[ardit33]

Rule of thumb in the valley, for a good senior level engineer (6+ years of experience), is about 120-140k salary, plus 10-20k bonus. That's what I think are averages, for GOOD/above average engineers in established companies (not startups). Keep in mind that a good or average engineer in some companies, could be easy a superstar in other companies. They are always outliers for expectational people, but it seems that the places that pay consistently less:

1. Don't care for top talent (they may not really need it).

2. Are not usually worth working for (eg. gaming industry / old finance/ companies that view tech as a cost)

3. Offer some kind of life quality balance and don't expect high outputs from their employees.

If you are not happy with your current salary you can still interview around and find another job. Don't necessary quit, but at least you would know whats out there. If your think your job is easy/cushy, then 110k is not that bad, but actually good. You can easily go somewhere else, and get a 20k bumb, but find out you have to work twice as hard. If you are really challenged, and are stressed, and feel underpaid, then you must do something:

1. Ask for a raise. 2. Find another job that pays better.

What I found out, is that no matter how fun the job is, if you feel 'underpaid', over time that will create some feelings of resentment and unhappiness. Also, if you get paid well, but hate the job, then you would still feel unhappy.

The happy medium, is finding something that you really like, and are happy with the salary at the same time (usually when you think you are on the higher range salary compared to your peers).

[yummyfajitas]

it seems that the places that pay consistently less:...old finance

I think you should clarify what "old finance" is. Finance in general pays considerably more than average.

[ardit33]

eg. Wells Fargo, Fidelity Investments (where I had my first job), etc... they seem to have the 'cheaper' better mantra, view tech as a cost center, and like outsourcing too much. I am not necessary talking about wall street.

[notimportant]

Sadly I am overworked, stressed and the job just does not excite me as it used to (at least in this sector that I work in) - there are some pros at my current place of employment as well; I just need to figure out if seeking new opportunities is worth it and especially at my current rate of income. Since I am seeing a lot of people mention positions that pay higher then I am also starting to think I might be underpaid. More things to add to my stress :)

[darklajid]

Going from "Making too much?" to "Damn, I might be underpaid.." is quite a change during the course of ~12 hours.. ;-)

One more reason to take a step back. This is an international, diverse crowd of people and obviously you'll find people that both earn more and people that earn less than you. I tend to think (guessing wildly) that we have a biased set here, though, with average+ developers participating on this site. If that is correct, you'd end up with a result set that is biased towards the upper end of the salary range as well..

In the end I'd try to find out what the comfortable amount of money to sustain your preferred lifestyle is. With that number in mind I, personally, would recommend looking for a job that does excite you, won't burn you out - and would rather take a hit on the salary side.. I'm not sure if that is something you're open to, though, since this thread topic started with salary alone, not salary vs. quality of life..

[notimportant]

I realize that that was a foolish thing to say ;) I won't take this thread as a reason to storm in to my employers office demanding a raise; but it is useful information to plan my future out accordingly. My current train of thought was that I would have no choice but to enter management shortly to be able to move up; and as stated in some of my replies, it's not something I want to do. With the realization that I may be able to expand quite a bit still as a developer alone (granted I am overseeing people, but it's far from managerial type functions) than it allows me to see what career path I can make for myself.

Quality of life will always remain important to me; but at the same token it's not all about the money, and it's not all about leaving at a punctual time. I understand this sector can call for some long and grueling hours and have paid my dues and am still willing to do so when necessary. As for salary, I have turned down jobs that were better compensated - but the atmosphere didn't sit well with me.

Sadly this is so confusing, and I hope I will be able to make more sense of everything as this thread continues to expand.

[yummyfajitas]

...we have a biased set here, though, with average+ developers participating on this site. If that is correct, you'd end up with a result set that is biased towards the upper end of the salary range as well..

Since notimportant is a random member of this biased sample, we should also assume he is one of the average+ developers participating here.