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Comment by vostok | Hacker News Reader

> There are plenty of people with CS degrees who can't find a job, and plenty more who have jobs that barely pay enough to cover their expenses.

If anything, this comment is out of touch with reality as it stands for most software developers in the US.

The median salary for a software developer in the US is over $100k. In Silicon Valley MSAs it's even higher of course.

The median income for similar careers like computer programmer is also very high even if it's less than $100k and those careers cover far fewer people anyway.

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Average starting salary for CS undergrads today is $57,000. He did say "entry level dev gig".

If you live alone in a major city, have student loans, and don't have great healthcare benefits from your employer, you'd be lucky to save much of anything on that salary. Banking $10k is a pipe dream.

At UMD, a good but normal state school, that figure is a little above $85k.

I would be surprised if the $57k figure was accurate for people living in major cities.

I would also be surprised if the average CS graduate is competitive enough for roles in major cities. The most desirable roles are only going to be realistic for the most qualified candidates.

> At UMD, a good but normal state school, that figure is a little above $85k.

That is probably inflated by many grads getting jobs in NoVa, which is not exactly cheap (unless you want a hellish commute).

UMD is ranked in the top 50 for CS[1] (out of thousands). It is a top-tier CS program, not a normal one.

[1] https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-comp...

I made $70k / year for the past 7 years (finally got a raise at the start of this year), so ages 23 - 30. My work health insurance covered me, but not my wife, for most of that. We had our first daughter a week after I turned 27 and twins a week after I turned 29.

MY wife worked at a coffee shop until we had our daughter. Making around $20k / year.

In that time, we grew our net worth to $250k.

That's not a lot by some standards, but it is a hell of a lot more than most people our age have. Even people in similar income brackets as us. All it takes is living below your means.

Yeah, not really. It all depends on where you live. I doubt most developers here in Eastern Europe make the $100k you speak off.

I think that a more charitable interpretation of my comment would be that it's referring to the US considering the currency, the reference to MSAs, and the demographics of HN.

I've edited my comment to clarify.

The median salary for a software developer is over $100k.

In the US, or certain parts of the US, perhaps. In most of the world, software developers often don't make that much as employees even at the peak of their career. Maybe you'd reach it in a big city like London, as a very senior developer, working for a big company, but even then it would be exceptional. For most developers not in a US tech hub, getting to that income level or beyond is going to require going independent at some point.

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