It's probably too much to hope for that you'll be able to find a job that will allow you to do excellent technical work that is appreciated, compensated, and profitable. Most curricula cover a wide variety of languages but that doesn't really teach you enough to mean anything. Importantly, all of these jobs are paid between $33,394 (33.5%) and $61,470 (61.6%) more than the average Software Engineer salary of $99,729. the main difference between people like that, and people like you, is they know what they're worth, and have the balls to tell someone insulting them with low paying work to fuck off in exactly as many words. So i worked at it night and weekends, virtually non-stop till I got a Ruby position for 85k. If you’re qualified, getting hired for one of these related Software Engineer jobs may help you make more money than that of the average Software Engineer … From my experience, it does. Most enterprise shops will think about it like this; "Either we hire Bob who did some spring work for x-corp, or we pay an additional 40k and we get Lisa who helped write Spring. They are the ones that ultimately pay for folks like you. The one thing I will say is that the money, while very good and nice to have, wasn't the end all be all that I thought it would be. data warehousing/business intelligence) and a track record of delivering high quality results. The average Software Engineer salary for women is $102,959 and the average Software Engineer salary for men is $106,982. Those who don't are almost always "managed out". That doesn't mean you can't or won't earn more than that--it's just that once you get to top levels as either an individual contributor or as a manager companies generally want to align as much of your compensation with the company's performance as possible, whether as bonuses, profit-sharing, or stock. I'm with you there. Don't kill yourself. I generally also have a decent number of ex-colleagues already lined up which would be interested in hiring me if I were to become available again. Finance is also pretty cyclical in its hiring -- most firms were probably hiring record numbers of people right before the financial crisis. As it's happened my recent jobs have been in either scientific research or HFT. I don't think it makes sense to overemphasize that the poll is informal and not scientific - the poll still tells you something, even if not really that much, so why dismiss the messenger? Software Development Engineers typically make £42,000 a year. 10 years at a big 4 - lots of technical success, but also a lot of learning about how to play the game. > The chances of self-taught web monkeys in companies that are loss leaders making multiple of the salary of PhD level automotive software engineers... Not everyone on HN works for a doomed startup. The company does over 1M in revenue annually, with a low cost basis. Advice: Do more of the stuff you'll wish you'd done more of once you get older. The chances of self-taught web monkeys in companies that are loss leaders making a multiple of the salary of PhD level automotive software engineers in established companies with profits in the hundreds of millions to billions range are pretty slim, so I think we can just write this off as mostly fantasy. Would you not say that the hard work you put in your early years allowed your wife and kids to lead a comfortable life now? It might be easier to think of $200k as -only- $100 an hour. If you need to find a couple other guys to help out for a large project do it. There is no smooth sailing, ever. I make $130,000, plus $47,500 in stock, for a total of $177,500 a year. These types of packages are what are known as golden handcuffs. Housing prices raised significantly in a few markets (the SF Bay area a prime example), but inflation has been average for the past decade. I agree you should strive to do what you love, but if the pay you could potentially get is also good for it then there is no harm trying? Based on less than 20 profiles, the average base salary for Amazon software developer test engineers … Personally I'm more interested of hearing from people that work part time and still earn a good pay check. I noticed that the median pay for Software Developers in the US is $68,000. I'm at mid-200s (NYC), but was at mid-100s (midwest) a year ago. 4. If you become industry expert in a specific domain and that domain ends up expanding over the next decade, you end up expanding too. Salaries posted anonymously by Reddit employees. Top earners, the top 10%, earn more than $190,000 per year. The one key I have found is not to sell yourself as a freelance consultant. The more time you spend doing X work for X industry the more valuable you become. Lastly, you have to constantly strive to keep your brain sharp, challenge yourself and take risks as others have noted. He has worked in the tech industry for over 30 years and is currently the Director of Engineering at Poynt, a technology company building smart Point-of-Sale terminals for businesses. My advice is to not worry about a magic number, as long as you're comfortable and happy. I'm a product architect, not an SE, but I work with SEs regularly at my company and they are on the road at least 90% of the time. 2) Find people's problems and solve them. Careful! The