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

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#611

Post by ska » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 9:33 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #607

ska wrote: post #604

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does that have to do with wanting/not wanting to live in the 'burbs ? Lots of "average" developers don't want to live in SV or a 'burb. You present it as some sort of weird dichotomy - reality is much more complex than that.

It’s not about living in the burbs. The average developer could also live in a smaller condo in the center of the city in most metro areas. The point is more that it seems like people in the bubble think that a developer living in a major metro area outside of SV making in the low six figures is somehow living in squalor barely making ins meet when they can live where they want in most cities and save - especially if…

Ok, I think you had a reasonable point that just wasn't articulated well. Somewhat separable from what that putative developer should be able to make, of course.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#612

Post by drhfdjdtrjh » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 9:38 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #81

dshderjndfkdt wrote: post #65

Burner account. Los Angeles. I've worked in the same large public company since college (about 15 years), but have changed roles a few times. I have a bachelor's in Computer Engineering from a somewhat prestigious regional school. Numbers are approximate but pretty close. I left out options and RSUs because I can't remember them all, but they were typically around $5k-$10k/year with 4 year vesting. Embedded Firmware…

How did you move from embedded to data science if I may ask. I know it's a urner account but hey :)

Me again. Different burner. I doubt you'll read this, but hey. :)

When I was in an embedded role, I had a few years to gain expertise in our product space. Then when I switched to a prototyping role, I had an opportunity to learn all about the so-called "big data" technologies. Over the years I just kept teaching myself more stats and ML, and here I am.

To be honest, I'm trying to shift away from it. Data science seems to be past peak hype, and much of the work tends to be less challenging than more conventional software engineering.

I'm not sure I'd be able to get a data science job outside of the company. I have no academic background in it, and that seems to be a prerequisite for most places. It's a pity, because most of the credentialed data scientists I've worked with have tended to be underwhelming.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#613

Post by throwingaway666 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 9:38 PM UTC

throwawayacct92 wrote: post #386

Throwaway account. Mid-30s male born in Eastern Europe, working in the USA. Washington DC area: 2005-2009 - ~ $25K (grad school; part-time research assistant, code monkey, and sysadmin) 2010-2011 - 0 (bad things happened) 2012 - $56K (software developer, remote contractor for a Canadian company) 2013-2016 - $74-82K (software developer, contractor at a government facility) 2017 - $90K (software developer, contractor a…

I am curious about your jump to FAANG after being a contractor for long. Were you always aiming for this break (i.e. gobbling down algorithms like no tomorrow) or did you contracting work involve a lot of stuff which is common at these Big Co's?

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#614

Post by throwingaway666 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 9:42 PM UTC

UKSalaryPoster wrote: post #375

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-…

I'm a bit surprised to see 100K being offered by a FAANG; was this for entry level or a SSE if you don't mind me asking?

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#615

Post by ben_straub » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 9:45 PM UTC

ben_straub wrote: post #588

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 fo…

Whoops, terrible formatting.

- 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.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#616

Post by chad_strategic » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 10:22 PM UTC

wernercd wrote: post #559

bowlich wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 - i…

Nice to see another devil dog in the coding world. Don’t see it that often...

Salaries are great, but my best job is still my most underpaid: USMC

S/F

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#617

Post by neumann » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 10:25 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #269

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.

I got promoted to "senior" developer less than 6 months out of university because my employer wanted to inflate the credibility of his consulting business. Job titles aren't standardised and can be pretty meaningless between organisations.

At my startup, the sycophant with the least skills got promoted to CTO when the other one threw in the towel and there was only 3 weeks to the AGM. So... yeah - job titles don't belie abilities/experience

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#618

Post by neumann » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 10:38 PM UTC

akra wrote: post #596

thrmsforbfast wrote: post #548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have family or friends in the trades? I always get called elitist/out-of-touch when I point this out, but it's really true that most people working in trades do $50k with mediocre benefits. Everyone always lashes out at this with anecdata, but both the hard data from Labor and the 15+ datapoints I have personally all seem to agree that $60k is "really good", and that's with overtime. Statistically, for every w…

In Australia which this reply chain is about trades get paid exceptionally well if you have a successful business operation (not working for someone else). There's simply an oversupply of university graduates and a very liberal visa program for IT workers. Most tradies here have their own business so any income figures are highly misleading. As an example he may earn 65k on his tax retrun but his wife does the "accou…

^ This.

In Melbourne, I graduated school in 1997. With a bachelor and a PhD and a few years in R&D in biotech I am able to rent in the inner city.

My neighbour is a

1) a tradie my age,

2) owns the house and has another investment property,

3) and finishes work at 3pm to hang with his three kids.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#619

Post by scarface74 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 10:44 PM UTC

xapata wrote: post #575

scarface74 wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Maybe not $200k, but you can at least ask for more. Also, I'd be a little careful about out-sourcing and rural-sourcing. I've found that many high-quality remote workers charge Bay Area rates regardless of where they live. If they're not, well, that may signal a lack of quality. You can get a bit of a discount, or find a more specialized person than you might otherwise. To those of you in low-cost-of-living areas: Co…

But that’s kind of the point. If all you’re doing is working on yet another software as a service CRUD app, you don’t need a team of A players. You just need halfway competent developers and one of two architect level positions to steer them.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#620

Post by scarface74 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 10:46 PM UTC

C1sc0cat wrote: post #551

scarface74 wrote: post #459

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That’s true. I’ve interviewed “full stack developers” who when you asked them to write a query they started writing C# Linq statements as if they were using Entity Framework.

It only takes one of two steps above the average “full stack developer” to be the one eyed king.