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125k/year is pretty standard for a senior programmer who doesn't lead teams, etc. in SF/NYC where I frequent. Bump that up an extra 20k if they are willing to p

by lnanek2 14y ago

125k/year is pretty standard for a senior programmer who doesn't lead teams, etc. in SF/NYC where I frequent. Bump that up an extra 20k if they are willing to program something undesirable like ads or they have finance experience as well. Other locations will pay less, of course, because they aren't where all the hot tech companies are and they don't have the same cost of living. If you network a lot it is pretty easy to pull in 10k/month contracting, though.

jiggy2011 14y ago
Geography definitely matters. My numbers were based on non-London UK for example. If you were looking at jobs in London you could probably add 5-10K to each of the figures I quoted. I assume that those 125k/year jobs are for either large companies or profitable/highly financed startups? I'm guessing that there are lots of startup programmers out there on very low salaries who are working mainly for equity which is a much harder thing to value.
- mattmanser 14y ago
  I just checked jobserve for C# and Java in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester. All have plenty of jobs going up to £45k-£50k, and that's what they're offering before you even walk in the room and they find out they like you. £35k seemed to be the ceiling about 2 years ago, I think demand is really starting to push it up.
seanmcdirmid 14y ago
10k/month contracting isn't that much if you aren't taking into account taxes, insurance, being on the beach, etc...you'd have to pull in around 20k/month to match a 120k salary.
- ryanwaggoner 14y ago
  This is an exaggeration, at least for the US. Yes, it's true that taxes will take a big chunk out of your $10k / month, but they'll take a pretty big chunk out of your $120k / yr salary, too. The only real tax "savings" you get by being employed is that your employer pays the other half of your Social security and medicare taxes (12.4% total for 2012), which means that you'll have to pay an "extra" 6.2% if you're self-employed. And most of that is SS, which caps at $106k or something. Couple this with the fact that self-employed folks have a variety of deductions that employees usually don't get (home office, special retirement options, lots of business expenses), and it starts to look a little more even. It's true that you don't get paid time off, but I can tell you from experience that a decent and determined freelance programmer can easily make $10k / month and leave plenty of time for relaxation. The biggest thing most self-employed folks have to deal with that they wouldn't normally is health insurance, but if you're young and healthy, decent insurance is a few hundred bucks a month, at most. And you can deduct the premiums. If you're not young and/or not healthy...that's another story. Bottom line, if you want to match a $120k / yr job as a freelancer, you need to make something like $12k - $14k / month. Source: personal experience and a fascination with legal tax avoidance strategies.

by lnanek2 14y ago

jiggy2011 14y ago

Geography definitely matters. My numbers were based on non-London UK for example. If you were looking at jobs in London you could probably add 5-10K to each of the figures I quoted. I assume that those 125k/year jobs are for either large companies or profitable/highly financed startups? I'm guessing that there are lots of startup programmers out there on very low salaries who are working mainly for equity which is a much harder thing to value.

mattmanser 14y ago
I just checked jobserve for C# and Java in Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham and Manchester. All have plenty of jobs going up to £45k-£50k, and that's what they're offering before you even walk in the room and they find out they like you. £35k seemed to be the ceiling about 2 years ago, I think demand is really starting to push it up.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago

10k/month contracting isn't that much if you aren't taking into account taxes, insurance, being on the beach, etc...you'd have to pull in around 20k/month to match a 120k salary.

ryanwaggoner 14y ago
This is an exaggeration, at least for the US. Yes, it's true that taxes will take a big chunk out of your $10k / month, but they'll take a pretty big chunk out of your $120k / yr salary, too. The only real tax "savings" you get by being employed is that your employer pays the other half of your Social security and medicare taxes (12.4% total for 2012), which means that you'll have to pay an "extra" 6.2% if you're self-employed. And most of that is SS, which caps at $106k or something. Couple this with the fact that self-employed folks have a variety of deductions that employees usually don't get (home office, special retirement options, lots of business expenses), and it starts to look a little more even. It's true that you don't get paid time off, but I can tell you from experience that a decent and determined freelance programmer can easily make $10k / month and leave plenty of time for relaxation. The biggest thing most self-employed folks have to deal with that they wouldn't normally is health insurance, but if you're young and healthy, decent insurance is a few hundred bucks a month, at most. And you can deduct the premiums. If you're not young and/or not healthy...that's another story. Bottom line, if you want to match a $120k / yr job as a freelancer, you need to make something like $12k - $14k / month. Source: personal experience and a fascination with legal tax avoidance strategies.