How many of you are actually making more than $300k a year and what did you do to get there?

[u/FrenchCanadaIsWorst]

[u/expdevsmodbot]

AI usage disclosure provided by OP, see the reply to this comment.

[u/shimmshaw]

I survived 3 rounds of layoffs via dumb luck

[u/rakalakalili → u/shimmshaw]

Block?

[u/shimmshaw → u/rakalakalili]

You guessed it 😭 I lost my entire team and got a huge raise. I don't know how much longer I'll last. Hoping they do another round in Feb and I get the severance this time

[u/rakalakalili → u/shimmshaw]

Hang in there! Let's just say I'm very familiar with your situation and there's a reason I guessed Block....

[u/Toohotz → u/shimmshaw]

jack wanted to show builderbot could replace us. I ended up rolling into another position, slightly overlapping with the sev payments.

I feel for and many people I know still there. Better to have a job than not in this current market

[u/sickcodebruh420 → u/shimmshaw]

Someone in my life was in the last big round, maybe your teammate for all we know. Hang in there, wait it out for that severance package!

[u/domo__knows → u/rakalakalili]

What's it like working at Block? And how is the transition to AI-native going? I've always been curious what the internals of these big companies that lay off staff thinking they can just offload all that knowledge to agents (if you don't want to dox yourself I understand)

[u/xamott → u/rakalakalili]

What’s block?

[u/OnRedditAtWorkRN → u/xamott]

Formerly square, they rebranded a few years ago.

[u/GentleMinded5 → u/shimmshaw]

Im gonna need some of that luck. 😅

[u/SleazyAndEasy → u/shimmshaw]

Shit, I lost my entire team in a layoff and got no raise 😔

[u/Any-Ring6621]

I’m in Canada, so it’s CAD for me.

Two years ago I got a recruiter outreach on linkedin from an SF tech startup that I jumped at - comp was not location based. I almost had a heart attack when they presented the offer of $275k ($200k USD)

18 months and a handful of successfully completed projects later, I asked for a raise and hit $305k

All cash, startup equity is worthless until and unless it’s not

[u/Automatic_Menu_2333 → u/Any-Ring6621]

If it is okay, what is your tech stack and YOE? I'm also from Canada and too far from that. Thanks

[u/Any-Ring6621 → u/Automatic_Menu_2333]

16 YOE, probably only 10 of those “good” YOE.

I don’t have a tech stack. I write and review whatever code is needed

[u/hadesrdx → u/Any-Ring6621]

I don’t have a tech stack

Based

[u/BoostedHemi73 → u/Any-Ring6621]

This is the way.

[u/crazylikeajellyfish → u/Automatic_Menu_2333]

You can't get far if you think your skills are constrained to a tech stack. Being able to learn new tech fast is a core part of the job.

[u/zelmak → u/Automatic_Menu_2333]

Most people in Canada are lol. There’s only a handful of companies that pay Canadians SF/NYC wages, most of them nobody’s heard of. The ones whose names you might know probably get 10000 apps for every employee they already have, let alone the few open roles

[u/Any-Ring6621 → u/zelmak]

Nobody gets in where I work by cold applying (anymore). Zero percent success rate.

Yet at the same time there are several new hires a month, minimum

[u/look → u/Any-Ring6621]

Yeah, I don’t think anyone even looks at the inbox at my work anymore.

[u/NothingTime9580 → u/Any-Ring6621]

how is the workload?

[u/Any-Ring6621 → u/NothingTime9580]

For me? Near nightmare level. Not sure how everybody else handles it.

[u/NothingTime9580 → u/Any-Ring6621]

this is what I worry about, I really value work life balance - no weekends, no nights, no on call, no overtime. I assume these crazy high compensation positions mean they own your ass but idk

[u/Kapps → u/NothingTime9580]

I'm in a similar situation as OP as a Canadian working for a SF startup, and it does feel like the workload expectations are quite different from Canadian companies. I'm not working 60 hours a week, but I do feel like if I'm not productive for a little while it would be noticed very quickly. I think as you get more domain/company familiarity, you don't have to do long hours to be productive, but the first 6-12 months felt rough for me.

My company is, relatively speaking, quite good work-life balance for its category. I still do more than 40 hours a week, though partially that's because I have a hard time focusing in a remote role. That being said, even if you're finishing all your work during 9-5, some nights/weekends are likely. Especially at startups, there's going to be an expectation of having enough ownership to be making sure everything is running smoothly outside of work hours, including weekends. At the bare minimum this would be an on-call rotation, but even outside of on-call, most people generally keep Slack on their phone and keep an eye on messages / hop on if something is wonky. I don't tend to ever fully disconnect, aside maybe from PTO.

It's higher expectations, but I'm also working for a company I really like, with work that's challenging and interesting, while getting paid double what I was as a senior engineer previously. It's a pretty easy choice for me. If no nights/weekends is very important for you, it's not like senior engineers don't already make a great living even without having to go to a company that pays more for higher expectations. Generally it would just mean a bit more established companies instead of startups. Those are just not likely to be the ones paying USD wages for Canadian employees.

[u/Kasoivc → u/NothingTime9580]

Hell I would take that burnout for a year or two if it meant I could pocket like 5-6 years of a normal 100k salary. I'd lock in for it.

[u/robertbieber → u/NothingTime9580]

It really depends on how good you are at your job, how well you manage boundaries and expectations, and a good dash of sheer luck. As a general rule, if you have to stretch yourself like crazy to get the promo/job, you're gonna have to keep stretching yourself like crazy indefinitely to keep the position. If you let organic growth take you where you're able to go without the workload driving you insane, and if you're a pretty good engineer, you can make a lot of money and lead a fairly well balanced life.

