21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

I really wanted to work in Vancouver, but I simply could not justify taking the ~$80k CAD offer I had in Vancouver over an ~$140k USD offer from a company in SF.

Even when taking into account the cost of living difference, which worked out to be about the same as the ratio between the salaries, the higher salary in SF wins out because given similar savings rates, the higher your salary, the larger your raw savings in dollars will be (unless you have a savings rate of 0% or lower, which is a rarity among well-paid software engineers). This is before even taking into account the difference in purchasing power between the two currencies.

Collectively, the tech industry in Canada would reap great long-term benefits from offering salaries that are competitive with those in the US. But companies acting in short-term self-interest only try to pay their employees the bare minimum they can get away with in order to be able to claim to offer these pathetic, so-called "market-rate" Canadian salaries, with little regard to the fact that so much of the higher end of this talent pool that they could have competed for have already been brain-drained away.

This then inevitably leads to the industry generally undercompeting as a whole, which results in poorer revenues and lower interest from potential investors, which then means there's less available capital to invest in the workforce, and so the whole vicious cycle repeats itself. So many once prominent Canadian tech companies have already fallen prey to this sorry state of affairs. I wonder what kind of wake-up call the industry will need to finally break out of this pattern.

Are you sure? I think that's possible, but my first guess would be rent (anywhere, not just in SF--unless you're all remote, even tiny corporate real estate is expensive), followed by salaries/benefits.

Regardless, it would be interesting to see some data explaining how VC funding is spent. Even better to see how the spending percentages change over time/stage.

Looks like the majority of the European "better lifestyle" involves convincing people on the internet that making a fraction of a Bay Area salary is somehow a good thing.

[1]: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Senior-Software-Engi...

His pension, under the current system, would be his "high three" average times 1% times years of service ($133,967 * .01 * 21) = $28,133.

"What cost $210000 in 2000 would cost $304266.30 in 2017."

(I earn around, maybe less than half the average in this graph, in Norway).

I imagine getting a visa to work in the US without a degree is all but impossible; for work immigrants, most countries require you to have a degree, unless you have some incredible, sought after skills.

There are a bunch of other specialties that can pay very well, such as ecommerce platforms. Ecommerce in the US will double over the next ten years. And given the sum involved, that's a pretty massive economic opportunity, there are not anywhere near enough engineers & developers to go around for that change. If you acquire an expertise with Shopify, Magento, Bigcommerce, etc. you can do very well in the space.

I used them in my last job search, and was super impressed with every step along the way. Low stress, and lots of constant feedback on how to make myself a better candidate.

So how does this translate to searching for candidates?

Well, in general when you are scanning resumes you are looking for “proxies” for quality (remember you are devoting maybe 30 - 60 seconds to each resume initially, and even at that rate it will take you 30+ minutes to get through the resume dump you have been given that day. This doesn’t count the extra time you spend on the most promising candidates. So, what are good proxies? The best proxies are competing companies for your industry, where they are currently working at. It shows they both 1. Are able to do an equivalent job, and 2. They know the specifics of your industry. Next best proxy: A similar job that they have done at any company (preferably at a company which you have heard of, and know hires good quality). The next “goodness” proxy I use is “have they done anything I heard about, or can infer their competence from? An example is a project that I know is non trivial. The final proxy you can use of course is a degree. Since it is known quantity of “work” that was needed to successfully complete that degree.

This is to say, if you don’t have a degree you need to “stand out” in some way. Show that you can “do” something valuable.

Remember at the end of the day the employer has to get “value” out of you. You need to provide some multiple of what you cost for it to be “worth” hiring you. Some numbers for context: For 100k job, that usually translates to 160k all in cost for the employer (benefits, taxes, overhead, etc). Add in the risk you may not work out (if they are 90% certain, then they have to expect 177k of value just to break even). If you are less solid of a candidate, say 50% chance of working out, then the number is 320k.

Either way, you need to give the expectation that you will give way more value then your cost given your risk profile.

So to circle back, how do you get these jobs? Find a way to demonstrate your “value” in the context of the employers needs or find ways of reducing your “risk” profile for them hiring you.

Hope this helps.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_labour_law

I was in a meeting with some French folks a while back and they interrupted the meeting because they had to leave, as some "police" was asking them to go home.

Businesses in America cannot deal with that [law/culture/laziness/freedom/whateveryouwanttocallit]

-- edit Oh yeah, in this 21st century, there is a Right to Disconnect (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38479439). As a business owner, I say "screw that; why bother"