average Software Engineer I salary in Florida is $66,415 as of November 25, 2020, but the range typically falls between $59,061 and $73,281.Salary ranges can vary widely depending on the city and many other important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession. Most people don't make this much after 5 years in New York and usually work much more. Learning how to create, add, or magnify value is the single most important any contractor or employee needs in any industry. As a consultant I have more than once been the highest paid person at a company--sometimes making more even than the executives. From running GroupTalent I have seen the most successful freelancers (those pulling in over $100/hr) do these things: If closer than 100K is good enough (it is for me) than it's not that hard with freelancing. - "Avoid jobs at either big non-software companies" - As cool as it may sound to design websites for the NBA, or design systems to help market movies, neither will teach deep technical skills. What kind of work got you $500 per hour ? Press J to jump to the feed. worse than that, you depress earnings for an entire industry of people because you are willing to work for shit money. Most people don't make this much after 5 years in New York and usually work much more. You aren't a programmer, you're a creator of things. == Background (Combination of breadth and depth across EE and CS) ==. I'd see 300% utilization for $10/hr as well. How many hours you end up effectively working for it is entirely another. Edit : Here is why 200K doesn't get you very far : Taxes : My tax rate comes to around 40% - which is quite a big amount, Insane rentals - I have a spouse and kid , something half way decent especially in a good school district is quite expensive, Things are just generally that much more expensive in the bay area. same with SAP or anyone who has done large Microsoft installations / integrations. If you have an easy recipe feel free to share :). Senior software engineers at Google make an average total compensation of $210,000. In case I haven't received a signed 3-month extension 1 month before the end of a contract I would start looking for my next engagement. it just can't. I take every single Friday off, and I don't work extra hours the other days. At a company with money, these roles can easily make $200k in base salary, and much more with bonuses/equity. That is not a very high rate for a contractor. Morgan Stanley Software Engineer. It attracts more wells. A (say) complexity theory PhD is indeed unlikely to be out of touch with reality, but a systems-oriented one is likely to have a pretty decent knowledge of practical aspects of programming. a software engineer would be a more efficient trader using algorithms out of university with there software background. I get insulted by the client company often. $200k in total comp sounds about average (or slightly below average) for a senior level developer at FB/MSFT/GOOG. I know a lot of people couldn't do it. In the San Francisco Bay Area, software engineers make a median salary of $142,000 – in Detroit, they make $88,0000. The computer and technology industry is booming in the U.S. I'm not saying there's no correlation between merit and success/pay, but it's more like 0.3-0.4 rather than 0.9. Watch the firm though, some place like Goldman will have you working 18+ hrs a day. Do you enjoy it, or is it the stereotypical "highly paid because it's crappy" work? 4. - As for chances of getting in, I'd say that it's definitely still possible but harder than it was. I think the women liking money thing is more about social status, power and strength than actual money. What sort of problems do you attempt to solve? But you can command much higher rates this way. An artist isn't a "paintbrush mover", and you're certainly not a typist. In a way, either consulting pays for one's learning/growth, or VC funding can, or bootstrapping can. Work for a company where quality >> # of hours put in. When I was 20, I had this habit of not thinking why I'd want to solve a problem, or a challenge, and just do it. I went to the client location and yeah, it wasn't glorious work but the pay was insane, so I've kept at it. So generalize to keep your mind open and prepared for new challenges future can bring, but also specialize in an area that you expect to be in demand in the future. I also make sure I always take calls from recruiters and let them know when my current contract is up for renewal, so that every three months all recruiters I know will call me asking if I'm already available. I've been a systems engineers and wrote low level servers and linux kernel patches but never got to see above 70k :) now I am an iOS dev. Of course these people don't seem realize they're only contacting you to try and give you money. I always tried to befriend high level people and solve their problems to the point that they see me as invaluable. (Large emphasis on "roughly".). > Inflation have been crazy for the last decade, salary is finally starting to catch up, especially this year. With more online, real-time compensation data … Anymore than that, you are a VP, you make your own rules. The other way I've earned significant compensation is by being hired at a senior level, a VP of