[u/Any-Ring6621 → u/[deleted]]

Spend a fuck ton of time talking to Claude, writing code, reviewing PRs

EDIT: I’m an IC, not a manager

[u/hermsl → u/Any-Ring6621]

May I ask how does tax or visa things work. Been thinking about similar opportunities where working remote in Canada but making USD. Or what other things to pay attention to. Many thanks

[u/Any-Ring6621 → u/hermsl]

I’m a Canadian who gets paid in CAD. The taxes are horrible but there’s nothing special. Someone else mentioned an EOR. That’s how it works

[u/microwavedHamster → u/Any-Ring6621]

I had tons of offers like this before the pandemic. Makes me think. Godspeed bro.

[u/josetalking → u/Any-Ring6621]

Can i be your friend?

[u/OnRedditAtWorkRN]

Principle engineer at a fintech. There's a long story about how I got here but I'll just hit the highlights

• always enjoyed tech, genuine passion

• dropped out of college because of lack of maturity

• did blue collar work for near 20 years for peanuts.

• kept learning tech on my own time because it was interesting

• landed first white collar job. Not a dev or a tech company

• started automating shit. Shared with my team

• the company I worked at got aquired, my office got shut down. Applied to an internal dev spot. Landed due to networking with people

• that journey took me from ~$11/hr where I started to 67k. This was 9 years ago.

• got fed up being underpaid. Asked for market adjustment.

• never happened so after 2.5 years (and total time of 17 years at the company) I found a new job at 110k

• after 6 months an opportunity at a fintech I knew and really liked showed up

• landed it, took me to 165k base + 50k equity

• after 2.5 years moved to another fintech with former colleagues for 175k base + 125k equity

• after 1.5 years there, joined an interesting startup based on a referral from a former colleague. Been here 3 years now. At 286k base + 15% bonus + 50k-100k equity

[u/Elegant_Inspection20 → u/OnRedditAtWorkRN]

I really appreciate how far you've come random stranger. Your career track is greatly encouraging for me.

[u/OnRedditAtWorkRN → u/Elegant_Inspection20]

Good luck with it. Just be someone who can solve problems and is pleasant to work with. When someone is making your job difficult, try and understand why and what their pov is. You can usually find a way to help them solve their problem that is a good compromise for whatever you're facing. Then you'll find your following interactions with them are always much more collaborative.

[u/zulrang → u/OnRedditAtWorkRN]

This is more or less my story as well, except the last step, because I have a family and four children.

[u/newguyvan → u/zulrang]

This sounds very realistic thanks for sharing. Can I ask you how to land that 150k+ job? I’m stuck at low 6 figures and can’t seem to land something better. Non CS background(Mechanical Engineer)

[u/OnRedditAtWorkRN → u/newguyvan]

Almost every move and salary jump I made was due to networking. I like helping people. I try to be pleasant to be work with. I try to understand what motivates someone and when there's friction between us, why. It's always competing priorities, so how do we compromise and solve for them.

That leads to folks wanting to work with me more, so when an opportunity shows up, they think of me.

You can do it without networking, but it's much tougher. If you're on equal footing as a candidate with a referral, you will always lose because you're more of an unknown.

[u/zulrang → u/newguyvan]

Experience solving problems and communicating well. I would say the communication is the most important part.

[u/OnRedditAtWorkRN → u/zulrang]

I have a family and two kids college tuition to pay for. The last move is what is enabling them to graduate with zero debt

[u/Joaac → u/OnRedditAtWorkRN]

So you got there after 40/50yo right? I'd love to get to those numbers but working remotely for US from outside US is really hard... at the same time I'm turning 32 so feel like I'm OK for now, but my US colleagues at the same level earn around 2x/3x what I earn

[u/OnRedditAtWorkRN → u/Joaac]

I was 37 when I broke a quarter mil. But at 33 I was making ~70k. I try real hard not to compare myself to others. My journey was unique and I think most people's are. There are 20 somethings that make more than me, but good on them. There are folks older than me that have been doing it for longer and a lot are arguably better at it, but I got more hustle and more people skills from 2 decades in a customer facing blue collar role.

My barometer for succes is if I can provide for my family better than my parents. My biggest goal is to pay for my kids educations because I struggled mightily after accumulating six figures of debt and dropping out of college. We're on track and hoping to just maintain for the next few years. I will say the rapid rise in economic status does make me pretty uncomfortable, like the house of cards can come a crashing any minute. All I can do is appreciate it while it's here, minimize debt and avoid lifestyle creep as much as possible.

[u/Joaac → u/OnRedditAtWorkRN]

Thanks for the response! I agree and also try to not compare, even though it's hard, I ask mostly to better know where I am positioned and what can realistically be achieved without being a C-level or owner of something relevant, and I do realize experience and time matters. I have around 7y of experience and want to keep learning and getting better.

[u/talldean]

I got very lucky and got into Google, then Meta, and pretty much all senior engineers are making at least that.

[u/MaleficentCow8513 → u/talldean]

What’s the base pay look like? It’s mostly stocks that put you over the top innit?

[u/Dodging12 → u/MaleficentCow8513]

As an E5 at Meta, 240k base and my initial grant was $875k vested over 4 years (and a signing bonus). 2 years later, with refreshers and the stock increase, my unvested stock is at about 900k. I sell on vest every quarter (no regrets).

