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by lifeisstillgood 1412 days ago
>>> many developers by their mid-30's are sitting on a million+ in assets and good ones can rake in 200K+ easy.

What !!!

Edit: I did return to tone down my reaction but I would be interested in any (evidence based) research on the pay scales in and out of SV. I understand it is only the very top tech (FAANG) that pay so highly and mostly though share options.

It's not like that in Europe I am afraid.

But even so, if that's your position by 35, well done you.

2 comments

GP definitely lives in a SV/US bubble. Here in Europe I know devs in high CoL areas having less than a thousand Euros left at the end of the month. Having millions in assets is fantasy for us unless you won some crypto/stock gambles.
Can attest to sv here. "Senior" (ie 2-4 years of experience at fangs or similar sizes) can make TC of around 200-250 including liquid (and quarterly vesting public RSUs) and 10% bonus on a 150ish base.
> SV/US bubble

It's not SV, it's the US. 200k is easily achievable for a senior engineer anywhere in the US with the rise in wfh.

But what percent of software engineering jobs are in the US? It's not really a bubble if it's the majority of software positions.

Reminds me of Dijkstra's "On the fact that the Atlantic Ocean has two sides" followed by Alan Kay's rebuttal "On the fact that most software is written on one side of the Atlantic Ocean."

Sure developers in the EU get paid less, developers in Mobile Alabama working locally also probably get paid less, but most developers aren't in these areas.

I also know plenty of EU citizens working for US companies making 200k+ remotely, so it's not like these positions are closed off from people residing in the EU.

Even Dijkstra eventually ended up at UT Austin.

Median total compensation for a senior software engineer in the US is $138K on glassdoor, and I'd wager even that is a bit inflated.

There is no reality where most engineers expect to be paid 200K+. I really don't understand technical people perpetuating this idea when you can find data pretty much anywhere that indicates otherwise. There is just no reason to inflate this number.

Glassdoor notoriously undershoots and is off by quite a bit. I’d not use that as a resource at all.
I was talking about the millions in assets part. And 200k for EU citizens is definitely not easily achievable. The median is far far below that.
perfectly doable in London
How exactly?
works for a company that pays its engineers reasonably well?

$200k (TC) is not that high in London for an engineer with 10 years experience

So that's 160k pa total. I'm in London myself

I would be surprised to see someone whose job is coding getting that.

There may be crypto paying silly amounts or lucky start ups.

Either that or I need to brush up my CV

I'm in London and I'm on 400k/year.

See how easy it is to just lie on the internet? :P

all of this is pretty easily verified on somewhere like glassdoor

look for developers working at trading firms

I'm based in Amsterdam and agree with him. There are a few local companies offering that much, including some who post pay ranges on this site.

I also made that much last year by working remotely for a Canadian company via a.team.

I know more examples of people working for Facebook in Germany and remotely for an Israeli company making over €300k.