Developer Salary Discussions

I crossed 100k threshold in 2007, few years out of college. Today I make more than 3x that at a startup, fully remote. I could have another 2x if I wanted to work at FAANG.

A talented young programmer from a good university can easily be making $100k within 5 years after graduation. So building small profitable companies that pay your bills have a fairly large opportunity cost. You need somewhat of a blowout to overcome that opportunity cost.

I don't have answers about what to do but being in denial isn't going to help you. Most developers I know make 6 figures plus, even some JR developers, none of them for FAANG companies. If you make 6 figures you can generally save a lot. Most I know do not. They spend their money in nice things.Either way, better to view this as a threat so you can jump on whatever comes next

This blows my mind. I make 120k as a young person in SWE, and I feel like a fraud often for making that money, and being able to work from basically anywhere I want in the world. How do you justify it to yourself? Do other things fulfill you? I’m already feeling pangs of doubt about my life, and I work more and earn less than you. I’m passing no judgement at all, I’m just curious about how that dynamic effects you and your life.

The implication of the article, that such compensation is reasonably possible to a moderately competent software developer working for big companies in the United States, seems pretty reasonable to me. Another thing one could note is the bump in compensation in recent years, which could be a combination of stock going up, more experience making the author a more valuable employee, or market rates for software engineers at large software companies have gone up.None of the numbers strike me as

Why would you work for a software company if you are making that much?

Chill man !A lot of us on HN would love to be pulling down >$200k. My guess is it's like golden handcuffs, you have gotten used to the lifestyle it allows and won't contemplate earning half of that. I think that's what's blinkering your evaluation of the many brilliant suggestions here by other readers of HN.

How much would this person make if working at a big tech company?

It feels more like you choose the job you like because you are already rich.I'm sure you can join one of the FAANGs and get, at least, $300k/year easily.If I have a few millions in my bank, I'd definitely join an interesting startup with no regard to compensation.1.3m/year definitely has some luck involved. 500k/year is probably less luck. Just joined one of the hot tech companies and stay for 4 years. You have to be unlucky to not get to 500k/year.

I'm not the poster, but in my case, I don't plan to spend the Millions, I absolutely plan to work. You might have some folks working you worth >$20M if you work in Silicon Valley.