Ask HN: 30+ men and women in software, how much do you make?

[geiwo]

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?

[salary_chat]

Americans surely know the value of a good developer. Unbelievable how terrible the pay is in Europe. 70k-80k is a common end-of-career salary here.

I once had a business partner (French) and we were launching a software-based business. He was the President, I was the CEO (leading all technical, engineering and operations management matters, that's quite a bit... he was handling the sales).

I told him that as a first step, I wanted to pay myself a $80k salary as soon as the business would have the appropriate cashflow. He told me "$80k ? That's quite a high salary for a CEO, but this sounds like a good long-term objective".

Lol. This is one of the reasons I talk about this partnership in the past tense. But this gives you an idea, about the mindset in Europe and of how the compensation tends to be way below the value produced.

For some reason I'm happy when I read here about people just turning 30 making over $150k per year as development manager / senior devs. This is what a first-class engineer deserves.

[omnimus]

Well in Europe its very different because cost of living and quality of life/money ratio is very different.

150k are amounts made only by succesufl business people, not by employee. No matter what you do. Top notch doctors make what 50k... Its going to be higher in Germany and UK and surely switzerland. But for example even in Berlin it wont be so much bigger than in cheaper countries.

I think the point is that even for 25k you live pretty fucking fine. Most people live happy with prices around 18-12 which are the middle-lows.

You cant buy so many things but most europeans dont care that much about buying things. The trend in bigger cities now is to have a bike and ride public transport - many people dont even want a car. You buy home and you are done.

On the other hand since wages are not so high the price of services is lower too. So things like food in restaurants is just cheap (and great). With 24k you dont need kitchen and can basicaly eat outside all the time. When you go to cheaper restaurants you are nearing the price of the raw ingredients since the people are not so expensive. It depends where you live but i dont think you can compare europe with north america.

With 150k you would be considered very very rich. Presidents and heads of state make that much in most of the european countries.

[blub]

Yes on the other hand I have the impression that it's very easy to fire someone at will in the US and healthcare is very expensive and is tied to the company.

Overall I have the feeling that workers have fewer rights in the US. This is usually working fine for something that's in demand, but can quickly become terrible.

[salary_throwawa]

Canadian checking in (Calgary). $175k in my late 30s.

To 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.

[canadathrowm]

This seems like a very good salary for Calgary. Many good software devs in that city making about 100k, hats off to your negotiating skills.

[stuxnet79]

Do you mind sharing what Canadian city you are based in?

[Webster]

Recently turned 61. I make $110k, 30+ years a developer. Currently work with Java on Search Engines. Spent most of my career in C working on chemical search engines. Happy to be healthy, alive, and still having a blast writing software

[bo_Olean]

Do you enjoy or find time to write code outside of work?

[iends]

City?

[tboyd47]

Just turned 30. I make $95k before taxes and I'm eight years a developer. I'm married and have two kids. We rent and have no plans to buy yet. I'm east coast.

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.

[throwaway3223]

I'm in early 30s, live in Ohio making around $105k before taxes working as a backend developer for a medium size company. $90k to $110k is a pretty standard salary for a backend (or full stack) developer with 10 years of experience throughout the state from my interview experience. Adjusting for cost of living in Seattle versus my location, your salary is pretty comparable to mine. Done just about everything software wise from the frontend to the backend in a number of different languages (C#, Java, Scala, JavaScript, Python, PHP).

If you're witnessing ageism already, you're probably dodging a bullet working at those toxic places for reasons that go beyond just ageism. Seattle would be my choice to live in though if I were on the West Coast.

I do projects on the side as a hobby (mobile apps and such). Keeps up my skills and pays for my lunch money. Used to do a lot of contract work for startups in the area and small businesses. Wanted more stability, so I gave it up for a regular salary. I sometimes miss the freedom I had with my previous work, but doing my side projects keeps me happy when I get bogged down with too much "process" at my day job.

[ionised]

- 30 years old, 4 years professional experience

- £35,000, £1800~ p/m after tax and pension contribution

- 20% income tax, 22.5% VAT

- Back-end Java dev

- Java/Spring/Hibernate/Redis/MongoDB/Docker/Vagrant/JavaScript/Angular

- North West UK (Liverpool area)

- 37.5 hours p/w, 24 days paid holiday, paid sick leave

I am well aware how badly devs in the UK can be paid and it is a constant source of bitterness.

Would seriously entertain opportunities abroad.

[nullundefined]

Male, 30. 4.5 years "professional" development experience.

$170k base salary plus $20,000 signing bonus. 0.5% equity. Series A small company.

[itake]

JW, where are you located?

[this_throwaway]

After 30,

- 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

[blahfuk]

Teach me Yoda

[iends]

What are you consulting?

[jimmywanger]

40 years old, 155k, 10% performance bonus, full remote with the stipulation that I stay within a couple time zones of PST.