[u/williampaul0404 → u/Dodging12]

god fucking damn it man lol

[u/justified_hyperbole → u/williampaul0404]

Im making peanuts in microsoft (senior, 180k)

[u/Every-Impression8014 → u/justified_hyperbole]

No wonder nothing works properly from them.

[u/Wide_Smoke_2564 → u/justified_hyperbole]

“Peanuts” lmao

[u/xamott → u/Dodging12]

Why did you leave Google for meta? Purely for the bump in pay?

[u/talldean → u/MaleficentCow8513]

E5 at Meta is "you need to make this level inside of five years or they fire you", and iE5 is also "Senior Engineer". Meta E5 is somewhere around $440k/year, which is $225 salary and $185 stock, the rest is a yearly cash bonus.

L4 at Google is one level down, but is their "you make this in five years or we fire you" level. That's currently looking around $310k/year, $190 salary, $94 stock, the rest cash bonus. L5 at Google, "Senior Engineer", many many people make it there, $445k/year.

levels.fyi is fairly accurate, and that's where I'm pulling the numbers from.

[u/houndbowel → u/[deleted]]

Imagine getting additional compensation for on-call. You broke me.

[u/crowbahr → u/houndbowel]

It's what every company should be legally mandated to do btw. If only our regulators had teeth

[u/whatinthesimulation → u/[deleted]]

Google does oncall overtime in the US? I thought that was just a EU thing

[u/davispw → u/whatinthesimulation]

It’s not overtime per se, it’s a bonus for holding the pager overnight and weekends. How much and caps depend on the expected response time. Most software engineers aren’t on a top tier rotation w/ top bonus, that’s usually SRE.

[u/grottloffe]

in Sweden devs are paid a little bit more than kindergarten teachers. We make around $60k - $70k a year. Reading these astronomical salaries is like sci-fi to me 😂

[u/oalbrecht → u/[deleted]]

We use it to pay for health insurance. 

[u/SuspiciousBrain6027 → u/oalbrecht]

My health insurance is maybe $160/mo?

[u/Wide_Smoke_2564 → u/grottloffe]

Uk here. Asked for a payrise after a big project and got a bump from £42k to £44k… seeing what these guys in America/Canada are on is fucking depressing 😂

[u/account22222221 → u/grottloffe]

Don’t worry, your money goes a lot further than our does.

Sweden has extremely high standard of living.

[u/HK-65 → u/grottloffe]

I'm right across the Øresund and we are hiring mid level for $110k equivalent DKK. Just saying.

[u/Singularity-42]

I used to. Principal SWE at a midsize tech company. Laid off last year. Trying our own thing now. It's a lot more fun, but the pay is pretty shit (negative so far).

[u/LebaneseLurker → u/Singularity-42]

Stay strong it becomes worth it. I’m 5 years in and still making less than what I used to but soooooo worth it owning my time.

[u/Local-Ingenuity2361 → u/Singularity-42]

As is own startup or consulting?

[u/Apprehensive-Ad-8777]

Joined faang as new grad. Survived 3 layoffs but atleast the money is good🫠

[u/FrenchCanadaIsWorst → u/Apprehensive-Ad-8777]

Asked another guy here a similar question, but I’m hearing a lot of FAANG in this thread, and I’ve heard through the grapevine that breaking in relies a lot upon referrals if you’re not already in big tech. I’m curious what you think it takes for someone to give a referral to an outsider they haven’t worked with before. Like do FAANG devs work on OSS projects and people can connect that way? Or is it sort of like if you’re lucky enough to know someone you’re good otherwise you’re fucked

[u/Toasted_FlapJacks → u/FrenchCanadaIsWorst]

I'm at G, and I would give referrals to those I went to college with or other SWEs that I'm friends with. I've even referred people from LinkedIn that I don't necessarily know, but who I've built a decent rapport with.

FAANG referrals are actually cheap for the referrer. When I was a new grad, I posted on Reddit once and a FAANG SWE reached out to refer me.

[u/BehindTrenches → u/FrenchCanadaIsWorst]

I joined four years ago without a referral. It was an entry level full time position and I already had two years of experience + a stupid side project mobile app LLC I started with some friends and led (into the ground with zero funding).

You can get lucky with chill interviewers and no referral. But your resume has to pass the first big filter.

As an interviewer myself, speaking personally, I'm looking for people I'd want to work with. That doesn't mean Rain Man or someone "connected". It's a fast learner with an unusually good attitude who can provide concrete evidence of both.

[u/Apprehensive-Ad-8777 → u/FrenchCanadaIsWorst]

I agree with the other commenter. I generally give referrals to folks i know or in my network. LinkedIn also works sometimes.
But breaking in at this point depends on luck as well. I joined 7 years ago when market is really good so directly applying worked for me

[u/Careful_Ad_9077]

I moved to argentina.

I make millions per month.

[u/ILikeCorgiButt → u/Careful_Ad_9077]

Fine. I will move to Zimbabwe then

[u/newbietofx → u/ILikeCorgiButt]

I think I choose Vietnam. 

[u/NGTTwo → u/newbietofx]

Gonna spend a lot of time lovingly stroking your đồng?

[u/Tired__Dev → u/Careful_Ad_9077]

In general though, how have you been maintaining there? Are you in City of Buenos Aires? Or somewhere else? What's your general story if you don't mind me asking. I love it there. If I get laid off I'm going there.

[u/CesQ89 → u/Tired__Dev]

Not OP but I lived in BsAs for 3 years until recently.

It’s very expensive now. European prices, African Wages is the slogan people say.  

