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He sites $165k average for senior engineers (which seems accurate), but its important to note the higher salaries as well - I have friends at Google who are mak
by gavanwoolery 13y ago
He sites $165k average for senior engineers (which seems accurate), but its important to note the higher salaries as well - I have friends at Google who are making over $300k. In terms of the worth of a software engineer, the former company I worked at used to bill $150/hour (roughly equivalent to $300k/year salary) in the mobile space. I think that this is more likely a trend though - I don't see it being that sustainable but who knows.
- dcosson 13y agoI think this upper end is a lot more interesting than the mean. I'd love to see data on what the distribution in the upper percentiles of software engineers and engineering managers looks like, especially compared to traditionally high-paying professions like finance, law, medicine, etc.
- rch 13y agoIf you add in data science or other technical knowledge, then the price stays high for the reasonably foreseeable future. That is, maybe the rate for iOS programming alone goes down quickly, but proper systems engineering that might also require an understanding of futures markets or Reynolds numbers will almost certainly stay expensive.
- bitsweet 13y agoThe trends appear to be the combination of the demand generated by increasing technology in our every day lives and a supply shortage of tech knowledge workers. I personally don't see the demand for tech falling anytime soon and, optimistically, the supply will take several years to train people with the proper skills to adequately fill these roles
- walshemj 13y agowell BMW dealers charge out labour at a very high rate (150 ph hour in central London in 2004) but the actual mechanic doesn't see anything like that in his pay check. For information back in 2000 the internal Day rate for BT in systems engineering was £300 and the rate for top tier integrators at the time was around the £600-900
- eliben 13y agoAren't you conflating base with total comp here? $150/hour consulting is $300K at 2,000 hours / year. But if that's $300K base for your friends, then the total is likely way above $500K (bonuses, stocks...) He did say base $165K on average though, which sounds too high, TBH. Surely total comp average can be above that, but base?
- rch 13y agoThat was for a Sr. engineer (so not unreasonable), and keep in mind he's advertising his ability to place high-end talent.
- humanrebar 13y ago$150k base for a guru-level talent in Austin is very reasonable. I'd expect somewhere around double that to adjust for the cost of living in San Fransisco.
- vonmoltke 13y agoThis concept is something I cannot even fathom. My base salary has never been less than 95% of my total compensation. How common is this?
- fitandfunction 13y agoPretty common. At mid levels (senior manager, director), base is ~50% of total. At senior levels (VP, CxO), base is less than 25%. At the extreme (CEOs of major corps), base is negligible (e.g. Costello's base is $14k out of a total of ~$8.7 mm).
- vonmoltke 13y agoI need to change my calculus then. Thanks.
- roc 13y agoYou could find consultants and firms billing $150/hour in the middle of the country during the post-dotcom years. That's not remotely as surprising as $300k/year salary.
- sjg007 13y agoAny recommendations for how a new to the valley engineer gets on to this salary track? Is it hard won negotiations?
- lawnchair_larry 13y agoStep 1: Don't believe his numbers