Dev or really any very senior technical position. Amazon Software Developer Test Engineer Salaries. I heard it's a good introductory language for web apps, but I'm planning on learning other languages as well. I realize that's a controversial thing to say, and I might get downvoted, but screw it. Additionally they detest people who cannot program but work in the technology industry. What age were you when you started? In your mind, nothing beyond what. "Industry expert" on the other hand sounds plain boring. Can you talk about JMS queues, BI managers, the E-Business Suite and all that, ahem, stuff? One thing gets easier, something new will pop up. 3700 hours a year of work instead of the 1900 that's full time... you make 200k/year, but it can work out to a little over $50/hr. Here's what I'd say: If all you want to do is make money then get yourself in as a contractor for a specific industry. Anyone can do it today. One word: value. Most developers, no matter how good they are, don't get a 50% raise, but it wouldn't be hard to start around $60k, then jump to $85k, then to $110k, then to $140k. Are you saying an average googler makes $500k ? It seemed like a perfect fit. Trading signal research, statistics, machine learning, discrete optimization. Having a BSCS degree, it feels like all of my low-level programming classes were for nothing. it would rather deny reality than hurt itself. Microsoft's system starts at 59 for a software development engineer … I generally prefer charging by the day rather than the hour and have billed as high as $1000/day. This is a marathon, not a sprint. You mention your company provide web services, in my mind I am thinking of rail/django/node.js deploying on aws with nginx, redis, sql. It's not impossible to get paid fairly well down here, of course. I now find MOOCs much better though. Today, I'm a full stack guy. At my graduation, we had a tremendous speaker. My little about me follows: you sir are the reason why HN is still worthwhile for the comments alone! Ping me via my personal info if I can introduce you to him. You can do that at a place like Microsoft: Microsoft? I've had more than one case where I've worked for a customer on an initial 2-3 month contract, had it extended on a rolling basis for another 2-3 months, and then found them very serious about finding a full-time engineer to take over my duties (they often offer me the job but usually it's not a great deal). Advice for a 20 year old aspiring developer? On the other hand, there's no state income tax and the cost of living is lower, so you may come out ahead. Sorry, I have no idea how I thought 'traditional' should be used as a modifier for the word "porn.". Most of the quant finance firms draw from the same pool of seniors graduating from highly selective colleges, and mostly just the good programmers from that group. Other than the sacrificial early years, the key points are: 3. In the end I'd say the success was a result of hard work, a lot of luck and aggressively marketing myself. 30? Senior software engineer: $176,000. worse than that, you depress earnings for an entire industry of people because you are willing to work for shit money. Now of course I don't get 100% utilization, but in practice my holidays and illnesses have had a much bigger impact on that than availability of engagements has. When they emailed me I would just quote a ridiculous rate like $200/hr and be polite about it. Varies by organization and the nature of your product. You have to create a path for it consciously by constantly figuring your own potential and (asking for) moving towards roles of higher responsibility. While everyone who knows me tells me that I should be in high demand, most of the jobs do not demand that broad an expertise, which often means (1) they are not ready to pay :-) for it, and (2) the job does not excite me enough. I'm fairly unknown as a developer, so I'm not one of the bigger names. At 200k with a wife and kid, assuming no other deductions, your take home should be a little more than about 137.5k. Volunteer for special projects at work whenever possible--these are often worth their weight in gold. But I reckon you have lots of experience with network programming in non-gaming fields to back it up with. 5. I must ask though: I'm not sure what you're wanting to get from asking those questions. It's also common for them to call me back for additional stints, including cleaning up problems introduced by my replacement. How long have you been writing security code? There was no map, or plan to get where I am, or where I'm headed, except solving problems, and puzzles. Balance your life, and make time for the people in your life. I wasn't the smartest person in any of my classes, but I got my work done well and didn't blow it off. June 2, 2020 at 11:27 am Software Engineer compensation at Amazon ranges from $161k per year for SDE I to $639k per year for Principal SDE. Hell, I didn't even need to explain what I knew about them (which wasn't much!). Anyone who can save $50k/yr is going to be a very happy camper in the future, and most young people could easily do that on $120k if they wanted to. 3 options: it pins the blame on you, and your ego can't accept that. 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