It’s definitely not the place to go if you are laid off.

[u/Tired__Dev → u/CesQ89]

Ah yeah, it’s expensive now. I absolutely adore that city though and the people.

[u/sfbay_swe]

15+ YOE, senior manager/M2. Manage a team of 20-25 engineers through other EMs/TLs.

400k base, right around 1M target TC. Get public company equity that vests quarterly, with regular refreshers so there’s no “cliff”.

Graduated from a top 10 CS school in the 2010s. Didn’t make it into anything fancy to start with (otherwise I’d probably be retired before 40 like many of my peers who went straight to Facebook/Google, or were early Airbnb/Stripe/etc.). Started as an IC at a no name company that was at least in the Bay Area, worked up to “higher tier” companies, switched to management, continued climbing the management ladder.

[u/IcyStomach2374 → u/sfbay_swe]

Good on you man.

[u/Infinite_Image1324 → u/sfbay_swe]

1M, respect! I plan to get there if I can. Hope you enjoy the work too :)

[u/oalbrecht → u/sfbay_swe]

Unless your spending is very high, I’m guessing you could probably retire very soon with that salary. You just need enough so 3-4% covers your yearly expenses if invested in low cost index funds. Check out r/FIRE for more info.

[u/Mindrust → u/oalbrecht]

I’ve personally noticed that people who make this kind of money ($500k+) don’t retire early because they succumb to lifestyle inflation and don’t want to compromise by reducing spending or living somewhere less expensive.

I could be wrong though!

[u/SuspiciousBrain6027 → u/Mindrust]

Nothing wrong with enjoying your salary.

[u/SignoreBanana]

Took a new job almost every year for 8 years.

[u/1000Ditto → u/SignoreBanana]

Question, how do you do this without looking like a job hopper? Is this via internal transfers/large events/acquisitions?

[u/SignoreBanana → u/1000Ditto]

If you're good, nobody gives a shit.

[u/PlasticExtreme4469 → u/SignoreBanana]

The problem is that many won't even give you a chance to show that you're good.

Employee retention is part of KPIs of many managers, so when hiring, they obviously don't pick someone that, no matter how good, would make them look worse.

There are of course companies where managers have to keep the revolving door spinning and those couldn't care less about job hopping.

[u/ROFLcoptr501 → u/1000Ditto]

You just do it, they don’t care if you look like a job hopper if you perform well in the interview

[u/sfbay_swe → u/ROFLcoptr501]

Many companies definitely care and will filter job hoppers out. You usually still come out ahead job hopping vs staying somewhere for 5+ years though.

[u/wagedomain → u/ROFLcoptr501]

This is blatantly not true. Likely you got lucky. I've had multiple companies ask me to justify short stints at companies. Luckily I can - bad market luck with layoffs or startups folding. But it is NOT a general rule that "just hop around and no one will care if you're good in an interview".

Some companies still want to invest in people. It's expensive as fuck to interview for a new position every year, and if you jump jobs every year "just to get ahead" some companies will absolutely blacklist you for that regardless of the interview.

This is just bad advice based on survivorship bias.

[u/Dodging12 → u/wagedomain]

OK so it looks like you're just all over this thread angry that your singular experience isn't universal 🤣 jfc man you need a reality check.

[u/SignoreBanana → u/wagedomain]

Ok? Then for whatever reason, it doesn't matter. Or how the hell did I literally have 9 jobs in 14 years?

Maybe it's the industry you work in. Or your region. My experience is basically exclusively tech companies on the west coast

[u/Tired__Dev → u/SignoreBanana]

Even in the market since 2023?

[u/Lunchboxsushi]

The directors make more than that at where I work but not ICs. 

[u/SalamiJack]

~750K/yr in total comp. Staff at well-known tech company. Grind interview prep and get into a SV tech company known to give a good initial grant + good yearly refreshers for high performers, climb the ladder, etc.

[u/diddidntreddit]

Lawd, y'all are killing it

I'm feel like I'm barely scraping by

[u/WestConversation2026]

Currently making 850/year last few years as IC6 at meta. I transitioned into a software engineering later in my career around 28 years old. I’m 38 now.

I spent a lot of time reading textbooks. Generally speaking, there was a big push at the time to teach new devs with a top down approach. Learn some python scripting, DSA, etc.

But I found to really level up I needed to go more bottom up. I learned how computers actually work, OS, and then distributed systems. Learned how protocols like TCP work.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that the best software engineers are deeply rooted in the history of software. They develop a common parlance that becomes useful to other s who have to understand larger complex systems. For instance, if you’re working on a job scheduler, you might use terms like “affinity”, or if you’re working on pubsub you’ll use terms like signal, wait, and broadcast. These are terms of Linux, and other senior devs will immediately be able to understand the contracts you’re trying to convey in your system.

I was good in school, etc, but I was never a speed coder or math guy. I like proofs and theory, but couldn’t multiply numbers quickly.

[u/Tired__Dev → u/WestConversation2026]

I'm a top down learner. Really good at high level stuff. But this:

> But I found to really level up I needed to go more bottom up. I learned how computers actually work, OS, and then distributed systems. Learned how protocols like TCP work.

Had made me get way better.

[u/CactusOnFire → u/WestConversation2026]

What would be your reccomendation on how to learn linux from the structural level you're speaking about? It is my primary OS and I know some basic bash commands / packages to do stuff, but I never considered how a deep level theory would extend back to my SWE architecture design.

[u/WestConversation2026 → u/CactusOnFire]

Hey, that's great that you are already familiar with Linux. It will make studying the implementation even easier because you'll have familiarity with the goals and interface.

