3 ms·

Programmers haven't always made this much.

by whoknowsidont 2y ago

geraldwhen 2y ago
But they have, plus or minus 40% adjusted for inflation. Soul sucking corporate jobs have always paid well.
- whoknowsidont 2y ago
  There are way, way, way more jobs that make 300k+ in our industry than there ever have been. It's not that these jobs have never existed, it's that they are in greater quantities.
- jjtheblunt 2y ago
  40% is a big fraction
YZF 2y ago
During the .com boom (1990's) an intermediate programmer would easily command $100k USD/year in salary. Many made millions on stocks. Later how many programmer millionaires did the big tech companies make? 10's of thousands? 25 years ago. Adjusted to today that's ~190k USD in salary. Add equity, bonus, ESPP etc. There's ups and downs but I think there are lots of US software jobs that pay this today.
- ghaff 2y ago
  And a lot of those programmers in the .com boom ended up with stock that was worth zilch and a ton of people ended up leaving the industry in the 2001 or so period. I was incredibly luck to get laid off a couple weeks after 9/11 and to get another tech-adjacent job about a month later based on a lunch I had with someone I knew a few days after I was laid off. That was not a common experience in that period. (Mind you, that wasn't a great stretch for me in terms of compensation. But a later job made up for it at least by my standards.)
  - YZF 2y ago
    There's always a range of experiences. Most of the people I know did ok through the .com bust and are still in tech. Some people had millions on paper and didn't sell and held on to it and not only was it worth zilch they also owed taxes but many really made millions. Pretty much anyone that had a job in FAANG or similar companies did really well from 2001 to today - a lot of people. Tech grew like crazy and took a lot of people with it for the ride.
    - ghaff 2y ago
      Certainly the last 15 years in particular have been very good for a lot of people in tech even if they didn't hit a big jackpot in FAANG or wherever. I had a pretty ordinary tech industry job in that period and it set me up better than my whole prior career did.

Programmers haven't always made this much.

geraldwhen 2y ago

But they have, plus or minus 40% adjusted for inflation. Soul sucking corporate jobs have always paid well.

whoknowsidont 2y ago
There are way, way, way more jobs that make 300k+ in our industry than there ever have been. It's not that these jobs have never existed, it's that they are in greater quantities.
jjtheblunt 2y ago
40% is a big fraction

YZF 2y ago

During the .com boom (1990's) an intermediate programmer would easily command $100k USD/year in salary. Many made millions on stocks. Later how many programmer millionaires did the big tech companies make? 10's of thousands? 25 years ago. Adjusted to today that's ~190k USD in salary. Add equity, bonus, ESPP etc. There's ups and downs but I think there are lots of US software jobs that pay this today.

ghaff 2y ago
And a lot of those programmers in the .com boom ended up with stock that was worth zilch and a ton of people ended up leaving the industry in the 2001 or so period. I was incredibly luck to get laid off a couple weeks after 9/11 and to get another tech-adjacent job about a month later based on a lunch I had with someone I knew a few days after I was laid off. That was not a common experience in that period. (Mind you, that wasn't a great stretch for me in terms of compensation. But a later job made up for it at least by my standards.)
- YZF 2y ago
  There's always a range of experiences. Most of the people I know did ok through the .com bust and are still in tech. Some people had millions on paper and didn't sell and held on to it and not only was it worth zilch they also owed taxes but many really made millions. Pretty much anyone that had a job in FAANG or similar companies did really well from 2001 to today - a lot of people. Tech grew like crazy and took a lot of people with it for the ride.
  - ghaff 2y ago
    Certainly the last 15 years in particular have been very good for a lot of people in tech even if they didn't hit a big jackpot in FAANG or wherever. I had a pretty ordinary tech industry job in that period and it set me up better than my whole prior career did.