4 ms·
People win the lottery. You don't ask "Am I doing something wrong. I bought a ticket too and didn't win anything". These huge bonuses, etc are handed out to
by mikekchar 8y ago
People win the lottery. You don't ask "Am I doing something wrong. I bought a ticket too and didn't win anything".
These huge bonuses, etc are handed out to people who either have really scarce skills or get lucky.
Wikipedia[1] says there are nearly 4 million software developers in the US. If each were to receive a million dollars, then it would total up to 4 trillion USD (using US ways of naming large numbers). The GDP of the US in 2016 (same time the software developers demographics was reported) was about 18.6 trillion USD.
The idea that a million USD is reasonable for a developer is absolutely laughable.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering_demographics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_engineering_demograph...
- pm90 8y agoNobody makes a million dollars a year. Read the comment... it’s over their entire tenure at the company.
- nojvek 8y agoEven 4 years at FANG with million in savings is laughable. You gotta be pretty high up the ladder. It is definitely not the average.
- pm90 8y agoActually an initial grant of 600K in RSU's in a FAANG would probably net that much with 4 years of rapid growth in stock price. And don't forget the cash component isn't peanuts either.
- nojvek 8y agoIs 600K RSUs a normal thing? I’m guessing it’s only for senior+ engineers only. That’s a ridiculous amount of money. Microsoft feels very stingy if this is the normal.
- pm90 8y agoThe old guard (MS, IBM etc.) seem stingy indeed when it comes to comp (except for executives, who seem to be compensated somewhat similarly across the board). The newer software firms are much much better at adequately compensating software engineers, and especially senior software engineers. If you are a senior software engineer you should seriously consider trying getting compensated along those lines.