Ask HN: 30+ men and women in software, how much do you make?
I am curious to know what men and women 30 and beyond make. I just turned 31 and have decade of experience. I am excited being in my 30s but concerned at the same time. I am well aware of and have witnessed ageism. I know if you stay good there are no lack of opportunities. However, once you buy house and have kids picture change dramatically.
I am single and yet to find a woman who I like enough to marry. Kids are off for me for at least 4 more yrs.
I will start with myself. I live in Seattle, 10 yrs of experience and make 135k (not Amazon).
How much do you make and what's your story?
131 comments
[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 180 ms ] threadTo get here I've had to negotiate every career change. I learned early that an offer was just that, an offer. I made it a habit to not accept the first offer and (almost) always counter.
I find that too many of us don't negotiate hard enough. I suppose it's easier to negotiate when you have options. With my salary and age, I'm also finding fewer options when I look for the role.
$170k base salary plus $20,000 signing bonus. 0.5% equity. Series A small company.
Lisbon, Portugal.
It was my highest paying job to date here, at a startup of 4 people.
Edit: forgot the AMT.
14 years exp.
Poland
I make the equivalent of about $16.5/h on B2B (net pay after all taxes, social fees etc.)
The reason I asked why you asked is it was unclear what information you were interested in. I primarily know about Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
If you want something off the beaten path, try Xela, Guatemala. Your Spanish needs to be adequate, as very few people there speak English (except for expats).
The best places actually are tourist destinations, if you're looking for places to go. If you're looking for a place to settle down for a few months, that's different.
I've always wanted to go to Lake Atitlán. I hear there's a restaurant in Santa Cruz La Laguna that does very traditional Guatemalteco cuisine with an incredible view of the lake. The restaurant is called Cafe Sabor Cruceno, and it's run by a local trade school. You have to take a boat from Panajachel to get there...but don't go in March or April, because the fog in the atmosphere that time of year really kills the view.
San Miguel de Allende in Mexico is also on my list. Not sure what the 4G LTE situation is like out there, however.
- 125K, startup.
- 110K, cut salary for an early stage startup.
- 150K, with upto 25% bonus, plus options, startup that made boatload of money.
- 210K, consultant
- 280K, consultant
- 300K, consultant
Avoid excessive startup if possible. I was young and naive. After doing 5 or 6 startups, I realized it's a lossy deal. VC spread their risk by investing in 10 companies and assuming 9 would fail. Founders go in with 90% chance of failing but with enough equity to offset the risk. Early employees are screwed, with 90% chance of failing but with meager equity, while doing huge amount of work.
Join startup for the learning. Join big company for the cash. If you really want startup, join late stage startup that are making money, which drastically cuts down the risk of failure while still give you upside.
Go into consulting is you want the cash. You have to be good and deliver.
How did you find the jump from inhouse to doing your own consulting? Is it just a case of getting experience in delivering? i.e. more likely to have success after some junior manager experience inhouse?
I had a really good GM in my last job who taught me a fair bit about how the business works - after moving on I've felt that void in other roles where senior managers are much less transparent. I want to streamline into business function ownership - have you got any advice on how to get to this stage or does this just come with general experience and following management track up?
On the technical side, try to understand various architecture and how things work together. Do the full stack. Ideally when talking to the clients about a feature, you should be able to figure out what need to be done along the whole pipeline of work.
If you are a software developer and want to go further, I would say get involved in:
- Product management.
- Architecture.
- Go to meetings to talk to clients.
Also consulting for legal technical due diligence.
I worry about ageism sometimes, but it still seems far off. I'm more concerned about just not getting jaded. I've been in a lot of work environments that seemed good at first, but turned out to be rather unpleasant.
I love being 30. It's a great age. I'm excited to get older, too. No desire to go back to my 20s.
I just realized how bad I'm getting boned.
That pay is perfectly good in a low-density part of Florida or Texas. (anything not a well-known city) You wouldn't even have to be rural to get a house for 5 digits.
175k total cash comp (part of it is bonus).
I have a few close friends who make a fair bit more working at big 4 tech companies who don't any sort of online presence. They just did well in interviews, were persistent and not afraid to flunk some interviews, then worked hard to get promoted.
Years exp: 8 full time
Base: 180k
RSU: 60k/yr
Bonus:30% (more last year)
I work remotely for a fortune 500 as a software engineer. No degree. College dropout.
...or not at that firm? email's in my profile. Reach out if you all are looking.