a professional Software Engineer), the majority of your spending should not location specific. Rent/Mortgage monthly payments are often recommended to be limited to about 28-30% of your gross income. It is almost always in your best interest to go for the higher income number (and location).

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#583

Post by JDiculous » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:01 PM UTC

Great article and enjoyed reading your story, but sharing compensation helps everyone who's potentially underpaid, not just women.

Anyways here's mine (non-CS STEM degree in NYC):

- $70k - 5 months - Software engineer (full stack engineer, more backend) at small company. They offered $60k, I asked for $70k and they gave it.

- $100k + 20% bonus - 1.5 years - Software Engineer (full-stack engineer, more frontend) at mid-sized corporation. They asked me what salary I wanted, I said $100k and they gave it.

- $140k - 1 year - Senior Frontend Engineer at startup. Offered $120k, asked for $150k and got $140k.

- $150k + max 15% annual bonus + stock options - 1 year - Lead Engineer, this was a promotion so same company as the last.

My Learnings:

* There are companies that value their engineers and companies that don't (eg. my first company). If you're working for the latter, know sense in staying there long unless you don't mind making less than you would elsewhere. Recognize the company you're working for and the attitude they have towards their engineers (hint: if the president says "we're a sales-driven company" to you in the interview, the company probably views engineering as a cost center).

* Switching companies will almost always make you more money than you would if you stay at your existing company. The only exception might be if you're at a big high-paying tech company that values its engineers (eg. Google), but I never worked at those companies so can't comment.

* Negotiate that initial offer hard. I would've made substantially less at all of my jobs (especially the last one) had I not negotiated. At that point I knew that once I started working, it's very difficult and time consuming to get a raise because you have very little leverage once you start employment, and if you ask for a raise it's awkward and they'll think you're considering jumping ship. So make sure you're happy with your initial offer!

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#584

Post by oldboyFX » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:01 PM UTC

alexis_fr wrote: post #112

White male, graduated from quite a good school in France in 2006. Wages in gross, 33% tax on it. And the employer also pays 33% tax on gross, for social insurances. - 2006: 36k€, Java/js dev in Luxembourg/banking - 2007-2010: 35k€, Java dev in France, service company, - 2011-2013: 70k$, Java dev in Australia - 2014: Startup founder (France), 30k€ - 2015: Startup founder, 50k€, - 2016: Startup founder, 60k€ - 2017: St…

I live in a small central EU country and know many locals who earn $100k+/year contracting. $200+k/year is also possible if you know how to position yourself and have a history of delivering high-grade products.

If you feel unable to find clients try platforms like codementorX. It's a relatively simple way to start earning triple figures and building your technical/communication skills.

I understand that these are outliers as most techies in my country make $30k/year doing java/php cubicle type work, just like most people in the US probably make ~$60k, not $400k as HN would sometimes have you believe.

However, most people (in any profession) are relatively content and not very good at what they do. If you think you're better than that and have evidence that backs your claims — you can definitely earn a lot more.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#585

Post by odorousrex » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:06 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…

Similar - 15 years experience in DevOps, I make $100k at my current job ($20k less than my previous job which was in Los Angeles, I'm still in CA, but away from the metros.)

But...and this more than makes up for it...my hours are capped at 35 a week. (I usually work between 30-35).

And I love it. The tradeoff has been completely worth it for me.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#586

Post by ivalm » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:09 PM UTC

mattsmith321 wrote: post #474

For those of us in the US, you can see your complete earnings history as reported to the Social Security Administration at ssa.gov. Obviously you have to jump through some hoops to create an account. Coincidentally to this post, I just pulled my info last weekend and put it into a chart: https://i.imgur.com/LwyljAK.png I chopped off the actual amounts for this post but I was also mainly only interested in how things…

If you chop the y-axis entirely then the graph can be meaningless. Perhaps your salary changed from 100000/year to 100001/year and those fluctuations are all in the cent range...

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#587

Post by gigatexal » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:13 PM UTC

gigatexal wrote: post #569

qubax wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus that's horrible. I made much more than that straight out of college. But it was in NYC where cost of living is high and taxes destroy you. The saddest part is that your salary didn't increase much in 5 years? Going from $60k to $70k to 53k euros over 5 years is pretty much tracking inflation. Over 5 years, my salary increased by more than double your entire salary. You should ask for a raise from time to time o…

Yeah it’s not great. But I don’t have a CS degree. I was brought in off the street with an Econ degree to be a super junior DBA and spent a lot of time warming a seat as a migration admin. Then moved on to EDW work but the chance to move wasn’t entirely motivated by money but by what else’s I could learn. Then I moved to Germany to try my hand at a startup to gain more experience. The pay could be better but that’s n…

I should say now that I have a family I wish I had discovered that I wanted to be a programmer all along and focused on that in school. 8 think had I done so I’d be that much further in my career.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#588

Post by ben_straub » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:24 PM UTC

OK, I'll do it. White male, living in Portland, Oregon. All my roles are software engineering.

- 2004-2006: $40-45k. Writing C in an embedded context (barcode scanners). Local company. - 2006-2011: $50k-70k. Writing C++ for device drivers and control panels. Japanese company, local subsidiary. - 2011-2012: $80k. C# and SQL Server for an FBA/eBay selling tool, local company. - 2012-2014: $130-145k. Working remotely for an SF company, writing C. Got some stock options which were worth 2 years of salary when the company was recently acquired. - 2014-2016: $125-130k. VC-funded all-remote startup which didn't really go anywhere. - 2016-present: $140k salary, yearly RSU grants worth about $50k at our current stock price. Public SF company.

None of these companies has required more than 40 hours of work each week, and starting in 2012 I've never had a vacation accrual or cap, and I usually take ~5 weeks off each year. I've been lucky.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#589

Post by cableshaft » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:28 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #479

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…

Speaking in general, not about me in particular... I'm going to give up 15 years of my life -- the time that most people spend getting married, having 2.5 kids, etc. to live in SV -- when I could spend those fifteen years living in the burbs in a big house with the white picket fence in almost any other major city in the US? Especially if you are a two parent household, the general MO is that the second smaller incom…

Not so easy anymore with student loans for a lot of people. Between the my girlfriend and I, we are currently paying $1300 a month on student loan payments. That's pretty much a mortgage payment right there (for the Midwest, where we're living).

And my student loans only got up to ~$25k. The average student loan debt per student at graduation was $37k as of a couple of years ago. Mine will be paid off within a couple of years, at least. She still has a long way to go.

I honestly don't know how most people outside of software development or other high paying jobs make ends meet, nowadays.

We're doing alright and we bought a house earlier this year, but we're still having to juggle money around during the month to make sure everything gets paid.

And yet we're in the top 10% for household income in the country, supposedly (I'm not bragging; pretty much every individual developer on Hacker News that lives in SV should be in the top 5%). It really, really doesn't feel like it.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#590

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 7:36 PM UTC

cwtuk wrote: post #149

GlennS wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it makes you feel any better, Australian software salaries seem pretty high compared to most of the world. I more than doubled my salary moving from the UK (Bristol) to Australia (Sydney), while my living costs only went up a little higher.

How did you go about getting a work visa for Australia?

[deleted]