5 ms·

Could you define semi-competent for us please? :-) 350K - 500K sounds insane for a run of the mill developer.

by ta0987 7y ago

deanmoriarty 7y ago
Maybe I should have said "competent". I myself am a generalist with relatively fair experience in systems, so I do SRE work at Google and got an offer in that range. Many of my friends are developers who know Python (and just Python), have no deep understanding of underlying computing fundamentals (no network stack, no operating systems, ...) and no special skills (no big data, no machine learning, ...). They all still managed to get a really good offer from FAANG (in the same range I'm mentioning), they just had to pass the typical coding interview puzzles that are really not that difficult if you spend a few weeks seriously training for them. One thing to keep in mind: Bay Area is massively expensive, so don't disregard my other point of being "very frugal": it is very easy to end up spending 150-200k after tax in cost of living, especially if you feel you "deserve" nice stuff, or you have kids. I grew up poor in a poor country, so living like a student at 32 still feels like luxury to me (I drive a brand new Honda Civic, live by myself, cook good food at home, ...) and allows me to save 200k+ a year, but many people wouldn't be able to do it In the Bay. Many of my peers routinely spend $600+ a month just on Uber Eats/Doordash, which is simply insane to me.
- GreenJelloShot 7y ago
  According to Glassdoor, an SRE position at Google in SF averages $136k/yr. $103k is the low end. $153K is high end. 350k-500k/year is not a typical salary at all, and only a tiny fraction of people would be able to manage to land a position that pays so well. A talented developer could manage to make 200k-300k with the right experience.
  - deanmoriarty 7y ago
    Literally nobody I know (SRE or developers) makes that little in SF, everybody makes at least 250k. I don't pretend to know why glassdoor numbers are so off, but I found the numbers at https://www.levels.fyi/ https://www.levels.fyi/ much more accurate in the current climate. Again, I speak by personal experience and the one of the people in my circles.

Could you define semi-competent for us please? :-) 350K - 500K sounds insane for a run of the mill developer.

by ta0987 7y ago

Could you define semi-competent for us please? :-) 350K - 500K sounds insane for a run of the mill developer.

Maybe I should have said "competent". I myself am a generalist with relatively fair experience in systems, so I do SRE work at Google and got an offer in that range. Many of my friends are developers who know Python (and just Python), have no deep understanding of underlying computing fundamentals (no network stack, no operating systems, ...) and no special skills (no big data, no machine learning, ...). They all still managed to get a really good offer from FAANG (in the same range I'm mentioning), they just had to pass the typical coding interview puzzles that are really not that difficult if you spend a few weeks seriously training for them. One thing to keep in mind: Bay Area is massively expensive, so don't disregard my other point of being "very frugal": it is very easy to end up spending 150-200k after tax in cost of living, especially if you feel you "deserve" nice stuff, or you have kids. I grew up poor in a poor country, so living like a student at 32 still feels like luxury to me (I drive a brand new Honda Civic, live by myself, cook good food at home, ...) and allows me to save 200k+ a year, but many people wouldn't be able to do it In the Bay. Many of my peers routinely spend $600+ a month just on Uber Eats/Doordash, which is simply insane to me.

GreenJelloShot 7y ago
According to Glassdoor, an SRE position at Google in SF averages $136k/yr. $103k is the low end. $153K is high end. 350k-500k/year is not a typical salary at all, and only a tiny fraction of people would be able to manage to land a position that pays so well. A talented developer could manage to make 200k-300k with the right experience.
- deanmoriarty 7y ago
  Literally nobody I know (SRE or developers) makes that little in SF, everybody makes at least 250k. I don't pretend to know why glassdoor numbers are so off, but I found the numbers at https://www.levels.fyi/ https://www.levels.fyi/ much more accurate in the current climate. Again, I speak by personal experience and the one of the people in my circles.