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by time_to_smile 1410 days ago
> 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.

2 comments

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.