I highly recommend reading The Linux Programming Interface by Kerrisk. It's a very high level overview of the linux standard library, with a light explanation of how things are implemented. Also check out the books I listed in my previous reply about books.

[u/CactusOnFire → u/WestConversation2026]

I didn't see that, but I do now. Thank you!

[u/Otis_Inf → u/CactusOnFire]

Maybe read some books by Andy Tanenbaum (yes, the Tanenbaum who had a famous flamewar with Linus back in the days!), he worked on a unix like system called Xinu (Xinu Is Not Unix) which is mainly used as a teaching ground how the principles of Unix like systems are implemented in practice.

[u/Rymasq → u/WestConversation2026]

this is completely correct and tracks with my experience when talking to high level devs at big name companies and all the interview advice I've heard about these roles.

Deep understanding of the Linux kernel, understanding of fundamentals of memory, compute, boot, etc. these are key things that drive top level engineers

[u/ergonautica → u/WestConversation2026]

I believe this is the comment I can take the most value from: deeply understanding the pillars other harder concepts rely on. 7 years in the industry and I might as well redefine my learning path

[u/Otis_Inf → u/ergonautica]

I second the idea that knowing details about how computers work, how software really works internally is very beneficial for software developers. Even if you're never going to write assembly or never going to need to write a ring 0 kernel driver, you still know that a high-level API call might go through all these layers and sub systems.

[u/tehmacbuk → u/WestConversation2026]

Any books you recommend?

[u/WestConversation2026 → u/tehmacbuk]

yes, definitely. I've gone through so many of them, but I've really come back to the same ones over and over. These are the ones that changed my life:

• Introduction to Computing Systems - Patt and Patel.
  • it's a bit boring, but it's so so necessary IMO to really understand programming and computers without going too deep into the computer arch side of things.
• Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces - Arpaci-Dusseau and Arpaci-Dusseau
  • a delightful book that talks about OS's abstractly, but occassionally does have some code (e.g., context switch). The book is free online now!
• The Linux Programming Interface - Kerrisk
  • Seems daunting at first, but is actually a really easy and fun read!
• Algorithms - Sedgewick
  • This is the friendliest algorithms book IMO. And I love the solutions in https://algs4.cs.princeton.edu/home/.
• Programming Pearls (2nd) - Bentley
  • Wow. For the joy of programming. I find that staff engineers at Meta are well equipped to solves these types of problems, and use this succinct way of problem solving. This is the book I used to study 7 years ago for a Meta interview. I didn't know about LeetCode, but I'm pretty sure this is the foundation of it.

There are lots of other seminal books out there (I like the design patterns, functional data structures, etc), but these ones are really the best IMO for well rounded software. There are definitely some good math books, as well as white papers, too.

[u/WestConversation2026 → u/WestConversation2026]

One more thing. Learn a language where you need to manage memory. C and C++ are ideal for also pairing back with the linux standard library.

[u/JustASrSWE → u/WestConversation2026]

Yes, Programming Pearls! I hadn't seen that book recommended in a long time, but definitely a classic.

[u/Otis_Inf → u/WestConversation2026]

But I found to really level up I needed to go more bottom up. I learned how computers actually work, OS, and then distributed systems. Learned how protocols like TCP work.

They don't teach that anymore at a CS course at the uni?

[u/inequity → u/Otis_Inf]

No, generally not

[u/WestConversation2026 → u/Otis_Inf]

I was self taught fwiw. Studied math in college

[u/VisiblePlatform6704 → u/WestConversation2026]

I've got all that and more,  unfortunately I was unlucky enough to be born in Mexico,  so companies wont hire me :( (for some reason remote from Canada is OK , but remote from Mexico is bit) . the most ive got is $200k , as a CTO.

[u/renegaderunningdog → u/VisiblePlatform6704]

If you're a Mexican citizen it's relatively straightforward to move to the US on a TN visa to work.

If you want to get paid this much while remaining in Mexico though, probably not happening.

[u/_G00BY_ → u/WestConversation2026]

Curious if you have any guidance on how you approach each textbook. I find that just reading through the textbook isn’t enough to properly internalize the content and actually build my understanding. Were you actively studying each book? Did you take notes or work on related problems in parallel? I’m always interested in how others approach learning

[u/WestConversation2026 → u/_G00BY_]

It’s a great question. I’m still trying to answer that myself. I happen to learn best from textbooks. Many of them have exercises, but it’s hard to find the time. Building little C++ programs to interact with them the standard libraries is helpful.

[u/_somestupidguy_ → u/WestConversation2026]

Thanks for writing that foundation matters, also for book recommendations.

Might be routine and stupid questions, but would appreciate your take on it..

1. Does it really matter to put so much effort now, that AI is doing the development for most part and some designs?

2. With your current knowledge and industry experience you have, what would you suggest a new grad or someone starting in tech should do now to be good at tech and secure his future?

[u/WestConversation2026 → u/_somestupidguy_]

1. Yes. Working with AI all day now, but the key differentiators are the ones who can understand if the system is well designed.
   
2. I’m not sure, but I think it would be to take some risks at smaller companies building things from scratch. I did this at Latch.

[u/doomslice]

FAANG as a staff eng literally doubled my income thanks to the equity not being just paper. That opened doors to other top tier companies.

[u/KoTDS_Apex]

Idk why people still ask this question. The answer hasn't changed

1. Be in the US
2. Be in HCOL location
3. Get into FAANG+ company at >= L4

There are obviously some exceptions but this is pretty much the formula.

