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What Is the Highest Salary Can a Programmer Make?
- overcast 10y agoYou want to get paid insane money, you have to be the boss. Working for someone else is not how you get bank.
- artursapek 10y ago^ and it's easier to get there as a programmer than in most other fields. There's plenty of one or two-man operations out there.
- trustfundbaby 10y ago"A man can never drink his fill by waiting in line for the tap" -- From Breaking Bad
- djsumdog 10y agoIt also requires a degree of knowing your worth, asking more than your worth, doing insane amounts of work and being very good at pricing and marketing yourself. I personally don't care that much about money, so I tend to work for a year or two and then take a year off: http://khanism.org/perspective/minimalism/ http://khanism.org/perspective/minimalism/ Unlike a lot of other careers, this isn't as difficult to do in software, and you end up working for better companies who care less about having a warm body that will stay there forever over having someone who can think creatively.
- techjuice 10y agoThere is no limit on what you can make, especially in the engineering world. If you hit a limit at a day job, the limit can be removed by working for yourself and running your own business. Then you will be limited only by how much your customers value your work.
- JimboOmega 10y agoArticles like this are kind of frustrating, for the implication that $250k is standard for a few years experience, and you can easily get it with less. That's really not been my experience. Not everyone - not most people even - work at Google. Related question - at a mid-stage startup (say 100 employees), how does option/stock compensation work? Do they regularly give you more (like big companies do) or are the options associated with signing all you get (and their growth is how they're an ongoing part of compensation)?
- n0us 10y agoYeah but this is about highest pay, which by definition most people will not make.
- lebanon_tn 10y agoNot by definition only if we are talking about percentages.
- ryandrake 10y ago> Do they regularly give you more (like big companies do) or are the options associated with signing all you get (and their growth is how they're an ongoing part of compensation)? Most places I've seen give you one dump at sign-on and that's all you get ever. I understand some companies refresh you every so often.
- JimboOmega 10y agoI ask because when you are one of the first ~20 employees you get a meaningful percentage, like say 0.1%. In that case the value goes up with the value of the company. .1% of a company that's worth 200M is $200k, which vesting over 4 years is... $50k (obviously strike price, company actually still existing, etc, are factors) When you work at a big company like Google, you get a regular amount of equity compensation that translates directly (via public markets) into dollars, say $50k, every year. But if you join mid stage... you usually get a number of options which translates to a very small portion of the company. Like even if the company had a unicorn IPO, it might only be $10-$20k. I wonder if there's some kind of bridge that's typical between the startup state (where there's a sizable option pool to hand out) and the Post IPO state (where RSUs are handed out as a big chunk of compensation)?
- chollida1 10y agoI think the word Salary here is a bit of a misnomer. Compensation is probably a better word to use. And the term programmer is probably incorrect in the top tiers here as you probably aren't strictly a programmer at this level. For instance, it wouldn't be all that unusual for a programmer at a hedge fund to have a salary of $200,000 and a bonus of 1x that. But its also very common for people at funds to keep the majority of their bonus in the fund such that if you have say $1,000,000 in the fund and it does 20% that year you can conceivably claim a compensation on the year of $200,000 (salary) + $200,000 (bonus) + $200,000 ( cap gains). You can argue something similar if you work for a public company where your salary, bonus and capital gains on stock grants can be factored similarly. Now there is probably some salary inflation going on here where people are counting compensation that is restricted over a few years as though they earned it all in the current year. > I see about an offer per quarter of $500-900k base with $1-2M bonus (usually guaranteed for the first year) for pure technology role. Add more front office work and the bonus potential shoots up (but it's a tough gig at the moment at least). This seems high and I don't know of any funds that actually guarantee tech hires a million dollar bonus regardless of what the fund does, I mean that's kind of the point of going to work for a hedge fund, you eat what you kill. If you and the fund do well you get paid, if the fund doesn't make money, you're not going to get a huge bonus. But Niall Dalton, if you are listening and not lying about this comp, ummm, I'm available:)
- kilroy123 10y agoSo, what language do I need to switch to, and how do I get said hedge fund job?
- toomuchtodo 10y agohttps://www.rentec.com/Careers.action?computerProgrammer=true https://www.rentec.com/Careers.action?computerProgrammer=tru...
- vostok 10y agoThey used to post total compensation for the computer programmer role and they were lower than Google was paying at the time.
- bsaul 10y agoit seems that just like with any other market, scarcity dictates the price. however, aiming at being the ultimate specialist of a little known piece of technology is a very risky bet.
- gozur88 10y agoOn the other hand, you don't have to make $500k+ for too many years before employment just isn't a big concern any more. Rumor is that's what you can make as an expert in image processing.
- bsaul 10y agoIndeed, but it does probably takes a bit of time before you're proficient enough to be worth that amount. Plus, the time you spend working with this tech, is also a time during which you're most likely not learning something new.
