4 ms·

I could see 10 developers costing that much

by CobsterLock 5y ago

kube-system 5y ago
$500,000 salary? Let me know where these jobs are because I'd like to submit my resume.
- eganist 5y ago
  Senior/Staff developers/architects etc at FAANGs can command as much or more. It's a routine topic of conversation on hn. Netflix specifically is known for paying much more of it as cash than the others. https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Amazon,Apple,Netflix,Google,Facebook&track=Software%20Engineer https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Amazon,Apple,Netflix,Google,...
- jandrese 5y ago
  More like a $250,000 salary + benefits. Medical coverage is hideously expensive for example. Plus retirement, dental, insurance, and taxes. Still a cushy salary for a dev, but not completely out of the realm of reason.
  - simias 5y ago
    That's definitely a high salary except for the biggest companies in the richest parts of the richest countries. I do thin the parent's point still stands though, my current salary is not nearly that high but you'd have to pay me a lot more than $500k for me to risk hacking an American pipeline. That's an insane amount of risk for a few years worth of salary (that I'll probably have to be very careful laundering if I don't want to raise suspicions).
    - dannyw 5y ago
      What if you were in Russia and unemployed?
  - Can_Not 5y ago
    That's incentive for someone living in silicon valley to not do it, but outside of the hubs most of the United States has miniscule demand for tech workers (using that term very loosely), and the majority of the world would average out to something like "30k, but the job only exists if you live in the capital".
- jorblumesea 5y ago
  For experienced seniors and principal/staff engineers, this is pretty close if not below market rate. But presumably most of these engineers are globally distributed and 500k for eastern Europe is an immense sum.
- smabie 5y ago
  A 500k isn't all that unusual in tech I feel like.. Like a senior engineer at a FANG is probably making that much or more all in. Entry level salary for tier one firms across finance and tech is probably around 250-300k. Not hard to get to 500k with some experience.
  - kube-system 5y ago
    It is very, very unusual. Unusual even in California: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151256.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151256.htm
  - PragmaticPulp 5y ago
    > A 500k isn't all that unusual in tech I feel like.. > Like a senior engineer at a FANG Becoming a Senior Engineer at FAANG is very unusual, across all tech workers. It's doable with the right amount of work, dedication, and willingness to relocate to the right locations, of course. But it's nowhere near guaranteed or common.
    - dannyw 5y ago
      It's not common but all of these aspects are within your control. Luck is surely involved too, but it's not like FAANG uses random() to pick senior engineers. If you get your foot in the door into FAANG and work very hard, you have a decent shot. If you don't want to relocate, that's your problem. There are trade off's in life. If you can't relocate, that's unfortunate.
      - PragmaticPulp 5y ago
        > If you don't want to relocate, that's your problem. It's not a problem, it's a choice. HN some times acts like FAANG is the only acceptable goal for a software engineer, and that all other choices are somehow wrong or inferior. We really need to get past this idea that there's only, single correct decision.

I could see 10 developers costing that much

kube-system 5y ago

$500,000 salary? Let me know where these jobs are because I'd like to submit my resume.

eganist 5y ago
Senior/Staff developers/architects etc at FAANGs can command as much or more. It's a routine topic of conversation on hn. Netflix specifically is known for paying much more of it as cash than the others. https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Amazon,Apple,Netflix,Google,Facebook&track=Software%20Engineer https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Amazon,Apple,Netflix,Google,...
jandrese 5y ago
More like a $250,000 salary + benefits. Medical coverage is hideously expensive for example. Plus retirement, dental, insurance, and taxes. Still a cushy salary for a dev, but not completely out of the realm of reason.
- simias 5y ago
  That's definitely a high salary except for the biggest companies in the richest parts of the richest countries. I do thin the parent's point still stands though, my current salary is not nearly that high but you'd have to pay me a lot more than $500k for me to risk hacking an American pipeline. That's an insane amount of risk for a few years worth of salary (that I'll probably have to be very careful laundering if I don't want to raise suspicions).
  - dannyw 5y ago
    What if you were in Russia and unemployed?
- Can_Not 5y ago
  That's incentive for someone living in silicon valley to not do it, but outside of the hubs most of the United States has miniscule demand for tech workers (using that term very loosely), and the majority of the world would average out to something like "30k, but the job only exists if you live in the capital".
jorblumesea 5y ago
For experienced seniors and principal/staff engineers, this is pretty close if not below market rate. But presumably most of these engineers are globally distributed and 500k for eastern Europe is an immense sum.
smabie 5y ago
A 500k isn't all that unusual in tech I feel like.. Like a senior engineer at a FANG is probably making that much or more all in. Entry level salary for tier one firms across finance and tech is probably around 250-300k. Not hard to get to 500k with some experience.
- kube-system 5y ago
  It is very, very unusual. Unusual even in California: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151256.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151256.htm
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  > A 500k isn't all that unusual in tech I feel like.. > Like a senior engineer at a FANG Becoming a Senior Engineer at FAANG is very unusual, across all tech workers. It's doable with the right amount of work, dedication, and willingness to relocate to the right locations, of course. But it's nowhere near guaranteed or common.
  - dannyw 5y ago
    It's not common but all of these aspects are within your control. Luck is surely involved too, but it's not like FAANG uses random() to pick senior engineers. If you get your foot in the door into FAANG and work very hard, you have a decent shot. If you don't want to relocate, that's your problem. There are trade off's in life. If you can't relocate, that's unfortunate.
    - PragmaticPulp 5y ago
      > If you don't want to relocate, that's your problem. It's not a problem, it's a choice. HN some times acts like FAANG is the only acceptable goal for a software engineer, and that all other choices are somehow wrong or inferior. We really need to get past this idea that there's only, single correct decision.