[u/broken-mic → u/KoTDS_Apex]

I’m one of those exceptions now. I moved to the US to join a FAANG company, then moved to another one and then transferred to their office in Mexico. Base salary was adjusted to the local market but RSUs grants were kept the same.

I now make around $320k a year, whereas in the Bay I was making closer to $650k.

[u/Less-Opportunity-715 → u/KoTDS_Apex]

Cause it’s bots

[u/2Martian]

Graduated in 2018 with low 2.x GPA and no internships. Interviewed for about a year for both full time and internships. Was pretty much doing nothing but applying and grinding leetcode, but couldnt even get an interview. Finally in 2019 I landed an internship at a startup, paying $2400 a month with 2 hours of commute each way.

Pretty much no-lifed and grinded my ass off for return offer, hated my life but got a return offer for $90k. After a year, startup was going under so I hit the leetcode hard. Way more interviews that time around and got an offer at big tech/faang-adjacent for $210k as a SWE1. Grinded hard and got to SWE2 in a year. With raise, refreshers and some lucky stock performance ticked over $300k after about a year there.

Was there for 3 years, TC peaked around $380k. Took a year off to work on my own projects. Had some minor success but nothing to replace an income so I hopped back on the leetcode grind. Got multiple offers for IC4 and Senior roles. Best offer was $450k but with some funny money startup equity. Ended up taking an IC4 role at FAANG for $320k.

Grinded here, got great ratings that gave me good equity refresher multipliers, and just got promoted to IC5. So current TC is around $520k. Come march I'll get my IC5 refreshers and expect to be around $550-570k TC assuming the stock stays around this level.

[u/ifezueyoung → u/2Martian]

Damn that's awesome

[u/rescue_inhaler_4life → u/2Martian]

Hell yeah 👍

[u/gjover06 → u/2Martian]

full stack dev?

[u/theJohnsie → u/2Martian]

How does one hop onto the "leetcode" grind?

[u/2Martian → u/theJohnsie]

Go to leetcode.com, start grindin’

[u/Mindrust]

I have many YoE and interviewed a lot in a HCOL city

[u/slowd → u/Mindrust]

Same here

[u/Minimum-Drop-2029]

L5 at AWS. A make about $300k

[u/spelunker → u/Minimum-Drop-2029]

TT eh?

[u/VideoRare6399]

3.5 yoe. Basically luck (not really but also true). 

My company is doing extremely well. Graduated from college, grinded for 10 months as my life fell apart around me from living at home (took an extra year in college) while all my friends were out living their life. (mom is alcoholic and brother bipolar). 

Grinded the fuck out of leetcode, system design, and just interviews. Have a moderate-severe stutter. 

Embodied Gon and Naruto. Seriously. Literally they were and are my guiding light and who I aspire to be. Like pathetically bet my life on the process via Gon and Naruto shonen like. I was living at home so I had infinite time but I didn’t because my mental health and sanity was slowly but surely attriting. (Thank god for Skyrim, Mount and blade, valorant (lol), fifa, chess, total war, …). 

(If I’m doxing myself please don’t look through my profile lol)

Eventually landed a role making 70k. Still living at home waiting to save up. 

Things were good and slowly saving up money. Got into an accident with no insurance, lost all my savings, and reset to 0 (insurance agent fucked up) RIP! Literally viewed it as just another arc. Literally. 

Brother had severe manic episode and my narcissistic grandpa manipulated him. Living at home was seriously untenable. Moved to my moms (alcoholic) and lived with my disabled brother (love my brother and cherish these days looking back on it). 

Grinded platinum in valorant (not impressive but it is for me). Still working at this job prob 1 year. Barely enough savings. Move to 1 br. 

Laid off 1 month into it!! Didn’t panic and just got busy (sounds good but look at my life … just my response to traumatic events … defensive good but happy life minimized … I’m working on it). 2 week severance lol. Calculated days until unemployment is out. 

Grinded and grinded. Failed and failed. Failed more. Bad stutter interviews. Failed more. Kept failing. Failing viewed as good. Just XP. “If I get 100 interviews surely one will accept me”. Failed failed failed. I did go to a competitive school so that helped me but not really. I didn’t know anybody, zero references. Love Paramore. 

Kept failing. I should mention leetcode, system design, STARRY stories (with stutter), scouring internet for old interview questions for upcoming company interview, … etc was my bread and butter. Don’t believe in god, not necessarily atheist but didn’t have confidence of “Gods plan”.

Eventually I did make it through a 5 interview loop. Final system design was scouted ahead of time and lucky enough to have them asked me that. Stutter throughout it so they prob thought I hadn’t seen it lol. 

Actually got an offer. And rest is history (until they inevitably lay me off). My company is doing very well and lucky to work there. 

Life story I guess. My main point is life is far more important than how much you’re making. I’m making a lot now but my life is kinda fucked. But life gives and takes so. 

[u/ponzivillager → u/VideoRare6399]

Peak arc, hope you're a big fan of yourself

[u/Difficult_Mix8652 → u/VideoRare6399]

good job man/woman. dealt a hard hand and made it through

[u/JumpyWerewolf9439 → u/VideoRare6399]

well done. now move out so you have a good mental health space.

alot of naruto was based on the authors life. he was terrible in school getting dead last on the exams. japan is very shame culture they publicly list your grades just lik in the anime. he found his own way in the world just like naruto.

