Re: How has your job and income changed in the last 2 decades?
Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2019 11:32 am
I haven't quite reached two decades. Unless you count flailing around trying to figure things out after dropping out of college. That took 5 years. Then another 5 years to get a 4 year degree (there was a year of no college while working full time to get state residency for reduced tuition). So that was a decade. Then I graduated in 2007 so we're a couple years over a decade post college degree.
My work itself has stayed similar. I've been an individual contributor working on software -- lately with some technical leadership (but not people management). Mostly web-based projects. I've found the surest way to increase my compensation has been to switch employers and that has worked up until recently. Now I either need to step up my negotiating game or I've reached the upper limit of what I can reasonable expect while still being an individual contributor (and not living near and working at Facebook/Apple/Amazon/Netflix/Google -- I could definitely earn more at one of those but cost of living would increase and quality of life would likely be lower).
I put my salary history in my journal and I'll probably get it wrong here but it roughly went something like:
$50k -> $55k/$60k -> $58k/$80k -> $140k -> $180k -> $165k -> $160k (1st full remote, LCOL) -> $175k (2nd full remote)
I think around $160-180k is max for me at this point. I suspect I could squeeze out more with harder negotiations but not much more. If I want more now, I have to make a name for myself (speak at conferences, make popular open source software, etc) and then leverage that to get roles with more business input, start my own things (and get very lucky) or move to one of the big names mentioned above (and learn to be a tiny cog). At this point in time, I think it's best to stay on the path I'm on until I either get to FI/ERE or the path ends (then decide what to do next).
I have been fortunate to be on the lucrative side of the tech divide. I only got here because of personal interest. I understand theoretically why my time has the value it has. In practice, I've grown disillusioned by software development. Mostly around the business side of it -- after trying my own thing, I can see how critical the business/growth/sales side of things are. I think most of my employers have had a poor return on the money they have spent on my time but it is not for lack of effort on my part -- more so that their businesses didn't realize the theoretical benefit/value they could have. So that is why I'm somewhat skeptical that my high income will continue although part of me suspects the majority of businesses fail to get the value they could get out of their employees due to poor alignment and/or management and/or ???. So perhaps things will not change. I don't know.
My work itself has stayed similar. I've been an individual contributor working on software -- lately with some technical leadership (but not people management). Mostly web-based projects. I've found the surest way to increase my compensation has been to switch employers and that has worked up until recently. Now I either need to step up my negotiating game or I've reached the upper limit of what I can reasonable expect while still being an individual contributor (and not living near and working at Facebook/Apple/Amazon/Netflix/Google -- I could definitely earn more at one of those but cost of living would increase and quality of life would likely be lower).
I put my salary history in my journal and I'll probably get it wrong here but it roughly went something like:
$50k -> $55k/$60k -> $58k/$80k -> $140k -> $180k -> $165k -> $160k (1st full remote, LCOL) -> $175k (2nd full remote)
I think around $160-180k is max for me at this point. I suspect I could squeeze out more with harder negotiations but not much more. If I want more now, I have to make a name for myself (speak at conferences, make popular open source software, etc) and then leverage that to get roles with more business input, start my own things (and get very lucky) or move to one of the big names mentioned above (and learn to be a tiny cog). At this point in time, I think it's best to stay on the path I'm on until I either get to FI/ERE or the path ends (then decide what to do next).
I have been fortunate to be on the lucrative side of the tech divide. I only got here because of personal interest. I understand theoretically why my time has the value it has. In practice, I've grown disillusioned by software development. Mostly around the business side of it -- after trying my own thing, I can see how critical the business/growth/sales side of things are. I think most of my employers have had a poor return on the money they have spent on my time but it is not for lack of effort on my part -- more so that their businesses didn't realize the theoretical benefit/value they could have. So that is why I'm somewhat skeptical that my high income will continue although part of me suspects the majority of businesses fail to get the value they could get out of their employees due to poor alignment and/or management and/or ???. So perhaps things will not change. I don't know.