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Some extra data in case anyone was wondering what other the top developers earn. According to the BLS(Bureau of Labor Statistics) the top 10% of developers mak

Some extra data in case anyone was wondering what other the top developers earn. According to the BLS(Bureau of Labor Statistics) the top 10% of developers makes $148,000 a year in salary alone(does not include insurance, FICA etc...).[0] FICA -> $159,000(7.5% employer tax for Social Security and Medicare) Insurance -> $169,000(health and disability, sometimes life) I'll assume 2 weeks of holidays and 2 weeks of vacation which is standard in the U.S. That puts the top 10% of developers at around $88/hour(1099 rate, 81$/hour w-2 rate) at a corporate or salaried consulting gig. That is a pretty high rate but similar to my experience for top end developers make. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/software-developers.htm#tab-5 http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-information-technology/s... P.S. I probably mishandled some of those numbers but it's getting late and I'm pretty sleepy :P.

MichaelGG 11y ago
For hourly work (don't do that; charge by value or at least daily or weekly), I can say $88/hr is low. High end developers are easily double that or significantly more. Also, as a consultant, there's overhead in promoting yourself, finding clients, etc., so the billable time is less (another reason to not do hourly). If you're a "top" developer charging under $150/hr, you're charging too little.
- JamesBarney 11y ago
  Sorry I probably wasn't clear but I meant 88/hour for a salaried gig or a contracting gig that you would apply to on a jobs website and would last 6+ months. Not working smaller gigs where you need be both developer, marketers and sales person. In that case I definitely agree that you need to be charging more to make up for reduced billable hours. I thought this was a fairer comparison because it seems to me that working for toptal you don't need to market or sell and you get to spend the majority of your time on billable tasks.
rattray 11y ago
Friendly reminder that the number of countries on the planet is significantly greater than 1. The USA, my beloved home country, accounts for about 5% of the world's population, and is not representative.
- JamesBarney 11y ago
  Spoke about the USA because its the country I have experience with, and know how to find employment data for. I think it would be equally as interesting if someone could do the same for other countries :). I'd really like to know what is mid range and top end developer pay in India and how it compares to toptal rates.
  - rattray 11y ago
    I was just in India, working at a startup and doing recruiting, and it varies extremely widely. It's not the most relevant to this thread, but here's what I found: - Fresh out of a top college at a large firm: 5Lk/yr ($7.5k USD) - Shown yourself to be good, at a small startup, one or two years out of college: 10-15Lk/yr ($15k-$22k USD) - mid-20's developer at top-notch tech firm: 20-30Lk/yr, can go higher ($30k-45k USD) - engineering manager or top engineer at a top startup: 30-45Lk/yr ($45k-67k USD) - VP, CTO, etc - 50-60Lk/yr ($75k-90k USD) - it can go up from there, I've heard of 1crore+ salaries... Lk = Lakh = 100,000 rupees. Crore = 10 million rupees. Note that about 15-20Lk would provide a similar lifestyle to that of a young in SF earning $100k USD, by my estimation (nice apt in the center of the city, going out to nice restaurants & pubs regularly, uber & food delivery daily, etc). Also note that there are extremely few Indian developers on Toptal currently (I have no idea why). Maybe two or three in the entire network. There are also relatively few American developers (I'm not sure if it provides much value if you're a well-connected American developer; it's more helpful if looking for quality clients is a problem). EDIT: Just wanted to add that the weekly rate I was paid on Toptal (they charge/pay weekly) for part-time work, ~20h/wk, was in the "engineering manager or top engineer at a top startup" range – in other words, way above the top 1% of developers in India. So I would say it can compare extremely favorable, but then developers set their own rates on Toptal so not everyone would earn as much.

MichaelGG 11y ago

For hourly work (don't do that; charge by value or at least daily or weekly), I can say $88/hr is low. High end developers are easily double that or significantly more. Also, as a consultant, there's overhead in promoting yourself, finding clients, etc., so the billable time is less (another reason to not do hourly). If you're a "top" developer charging under $150/hr, you're charging too little.

JamesBarney 11y ago
Sorry I probably wasn't clear but I meant 88/hour for a salaried gig or a contracting gig that you would apply to on a jobs website and would last 6+ months. Not working smaller gigs where you need be both developer, marketers and sales person. In that case I definitely agree that you need to be charging more to make up for reduced billable hours. I thought this was a fairer comparison because it seems to me that working for toptal you don't need to market or sell and you get to spend the majority of your time on billable tasks.

rattray 11y ago

Friendly reminder that the number of countries on the planet is significantly greater than 1. The USA, my beloved home country, accounts for about 5% of the world's population, and is not representative.

JamesBarney 11y ago
Spoke about the USA because its the country I have experience with, and know how to find employment data for. I think it would be equally as interesting if someone could do the same for other countries :). I'd really like to know what is mid range and top end developer pay in India and how it compares to toptal rates.
- rattray 11y ago
  I was just in India, working at a startup and doing recruiting, and it varies extremely widely. It's not the most relevant to this thread, but here's what I found: - Fresh out of a top college at a large firm: 5Lk/yr ($7.5k USD) - Shown yourself to be good, at a small startup, one or two years out of college: 10-15Lk/yr ($15k-$22k USD) - mid-20's developer at top-notch tech firm: 20-30Lk/yr, can go higher ($30k-45k USD) - engineering manager or top engineer at a top startup: 30-45Lk/yr ($45k-67k USD) - VP, CTO, etc - 50-60Lk/yr ($75k-90k USD) - it can go up from there, I've heard of 1crore+ salaries... Lk = Lakh = 100,000 rupees. Crore = 10 million rupees. Note that about 15-20Lk would provide a similar lifestyle to that of a young in SF earning $100k USD, by my estimation (nice apt in the center of the city, going out to nice restaurants & pubs regularly, uber & food delivery daily, etc). Also note that there are extremely few Indian developers on Toptal currently (I have no idea why). Maybe two or three in the entire network. There are also relatively few American developers (I'm not sure if it provides much value if you're a well-connected American developer; it's more helpful if looking for quality clients is a problem). EDIT: Just wanted to add that the weekly rate I was paid on Toptal (they charge/pay weekly) for part-time work, ~20h/wk, was in the "engineering manager or top engineer at a top startup" range – in other words, way above the top 1% of developers in India. So I would say it can compare extremely favorable, but then developers set their own rates on Toptal so not everyone would earn as much.