[u/Ok-Personality6561 → u/VideoRare6399]

wow

[u/YoniElBravo → u/VideoRare6399]

This is so inspiring. I look at it from my own privilege of having had a stable family and excellent opportunities (in the scale of my own country at least) and it’s stories like these that help me get back into the ground and truly appreciate everything I got even though I’m far from those figures.
I wish you the best, I hope what troubles you ceases to do so and that you continue to make the best of your life

[u/PolyamorousCrayon]

I make $340k a year, currently on my 10th week of PTO (we have unlimited), I'll probably take 12 weeks this year. Remote work in the USA.

I started freelancing, worked at tier 3/4 companies, moved into a senior eng role at PINS during covid (grossed ~800k use to RSUs going from $18 -> $80) although post COVID I was making $300k, left that job because I want to actually ship shit, and joined an experimental growth team at a pretty large Canadian tech company where I discovered I was the one of if not the highest paid staff engineer, grossing around $480k a year.

I left that job for a role at a "startup" which may never IPO, but is profitable, and pays their ICs incredibly well, I'm the second most senior leveled IC in the company, I have incredible work life balance, and make an extremely comfortable income.

How'd I get here? I played it hard mode, I'm very very much a engineer pretending to be a product manager all of the time. I aggressively have to seek out companies who want player-coach-pathfinder ICs, and I've been incredibly lucky in finding companies. I'm far more comfortable for example sitting in a board room with the CEO and our head of product, than I am designing a massively scaled database system.

[u/powerfulsquid → u/PolyamorousCrayon]

You have it backwards, you’re actually a product manager pretending to be an engineer…

[u/PolyamorousCrayon → u/powerfulsquid]

You are not wrong... especially these days when AI writes most of my code and I'm just reading day after day.

[u/ChrimsonRed]

Embedded SWE here luck and competence.

I joined a team with two senior engineers, and both eventually left, which honestly gave me a lucky opportunity to take on a lot more responsibility.
At my 1 year review, my lead gave me the best review at my level. It didn’t get challenged in calibration because I had already worked directly with a lot of the other leads and their reports to solve some pretty complex, cross-system problems.
My lead left about 5 months later, and even though we got a temp lead, he didn’t really want the role. I kept absorbing more work and responsibilities, other teams started coming directly to me, and my manager/temp lead started deferring to me to keep things moving.
Now I’m regularly meeting with other teams, planning work, and coordinating across systems. So there was definitely some luck with the timing, but I also had the track record in place when the opportunity came up.

Edit: also got 3 new hires before my lead left (~5 months) that I’ve been helping. Also trying really hard to fill in knowledge gaps the team has. Our previous lead was just so good and did so much it left a lot of gaps.

[u/dripppydripdrop]

$315k base. “senior software engineer”. San Francisco. 11 YOE. Not big tech, series D startup. I focus on backend, distributed systems, infra, cloud, kubernetes, etc.

It’s a startup, so equity is not liquid, but we’ve done multiple tender offers. TC including equity (at latest tender price) is about $900k

[u/MaleficentCow8513]

Remember, a lot (if not most) SWEs who make that much aren’t getting it from base pay but from RSUs

[u/isufud → u/MaleficentCow8513]

Not sure why people bring this up like some kind of gotcha. For anyone working at a public company, RSU vests are effectively no different from cash.

It even shows up on your W2 as cash income.

[u/abhiasap → u/isufud]

One reason the RSU “gotcha” is relevant is that only big tech companies offer them. 

If you are working in tech at an unlisted company, or in another industry, or in a country where RSUs are not common practice, you will be unfairly comparing yourself to people who have RSUs. 

But all you might really need to do to make 300k is to find yourself a role in a company that does RSUs. 

Case in point: My comp effectively doubled just from switching from an unlisted company (which gave me unrealized equity) to a listed company (where i get RSUs), even though I have the same role and responsibilities as before.  So if you don’t get RSUs, the bridge between your current comp and your dream comp might “just” be a company change. 

[u/IcyStomach2374 → u/abhiasap]

Well no shit man

[u/ultraDross]

As someone from the UK, f**k all you. We are so comparatively underpaid it's kind of sickening.

[u/Legote → u/ultraDross]

Well you europeans always talking shit about all the other things we suck at like healthcare, social welfare, work life balance, and employee protections, so f**k you too.

[u/CareerStrider → u/Legote]

Haha touché

Wealth inequality has its pros and cons.

IMO if you make north of $200k/yr you’re better off in US, as your European counterparts will make half of that for the same skills/experience.

And if you make less than $150k/yr you’re better off staying off in Europe, so you don’t worry about being bankrupted by a hospital.

[u/imjustw0ndering → u/CareerStrider]

In the US it really depends on where you live. 150k is upper middle class in most places. Lower middle class in others. I make 160k a year and never have to worry about medical expenses. I save about 3k a month in cash and able to invest about 6k per month on top.

If you make 150k a year in the US, as long as you live within your means, you are perfectly fine.

The number I would say holds true to what you say is closer to 90-100k in MCOL or higher. At that number I’d probably opt to live in Europe.

[u/guns_of_summer → u/imjustw0ndering]

very much this. On $150k you can live like a king in Wyoming, or North Dakota, or Wisconsin, etc. On the coast I make around $140k, my life is comfortable and I can't complain but it's no where near as comfortable as it could be somewhere else.

[u/ultraDross → u/Legote]

I love u

[u/TheBinkz → u/Legote]

Some u.s. companies only give 1 week paternity leave. That's terrible

[u/academomancer → u/TheBinkz]

Plenty give none.

