3 ms·

Note: the national median for software developers is $127k, don't let anyone sell you that as some kind of career ceiling. Especially if you live in New York, S

Note: the national median for software developers is $127k, don't let anyone sell you that as some kind of career ceiling. Especially if you live in New York, Seattle, or the Bay Area. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151252.htm#st https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151252.htm#st

ska 3y ago
You're both right - you point out the absolute values achievable are a bit higher, but parent is pointing out that early career jumps are typically faster than later career ones (for good reason). So maybe it's 160k (or whatever) not 128k but the argument stands. Asymptoting to some sort of local-to-you maximum is how most peoples career arc will go. At some point there are no more big jumps to be made unless you wildly change what you are doing, and many folks will be ok with that, you continue making good money (globally speaking) for the longer run, but your days of doubling salary are done.
- ryandrake 3y ago
  Yes it's always a risk on HN to post example numbers because people fixate on the values of them and miss the gist of the comment. I'm not saying that $128K is the magic number but that for every job title, in every area, in every industry, there absolutely is a number, and your late-career compensation is likely to flatline approaching it.
klardotsh 3y ago
Yeah, at this point $127k for a SDE in Seattle MSA is... high-junior through low/mid-mid level salary. A senior title in Seattle MSA should easily be clearing $160k base cash. Maybe drop those numbers slightly in the startup scene, particularly very-early-stage, but honestly, post-2021 salaries need to match post-2021 COL, which skyrocketed already-bad numbers (I remember laughing at Zillow listings here in 2017, even) well into the stratosphere. I do think the asymptotic curve analogy still holds despite the numbers being higher in these areas (in vast majority part, IMO, because of housing purchase costs out here (or landlord greed, whichever you want to attribute to)). The jump from senior to staff bands, especially in take-home/post-tax dollars, is way, way less than the jump from mid-senior bands.

ska 3y ago

You're both right - you point out the absolute values achievable are a bit higher, but parent is pointing out that early career jumps are typically faster than later career ones (for good reason). So maybe it's 160k (or whatever) not 128k but the argument stands. Asymptoting to some sort of local-to-you maximum is how most peoples career arc will go. At some point there are no more big jumps to be made unless you wildly change what you are doing, and many folks will be ok with that, you continue making good money (globally speaking) for the longer run, but your days of doubling salary are done.

ryandrake 3y ago
Yes it's always a risk on HN to post example numbers because people fixate on the values of them and miss the gist of the comment. I'm not saying that $128K is the magic number but that for every job title, in every area, in every industry, there absolutely is a number, and your late-career compensation is likely to flatline approaching it.

klardotsh 3y ago

Yeah, at this point $127k for a SDE in Seattle MSA is... high-junior through low/mid-mid level salary. A senior title in Seattle MSA should easily be clearing $160k base cash. Maybe drop those numbers slightly in the startup scene, particularly very-early-stage, but honestly, post-2021 salaries need to match post-2021 COL, which skyrocketed already-bad numbers (I remember laughing at Zillow listings here in 2017, even) well into the stratosphere. I do think the asymptotic curve analogy still holds despite the numbers being higher in these areas (in vast majority part, IMO, because of housing purchase costs out here (or landlord greed, whichever you want to attribute to)). The jump from senior to staff bands, especially in take-home/post-tax dollars, is way, way less than the jump from mid-senior bands.