[jimmywanger]

And just an edit: I have 18 years of experience, and this was a pretty hefty pay cut from my last job. The full remote makes things worthwhile for me, at least.

[EXueBRJ9d]

Male, 45, wife, child free, Boston, lots of experience + advanced degree, $250K. Team lead is probably the best description of my role.

[earcaraxe]

I live in Boston and am about to turn 30. I am making $130 plus about $25 in stock and 10% bonus. I'd appreciate any advice in how to continue growing that to achieve your level of success.

[fratlas]

Plan on having kids?

[HugoDaniel]

Male, 33, 8 years of experience, 24k EUR in my last job. (Currently trying to bootstrap a personal proj.)

Lisbon, Portugal.

[zerr]

I find odd such low wages, also in Spain... I have an impression that taxi drivers or fishermen make much more... don't they?

[HugoDaniel]

Before tax, that was exactly 1700EUR per month * 14 (here we get paid 2 extra months). After tax it was about 1300EUR per month.

It was my highest paying job to date here, at a startup of 4 people.

[ohgh1ieD]

Before tax ?

[Tech1]

30, M, NYC, 120k. Firmware (C++), and some Java.

I just realized how bad I'm getting boned.

[tdb7893]

I don't know if this is low for NYC or not but I would take the numbers in these threads with a huge grain of salt. It's a really low sample size and people who make a lot (or feel like they aren't making enough) are more likely to tell their salary to the general public in my experience.

[tropo]

For NYC, yeah...

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.

[ta-20161001]

Mid-30's. Male. Married. A few kids.

SF bay area. > 10 yrs at top tier post-IPO SV company. Backend infra development (C++). One of the top 10-15% engineers in the company.

> 400K total comp this year - < 50% of that is salary; rest is bonus and stock grants (portion vested in 2016 of all the grants received over the last 3-4 years).

Going forward, it seems stocks will dominate the total compensation but its okay given the current state of my company.

Taxes: effective 35-40% (federal + state + payroll).

[jeffwass]

When reading these compensation threads, I've been curious about this for awhile. In your valuation, are you counting the stock's price at the time of issuance or time of vesting and delivery?

If quoting as of time of delivery, I think it's a bit confusing as it mixes in the capital appreciation or loss of the stock with the employers actual intended total compensation for the year of the award.

For example, let's say you were awarded 400 shares of stock 2 years ago, and 100 shares vest each year. Stock price was $300 two years ago at the time of the award, but now is $600 at the time of this year's vesting.

Would you count the contribution of 100 vesting shares to your total compensation for this year as $60k?

Or, since it was awarded 2 years ago, would you have included the full 400 shares only in your two-years-ago compensation number valued at $120k?

[mythrowaway1]

Married, 33, no kids, Washington State(the middle). I do WebDev, fully remote, $110k plus bonus. no degree. In my mid twenties i was making $260k in management, but there was months of travel per year involved, was fun for a while.

[sydthrow]

Male, 43, Sydney, 17 Years experience. No degree. Self taught.

2008 - $125k + 20% bonus - Full-time employee

2009 - $80k - Started my own web development company

2010 - $110k - Built a product

2011 - $132k - Daughter born

2012 - $145k -

2013 - $150k -

2014 - $150k - Son born

2015 - $250k - Hired 1st employee

2016 - $480k - Hired 2nd and 3rd employees

[jackgolding]

As an Aussie do you have any advice on making the inhouse to running your own thing shift? I'm still very young but am earning a very nice wage, I'm afraid my as income gets higher (and responsibilities start flowering) it will be harder to make the jump.

[cylinder]

Would you share the general type of client you pursue and sign? Major corporation, SME, digital agency? Just curious which type of clients pay enough to achieve a revenue per employee that high.

[zerr]

Interesting, at 31, what kind of ageism did you face? I'm thinking about some kind of under-23 hipster startup... Or did you experience it within a well-rounded company/people?

[throwaway_sal1]

75K Euros. Georgia (non-EU eastern European country). Working from home for western European company. Early 30s.

[throawaybay]

125k base + some stock... 8 years experience, age 36. Bay area. Full stack, mostly java.

Talking with friends it seems like salaries have exploded the past 1-2 years. I know of two at ~160k and recruiters are indicating 160-180k base right now.

So it seems like I'm leaving a lot on the table....

[throwaway_java]

good time to job hop

[madengr]

Well I'm 45 and in hardware with 20 years experience; $148k + 13% bonus. I didn't make near, at 30, the quoted figures here. I guess software really does pay well. If my employer thinks they pay me too much, they can bugger-off.

[d4rkph1b3r]

35 Los Angeles (working for a BaY Area company remotely).

175k total cash comp (part of it is bonus).

[bbcbasic]

Out of interest, what sort of skills and responsibility are expected to get that level of income?

[FT_intern]

How did you convince the company to let you work remotely?