- sixQuarks 10y agoTop two programmers: $87 billion (bill gates), $56 billion (mark zuckerberg)
- jasode 10y agoFyi... MZ's salary is just $1 a year. Other programmers with salaries of $1/year are Larry Page and Sergei Brin. (But setting aside pedantics of "net worth != salary", I think we all get your point.)
- nibbler_death 10y agoYeah, I'm sure he has some very creative tax accountants that technically have him eligible for food-stamps while living in a $7 million dollar house surrounded with another $30 million in properties just to not have neighbours.
- walshemj 10y agoWhich is an aggressive tax avoidance strategy
- lacampbell 10y agoWhich just goes to show what a joke progressive income tax is. It hits the upper middle class hard, while ignoring the biggest money earners.
- mikestew 10y ago(But pedantics aside, I think we all get your point.) Except the point doesn't answer the question of salary, which is right there in the title. Does Gates even get a salary anymore?
- bsvalley 10y agoThis article is confusing. You're talking about $250k being the lowest-highest salary. I'm having troubles following you :)
- mikehines 10y ago∞
- tabeth 10y agoA somewhat related, but distinct question is: how do you get the skills to make those high salaries? I don't care about salaries persay, but I do care about being valuable. Of course, the two things are very related. Here are some things I've heard people mention that are chicken-and-egg kind of answers: - Get a great mentor - Work at a great company - Work on a high performing team - Work on a difficult product Unfortunately, all of these presuppose greatness to begin with, and only help to become even more great. Which is nice, but not useful for someone trying to get there to begin with. I'm in my 2nd year of being a "professional", and I worry if I'm on the right trajectory, or not. By the way, if someone is reading and is willing to spare 15 minutes of their time I'd love to get your advice, email in profile. Moreso if you're based in the east.
- Retric 10y agoThe #1 most important thing for these salary's is to signal competence. Actual competence is far less important.
- tabeth 10y agoHow do you "signal competence?"
- freyr 10y agoThe easiest (or most common) way is to start young: go to a top university. This makes it far easier to jump into a top company. Then you're mostly there, without even necessarily programming anything exceptional. Otherwise, you could get really good at interviewing, write publicly (book, popular blog, etc.), give talks at conferences, create popular open source software, etc.
- Retric 10y agoThat's the first level, obvious credentials. Don't forget that legwork like SAT prep classes, or presentations which don't teach you useful skills can still open doors. Next is networks of people that will vouch for you. This does not necessarily take a lot of effort, but being the only resume someone is looking means you just skipped a lot of pre-filters. "I was thinking about possibly jumping ship. O your looking for someone? How about we do lunch and talk about a possible fit." Now add presentation; speech patterns, dress, non verbal indicators, but also what subjects to bring up in conversation. Pull this off and people will often skip the need for in depth evaluation based on assumptions.
- milesf 10y agoWhy don't you follow this software developer's advice who also happens to be earning millions a year? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CDXJ6bMkMY
- intrasight 10y agoThat's like asking "What is the highest salary that a pro basketball player can make?" And it has the same answer: whatever you can negotiate.
- nikcub 10y agoExcept basketball players literally do have a maximum salary because of the cap
- josephscott 10y agoEven more fun, they have a minimum salary as well - http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/minimum_scale http://basketball.realgm.com/nba/info/minimum_scale
- p4lindromica 10y agoThe cap is not a hard barrier (see luxury tax). The CBA, however, is.
- urs2102 10y agoWell, nikcub isn't actually wrong. The CBA is the contract that dictates the relations between the league and the players association. It sets terms for the league, the salary cap, and the even procedures regarding the draft. As far the cap goes, there are two caps: the soft cap and the hard cap. The soft cap is what you're probably referring to. The soft cap is usually broken all the time, as teams use it to retain players and whatnot. Think of 'Bird rights'. The hard cap is what I imagine nikcub was referring to. A hard cap cannot be exceeded for any reason. Even in a sign-and-trade, since I think 2013, you'd have to waive a player to be below the cap, or make sure payroll is below the hard cap in the end. In the context of nikcub's comment, I think he was referring to the hard cap.
- partycoder 10y agoOnly way to achieve that is: - working on a project that requires highly specialized training - working on a project that is hard to replace - working on a project that is critical to the well-functioning of the core businesses of the company - being a good negotiator - having the patronage of management
- gigatexal 10y agoAnd people wonder why everyone wants into the industry... alas it's top talent that command these salaries, I'm far from there. Qureshi's story is a fun one I've heard him talk about it on the Software Engineering Daily podcast. Knowing how to negotiate well and being a talented engineer can go a long ways.
- pzh 10y agoDoes anyone know of any remote companies that pay even at the lowest end of this range?
- vjeux 10y agoFor the higher compensations, the large of it is stock bonus. Unlike base pay, it's hard to count annually for a few reasons: - They usually vest over four years with a one year cliff. - The big grants are given sporadically to reward something, not on a recurring basis. - For stocks like Facebook which are highly volatile (x7 in 5 years) it depends on when you are being given / selling it.
