Good friend of mine is on the job hunt, but has come to the realization that he doesn't want to be a VP/engineering manager, he just wants to code. His concern is getting stuck at lower salary ceilings. Any advice I can share back?
How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
1–10 of 17 posts
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#2How low is he worried about?
$200k+ (total comp) for an IC isn't rare. Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc. will all get an experienced senior engineer well into that range.
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#3How low is he worried about? $200k+ (total comp) for an IC isn't rare. Google, Facebook, Netflix, etc. will all get an experienced senior engineer well into that range.
What is IC referring to?
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#4Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#5It depends how good he is... At a top company, a top "coding" engineer can make a lot of money. But, many people who are not even close to "top" think they are in fact, "top".
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#6It can be done but you still have to work hard to achieve this. For example you will have to make a name for yourself outside of your regular work. For example become a Microsoft MVP or similar. Contribute or create projects that are recognised by people in your industry.
Effectively you have to become like a well known actor. So that when someone is starting a project ('movie') they want to hire you for it no matter the cost.
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#7It can be done but you still have to work hard to achieve this. For example you will have to make a name for yourself outside of your regular work. For example become a Microsoft MVP or similar. Contribute or create projects that are recognised by people in your industry. Effectively you have to become like a well known actor. So that when someone is starting a project ('movie') they want to hire you for it no matter…
http://www.kalzumeus.com/2015/05/01/talking-about-money/
Reading this might also be useful.
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#8There's room between "he just wants to code" and management. Primary skills I'd focus on are learning strong communication skills and understanding the business, and dev-ops.
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#9As a full-time employee in the purely technical track, greater responsibility and pay would come through architectural and design roles.
If he really just wants to code, the best way to maximize income would just be develop a career as a consultant rather than a staff engineer. The biggest opportunities for writing code for a ton of money are in a few intense roles, usually associated with R&D on a core product. It's not easy to stumble into those opportunities, and if your friend had the skills to go down that path, he'd already know.
Re: How can a senior engineer maximize compensation without becoming “management”?
#10There's room between "he just wants to code" and management. Primary skills I'd focus on are learning strong communication skills and understanding the business, and dev-ops.
Bingo - this is where the real value add is for organisations as well.