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

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#71

Post by JimboOmega » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:13 AM UTC

For Me It Looks like (each representing a different company)

98-05 - various internships over summers $10-$15/hrish

2005 - $56K, employee stock purchase plan worth maybe $5K

2007 - $0 (try to launch startup)

2008 - $80Kish, no stock (Senior Software Engineer)

2011 - $95Kish (ended just over $100K), worthless options (Software Engineer)

2013 - Moved To Bay Area, $110K, worthless options, tiny startup (Software Engineer), end at $120K as Lead Software Engineer

2014ish - $140K, probably worthless options, slightly larger startup (Senior Software Engineer)

2017-present $165K->$175K, definitely larger startup, actually worth something options (at least in the money, but pre-IPO so no immediate value). ( Senior Software Engineer)

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#72

Post by nostrademons » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:14 AM UTC

Kalium wrote: post #59

RoyTyrell wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you be able to purchase a home or condo in the Bay area with a $208k salary? If so, what could you get (size, quality, approximity to the main tech areas)?

Yes. Well, yes if you assume decent credit and some cash saved up for a down payment. The conventional 20% wisdom can be safely ignored as a relic from the 1950s in the Bay. It's definitely possible to buy a condo or detached house in Oakland for the 400k-700k that would likely be affordable on that salary. The condo, probably a one-bedroom might be a decade or less old, the house much more likely to be older, and pr…

"The conventional 20% wisdom can be safely ignored as a relic from the 1950s in the Bay."

Curious what you mean by that - too high or too low? What do folks actually put down?

Anecdotally, I've seen both - I have friends that put down ~40-50% down, have heard of foreign buyers paying all-cash on multiple homes, but also have heard of people really stretching with 5% or 10% down mortgages to afford a home.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#73

Post by iLemming » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:20 AM UTC

Everyone excited about SF Bay salaries - please don't forget how expensive is to live here. My rent is $3K/m (half of my net salary) and that's considered "a decent rate" for 3 bedrooms.

Simple salad or a sandwich will cost you ~$15. Round-trip fare on BART - $11. So just to get to work and eat something over lunch will cost you over $600/m.

If you're offered a job here with relocation - negotiate! If possible - better reconsider. Have a family with kids? Simply forget it. Seriously, things getting awfully expensive here. Techies are moving to other states in numbers.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#74

Post by jonathankoren » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:20 AM UTC

dmitrygr wrote: post #50

ethikal wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Box IPOed at $14/share but spiked to $23/share on the first day of trading. Assuming 50K shares (and ignoring the strike price / any upfront cost he might have paid), total additional compensation was ~$700K to $1.150M.

first day of trading makes no difference whatsoever. Employees are usually locked in for about 6 months, by which point the stock will have probably crashed to below IPO levels

Week of January 23, 2015: $23.23 (IPO Week)

Week of June 26, 2015: $19.10

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#75

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:22 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#76

Post by jonathankoren » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:24 AM UTC

sydneyburner wrote: post #70

Burner account :) All amounts in AUD and all jobs based in Sydney and I am yet another white male. 1999 $27,000 Tech Support at an ISP 40 hour week. 1999 $29,000 Tech Support at a different ISP 32 hour week (graveyard shift) then Linux Engineer. $20k Stock that I never took because dot.com :( 2000 $30,000 House Gamer at a net cafe (Oh god I miss those days). 40 hours a week graveyard shift. 2001-2 Unemployed, occasio…

Please tell me about this job of "House Gamer". Like what were your duties?

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#77

Post by ChuckNorris89 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:25 AM UTC

Bachelor's degree 2012

1) 2012-2014: Firmware engineer in Romania for Automotive sector $14K

Master's degree 2014

2) 2014 - 2016: Firmware engineer in Austria for Semiconductor sector $50K

3) 2016 - 2018: Firmware enginner in Austria for IoT in Retail electronics $59K

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#78

Post by yen223 » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:26 AM UTC

iLemming wrote: post #73

Everyone excited about SF Bay salaries - please don't forget how expensive is to live here. My rent is $3K/m (half of my net salary) and that's considered "a decent rate" for 3 bedrooms. Simple salad or a sandwich will cost you ~$15. Round-trip fare on BART - $11. So just to get to work and eat something over lunch will cost you over $600/m. If you're offered a job here with relocation - negotiate! If possible - bett…

If you earn 3 times as much, but wind up spending 3 times as much, you are still saving 3 times as much.

It's almost always better to get high pay in a high CoL area, than to get low pay in a low CoL area.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#79

Post by trolleyhacker » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:27 AM UTC

marcell wrote: post #31

coding123 wrote: post #19

What kind of work is being performed by those at the 200k level? machine learning or just like react, etc?

I'd look at it from a different perspective. A low-level SWE salary might be $120k, and the all-in cost of employment might be $160k (benefits, taxes, office space, lunches, etc.). For a senior person, the base salary might be $200k, and the all-in cost might be $260k. So how does the senior person justify that extra $100k? Well, they just have to output about 2x more impact. In my experience, it is not very hard to…

Thanks to you, I've learned that I don't suffer from imposter syndrome. I just suck.

Re: My somewhat complete salary history as a software engineer

#80

Post by dotancohen » Wed, Oct 31, 2018, 6:28 AM UTC

I had to edit the CSS of that page just to read the important data. In particular, the table is too narrow and therefore has a horizontal scroll. Then important data (start and end salary) is to the right of the scroll. And then the dates are to the left of the scroll!

The author brags that although he is currently out of work, as a white male he should have no problem finding work when he is ready (health-wise). I wonder if he is white enough and male enough to compensate for his horrible page presentation, which interestingly enough seems to be his profession.