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First, how many programmers, even in the Bay Area, have base salaries of $175k and higher? I'd wager not very many at all. You'll frequently see total compensat
by nilkn 11y ago
First, how many programmers, even in the Bay Area, have base salaries of $175k and higher? I'd wager not very many at all. You'll frequently see total compensation packages quoted in that range and higher, but those include various forms of deferred payment that are not guaranteed (like unvested stock options, whose value is often measured in a fairly unreliable way).
Second, one's cash salary is the primary determining factor in how much house one can "afford" (and I use quotes because I think there's a vast gap between what a bank tells you you can afford and what you actually can afford, but that's a different discussion).
If you just use the 3x rule of thumb, the $100k programmer can only afford a $300k house and the $175k doctor can afford a $525k house. But of course in SF people more often use the 5x rule of thumb, so the programmer could "afford" a $500k house and the doctor an $875k house.
Don't forget also that there are many doctors who make vastly more than $175k in salary. $300k+ salaries are not all that uncommon among specialists. Indeed, $284k is the average for specialists: http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2015/public/overview#page=2 http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2015...
- steven2012 11y agoI take it you're not from the Bay Area. Base salaries over 175k are common for senior engineers (10+ years). I would say that's a common base salary for the bigger companies like Google, etc. Netflix pays $400k cash for senior engineers. Also the median house price in SF is over 1M.
- nilkn 11y agoI didn't say there aren't programmers making $400k or any particular figure. I said it's not common. And I don't think you've written anything here that would convince me that it is common. Could you link to some statistics that show $400k base salaries are common among programmers in the Bay Area in any reasonable sense? If so, then I will completely re-evaluate my stance. My guess is that $400k is about as high as it gets (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong -- with a reliable source, mind you). If we're going to do a fair comparison to doctors, then we need to compare it to a top income for a doctor as well, which is easily in excess of $1M/year.
- phamilton 11y ago$175k is actually becoming fairly common for Senior Engineers at funded startups (post Series B usually). $160k is already pretty normal. I tell people that a Senior Engineer should expect $225k in total comp. That's a reasonable base line at any of the big companies (Google/Facebook/Netflix/etc). You can take less than that, but you should be able to roughly itemize the reasons for discount. ("Startup stock options have an expected value of $X per year.", "Leadership opportunities are worth $Y per year.", " Being able to use a certain technology is worth $Z per year.", etc.)