ASK HN: 300k engineers How do you get there? | Hacker News Reader

ASK HN: 300k engineers How do you get there?

17 pointscodesternews21 comments

They got a job at FAANG and stuck around.

Yeah I think part of the prerequisite is that they either contribute more than 300k of wealth or are plausibly a threat that can statistically do more than 300k in damage.

The threat is more likely. "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer"

Or at a bank.

Banks don't pay that well.

By banks I mean Wall St. firms in NY, not consumer banking operations. And of course not for junior roles. I've received recruiter emails a handful of times offering $300k or $400k salaries at said banks.

I receive such emails too. The question is how many of those roles actually exist for software engineers (and how often recruiters just write a big amount in the email to get your attention - remember most of these emails are automatically generated), I'd say there's much less of these good roles in Wall St. firms compared to tech.

Yeah this is my conclusion. Theres probably only a few teams of engineers at every bank that make this.

The stick around bit is interesting. More and more folks jump ship every 1-2 years. I wonder if these folks make $300k+.

I was just reading the below when you posted this.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/middle-class-budget-S...

Sounds insane

I can't even fathom being out of touch enough to spend $6k per year on clothing and then go on telling someone I live paycheck to paycheck.

Edit: Not to mention owning a $60k luxury SUV and still being dumb enough to take the standard deduction when you clearly have enough expenses to itemize.

Yeah, that whole expenditure sheet is absolutely insane. $2K mortgage/$1.9K interest? You've gotta be shitting me.

I'm sorry but, if you're paying that much for a house (and everything else) that $300K is "paycheck to paycheck" then it's time to re-evaluate where you live. All of those costs could be cut completely in half, at the very least.

Budgets are funny, as every single person is different and yet thinks they have it figured out. I also recognize the irony in my previous statement.

My total comp is hovering around 300-310k

1.5 years out of a B.A. from a State School. I taught myself machine learning and focused on providing performance from bare metal to algorithms

That's cool and looks like you are more into music. Are you making the transition or are you doing both in parallel? May I ask how you get ML work.

I went to school for Computer Engineering, I'm just tangentially into music. I got into ML by doing a few hackathons throwing stuff together, then I got a undergrad research position doing static analysis. That helped get me the job I have now.

Get competing offers from a few big tech cos at the same time. You will clear 300k. So basically, master leetcode

Truth is its a very typical salary + equity package for established cos and competitive late stage startups in Bay Area. With CoL it’s comparable to making $150k in almost every other major market outside maybe NY.

You get there by giving back 40-50% to California. The more you give away, the more you earn :)

Joke aside, 5 years of experience get you $300k total compensation per year at a hot company in SF Bay Area.

How about fully remote? Anyone?

Luck.

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