- mrleiter 10y agoArticles like that are very annoying. Annoying, because this is not actually the highest salary an engineer can make, but the highest salaries reported. The word "can" is used in the wrong fashion.
- retrac98 10y agoUgh, this is depressing. Engineers seem to make so much more money in the states than elsewhere. I'm UK based/in my late 20s, and a £100k+ salary in regular employment just seems completely unavailable outside of a big tech firm in London.
- alistairSH 10y agoAnybody who claims a $250k compensation package is normal in the US is bonkers. Somebody posted it in a sibling thread, but the US BLS has the average salary at $100k. Add benefits and bonuses and you might hit $200k, but even that's a stretch.
- johnloeber 10y agoI'm surprised to see the omission of top machine learning engineers from this article, who are currently priced in the $1m-5m range. Facebook has placed such offers to industry experts, as well as to the world's strongest PhD students in computer vision. I am under the impression that other tech giants are competing similarly. (Note: when I say top, we're talking about a pool of <500 people worldwide.)
- patgenzler 10y agoIn theory the highest salary a programmer can make is infinite. Think WhatsApp founders, $20 billion acquisition. The numbers in this post probably apply to less than 0.01% of developers. Most developers don't even come close, even in Silicon Valley. I have seen people make those numbers, including one million compensation, and the only explanation I can come up with is: right place, right time. I'm sure there are exceptions, though. There's only three ways to get above average returns over time: get into one of the top 5 tech companies that pay well and insert yourself into important groups and ride a fast track wave; become a premium freelancer and charge premium rates; or get into a rocketship startup and get a lucky outsized exit. Lucky because very very few startups have a good exit (for employees). Most die, or exit in a way investors and founders make some money but employees don't make anything. Hello liquidation preferences. Bottom line: get good at what you do, stay in the top 25% in your area, build a reputation, and go to places where you can add value. Negotiate.
- ta_googler 10y agoStrictly answering the question posed: O(100M) USD. (evidence: all the "first engineers" at AmaGooFaceSoftFlix). If you are above average but not super smart, willing to put in hard work and have normal interpersonal skills (i.e. not being a total jerk, know how to talk to groups, know how to write effectively etc), here is how you can be a millionaire in 10 years: 1 year: Practice super hard for tech interviews. They are notoriously difficult, but all you need is good understanding of the best reference book for {Algorithms, Data structures, Computer Architecture, Operating Systems, Databases}; which is basically what they teach you in undergrad CS. Online, you will find plenty of "how to crack google interview" links. Then apply to a few small companies as "warmup exercise". Finally, apply to all the big names AmaGooFaceSoftFlix in high-salary area (SV, Seattle, NYC) and get in one of them. next 9 years: 1. Give your best in the first 3-4 years. If your group is bad (mainly due to bad manager), suck it up - you can easily switch teams in most big companies within 18-24 months. 2. Aim for promotion every couple of years. Find senior people who are friendly, make friends with them (plenty of opportunities to hang out socially in your early years), ask them career advice from time to time etc. With this strategy, you will be E5 in FB or Senior S/W Engg in Google (or equivalent) in ~4-5 years. This level pays ~250-300K in Salary + Bonus + Stocks. Previous 2 levels should pay 150-170K and 200-230K. 3. Don't get daunted by "high cost of living" memes. If you are at a big company on a good trajectory, you can easily afford it in SV/Seattle/NYC. 4. Out of your total earnings, allocate 25-30% for taxes, 30-35% for living expenses, rest for savings (preferably 401K, Roth IRA via backdoors etc) in low cost index funds. 5. Beyond a certain level, either you will need a bit of interpersonal (political?) skills or super smart chops in some specific area to grow further. But decent knowledge of some stack plus hard work can get you to next level within next 2-3 years, at which point it starts paying really well - >400K, bulk of which is from stock grants. After 10 years, your savings will nicely grow nicely close to 1M USD. If you have have purchased house, your home equity may replace some of the liquid net worth. Disclaimers: 1. I assume ability to work in the US 2. I am not counting for outliers in either direction (some folks become director+ in 10 years, some folks languish). 3. I am basing this on my own experience and that of many of my friends. Again, we were lucky to work during a period of tech boom, cheap money, amazing stock rally etc etc. Who know what next 10 years will be.... but again, life is not that fragile either. 4. IANAL, IANACPA, yada yada...
- pathikrit 10y agoI know someone in high-frequency trading who makes $150,000 and a bonus between $1m-$2m each year
- krystiangw 10y ago$400k as a developer is the best I found: https://jobsquery.it/jobs;page=1;tags=;sortBy=SALARY_DESC;query=;location= https://jobsquery.it/jobs;page=1;tags=;sortBy=SALARY_DESC;qu... :)