[kelukelugames]

Yeah, it's tough. Especially since everyone inflates their earnings. But this is what I surmised after researching and interviewing at a dozen companies:

I compared my offers with friends and concluded a mid level (non-senior, not college hire) dev should make at least 135k for base salary and enough stocks and bonuses to surpass 200k per year. This is for Seattle as of spring 2014. However I followed my heart and accepted a slightly lower offer to join a start up.

Caveat: never believe any compensation numbers you read online or hear in person. People brag and exaggerate. Engineers lie to recruiters, recruiters lie to engineers, recruiters lie to other recruiters, and engineers lie to each other. I only believe numbers when I 1) see an offer letter, 2) see a pay stub, or 3) hear multiple people with the same job title tell me identical numbers.