6 ms·

Technology has been and and is increasingly so following a bimodal income distribution. There are two distinct groups. 1.) The people who work for FAANG corpor

Technology has been and and is increasingly so following a bimodal income distribution. There are two distinct groups. 1.) The people who work for FAANG corporations or high profile startups, a few places in finance. In depth knowledge of computer science required to get these jobs. 2.) People who are writing UIs, data flows, python apis, etc. Run of the mill software development. The income for these two groups looks like this: The top 5% (maybe less) in technology are making really good money, 250-1M. This is the group 1, FAANG group. The second group: The lower 95% are generally stuck between 75k and 175k. They are seeing increasing competition from Europe, China, and boot camps here in the USA. So to answer your question, if you take writing software very seriously, and can out compete most engineers, its an amazing career and will only get better. If you are a middling programmer, youre better off doing something else.

gxespino 7y ago
Username checks out
glhaynes 7y ago
If you are a middling programmer, youre better off doing something else. There are a massive amount of people that would absolutely love to be "stuck between 75k and 175k."
- ikeyany 7y ago
  There is an implicit belief by many people that you're a failure if you're not trying to get super rich in life.
- codingslave 7y ago
  He asked about careers in computer science, and so I laid out the truth. If you want to get offended fine, but reality is reality. People need to understand careers and plan accordingly, the 75k - 175k group is under increasing pressure from abroad. I tried to highlight that whilst keeping the post brief. Also, the 175 is often in very high cost of living areas, so its really not as much as it sounds.
- username90 7y ago
  I think the argument is that people wont get paid 75k to 175k for relatively simple work much longer, so this group will see their salaries and prospects dwindle in the coming 10 years.
heavenlyblue 7y ago
Do people in FAANG make 250-1M in London, for example?
- codingslave 7y ago
  Some people do, but London and Europe in general pay much less than the USA. So this mostly works for the US. London financial sector, i.e. quant groups like MAN AHL pay that. Contracting for large banks can also get there
protonimitate 7y ago
What other industry offers 75-175k as the "lower 95%"? This outlook is overly cynical and gate-keepy imo. Not sure what evidence supports that you have to be a faang eng to be safe from a recession. If a recession hit I doubt half the top tier jobs would continue exist anyway.
- codingslave 7y ago
  You are not taking into account that the 175k is in high cost of living areas. With a family and kids that does not go far in the bay area.
  - giaour 7y ago
    This doesn't really address the point you're replying to, which is that 75K would represent a high or mid-career salary in other fields. I think that's more than a tenured public high school teacher makes in San Francisco or Manhattan. If you're a journeyman programmer making 175K and you decide you're unlikely to make much more, what field could you move into that would even match your salary, much less offer more room for growth? What would such a programmer be better off doing?
    - dragonwriter 7y ago
      > If you're a journeyman programmer making 175K and you decide you're unlikely to make much more, what field could you move into that would even match your salary, much less offer more room for growth? Finance and Management (particularly management in technology) are the two potential candidate fields that come to mind. At least, those are where I've usually heard of people making market tech salaries move into laterally or upward without really unusual circumstances.
    - davidjnelson 7y ago
      Start a business and/or grind leetcode.
      - codingslave 7y ago
ephemeral1234 7y ago
I only have experience with one FAANG (Amazon), but I think your numbers are misleading. There are different ranks of software engineers, and 250K is somewhere in the middle of the salary range for the second rank (SDE II). SDE Is are making six digits, but the first digit is almost certainly a 1.
person_of_color 7y ago
How do we get toxic posts like this off HN? Anything remotely related to career devolves into this salary comparing contest. This is not good for people's mental health.
- codingslave 7y ago
  Literally the post was about computer science careers. I posted the reality of the situation, the two groups, and how one is inherently very unstable. I'm sorry if the truth offends you, but I have been in this industry for a very long time and the pattern is clear.
davidjnelson 7y ago
I wonder how unique to software this is. For instance, it appears doctors have bimodal comp too. If you compare general practitioners with top surgeons for example.
throw51319 7y ago
How does one make the jump from group #2 to group #1? If they are 4 years into their career.

gxespino 7y ago

Username checks out

glhaynes 7y ago

If you are a middling programmer, youre better off doing something else. There are a massive amount of people that would absolutely love to be "stuck between 75k and 175k."

ikeyany 7y ago
There is an implicit belief by many people that you're a failure if you're not trying to get super rich in life.
codingslave 7y ago
He asked about careers in computer science, and so I laid out the truth. If you want to get offended fine, but reality is reality. People need to understand careers and plan accordingly, the 75k - 175k group is under increasing pressure from abroad. I tried to highlight that whilst keeping the post brief. Also, the 175 is often in very high cost of living areas, so its really not as much as it sounds.
username90 7y ago
I think the argument is that people wont get paid 75k to 175k for relatively simple work much longer, so this group will see their salaries and prospects dwindle in the coming 10 years.

heavenlyblue 7y ago

Do people in FAANG make 250-1M in London, for example?

codingslave 7y ago
Some people do, but London and Europe in general pay much less than the USA. So this mostly works for the US. London financial sector, i.e. quant groups like MAN AHL pay that. Contracting for large banks can also get there

protonimitate 7y ago

What other industry offers 75-175k as the "lower 95%"? This outlook is overly cynical and gate-keepy imo. Not sure what evidence supports that you have to be a faang eng to be safe from a recession. If a recession hit I doubt half the top tier jobs would continue exist anyway.

codingslave 7y ago
You are not taking into account that the 175k is in high cost of living areas. With a family and kids that does not go far in the bay area.
- giaour 7y ago
  This doesn't really address the point you're replying to, which is that 75K would represent a high or mid-career salary in other fields. I think that's more than a tenured public high school teacher makes in San Francisco or Manhattan. If you're a journeyman programmer making 175K and you decide you're unlikely to make much more, what field could you move into that would even match your salary, much less offer more room for growth? What would such a programmer be better off doing?
  - dragonwriter 7y ago
    > If you're a journeyman programmer making 175K and you decide you're unlikely to make much more, what field could you move into that would even match your salary, much less offer more room for growth? Finance and Management (particularly management in technology) are the two potential candidate fields that come to mind. At least, those are where I've usually heard of people making market tech salaries move into laterally or upward without really unusual circumstances.
  - davidjnelson 7y ago
    Start a business and/or grind leetcode.
    - codingslave 7y ago

ephemeral1234 7y ago

I only have experience with one FAANG (Amazon), but I think your numbers are misleading. There are different ranks of software engineers, and 250K is somewhere in the middle of the salary range for the second rank (SDE II). SDE Is are making six digits, but the first digit is almost certainly a 1.

person_of_color 7y ago

How do we get toxic posts like this off HN? Anything remotely related to career devolves into this salary comparing contest. This is not good for people's mental health.

codingslave 7y ago
Literally the post was about computer science careers. I posted the reality of the situation, the two groups, and how one is inherently very unstable. I'm sorry if the truth offends you, but I have been in this industry for a very long time and the pattern is clear.

davidjnelson 7y ago

I wonder how unique to software this is. For instance, it appears doctors have bimodal comp too. If you compare general practitioners with top surgeons for example.

throw51319 7y ago

How does one make the jump from group #2 to group #1? If they are 4 years into their career.