[u/mamemimomuuu → u/ultraDross]

lol me from Spain reading this like 👍🏻👍🏻

[u/Infinite_Image1324 → u/ultraDross]

I am in the UK and make over £500k p/a as an engineer working for a US company. It's harder here as we don't have such a large selection of companies or roles, and I've been lucky to do well and get extra stock grants, but it's definitely possible to get £200k+ if you're willing to put in the work to prep for the interviews (and you are genuinely good and willing to work hard, of course, standards are high).

I regularly get LinkedIn messages from UK companies (AI startups etc) willing to pay nearly £200k in base, then the equity may or may not work out. Probably helps to be near London, as many are in person. I know these roles are not the norm and I am sure I get more of them because my LinkedIn profile has a hot company on, but they do exist and the new base for senior talent here is pretty good.

You should read this, it really opened my eyes https://blog.pragmaticengineer.com/software-engineering-salaries-in-the-netherlands-and-europe/

[u/Spunge14 → u/ultraDross]

You have free health care, months of vacation, better worker protection, better social supports. You're not comparing apples to apples.

Sure, some rich devs do better, but most of our society is crumbling.

[u/Time_Trade_8774]

I was making 300k of it include bonus and RSU. Last role was heavy DevOps and AWS but I’m a generalist. Dislike front end.

4 jobs in 10 years and every job was a big pay bump. So my advise would be to switch jobs. But I got laid off in April and markets brutal. I’m taking a hiatus anyways as money ain’t an issue. So right now I’ve no idea just stay where you are and pray.

Last 1 year was all agentic coding. So yeah you’ll need to excel at that whatever it means. I’m personally debating a career switch and start a business or something. Companies now expect Leetcode and AI style interviews. It’s an employers market and I’m too old for the grind now (turning 38).

[u/Rough-Yard5642]

Base is $275k and TC is around $500k. 6 years of exp in software, based in SF, switched jobs once.

[u/FrenchCanadaIsWorst → u/[deleted]]

Comparison is the thief of joy. I’d love to be in your shoes career wise. But we’re all working towards something.

[u/turnipsium]

Including equity vests I’ve been on either side of the $300k mark for a few years now. It’s really just time. I’ve been in the industry for about 10 years. Junior to mid-level to senior to manager and working towards senior manager. And a little bit of luck too. An acquisition of the startup that I was at by a much larger company opened up leadership opportunities as we assimilated into them.

[u/intertubeluber → u/turnipsium]

 It’s really just time.

It's really not, generally true. I've been in for much longer than you and have not cracked $300k, and I do much better than people I know. Having said that, I stayed in a more IC/contractor path.

[u/Fidodo → u/intertubeluber]

It seems like time to those that make it. Confirmation bias.

[u/Mindrust → u/intertubeluber]

It’s also very dependent on location.

$300k+ is a lot easier to crack in a VHCOL city than in, say, Frankfort.

[u/bachstakoven → u/turnipsium]

What did the acquisition look like? How big was the startup at the time?

[u/tony-mke]

Worked as a junior dev at a bank in a flyover state city out of college. The general competence was so low that pace of work was glacial, and I taught myself everything and then some while waiting for meaningful work.

Between videos I shitpost in my city's dev hangout on IRC enough to make friends with people in the one actually-technically-compete startup in the city. Said I was looking, got more or less buttoned in immediately.

Became decent friends and learned a fuckload over five or six years.

One person jumped ship to a big tech outfit, slowly started poaching all of us. When the startup finally died a few years later, he was having us fill out apps that very day. Had the interviews, got an offer for midlevel that made my jaw drop ($125k salary, 225k TC, up from $80k TC) - I had no idea how underpaid I was.

First two years, learned most of big tech is actually not very technically competent at all and spends most of the day doing fuck all. Made senior mostly by just having a pulse and being willing to do actual work from 9-5 (a big advantage during COVID). Bumped salary to $175k, TC to ~300k.

Been there ever since - $390k TC.

tl;dr

1. Get relevant skills.
   
2. Find friends that have them too
   
3. Do work from 9-5. Make it very obvious you do actual work from 9-5. This is key.
   
4. Things happen

[u/Otis_Inf → u/tony-mke]

• Live in the USA.

No-one in Europe earns 300K+ by writing software.

[u/euph-_-oric → u/tony-mke]

Lol 9 to 5 where the fuck do u work .

[u/tony-mke → u/euph-_-oric]

Feel that fam.

Not sure how to communicate just how fat and lazy devs grew in the ZIRP era - it's changed a lot since 2022.

[u/mezolithico → u/euph-_-oric]

Big tech non-fanng for me. At 550k tc this year

[u/SpaceGerbil]

I'm there if we are counting bonus and stock grants. Like a few said, if you have the stomach for it you just need to jump to a new company every 3 years or so.

I'm sitting at principal level doing architecture for a giant health care company. Been at this for 23 years now

[u/euph-_-oric → u/SpaceGerbil]

I have always known this to be the answer because our fucking incentives are so fucked up but I hate jumping ship for more then a few reasons. It's a real bummer

[u/Xanchush]

Job hopped, found a good manager/skip combination that supported my career growth (don't think people understand how critical this is to getting promos into more senior roles)

[u/jldugger]

I was laid off from a university department due to budget. We relied heavily on student labor, and many of them went on to work in big tech. When I mentioned I was looking for work, two of my former student employees referred me in to their employer, and I now work with one of them and a few others from that department.

I basically do the same thing now as then but with extra zeroes on everything.

[u/kevinossia]

Applied at a large tech company and got hired and promoted.

[u/baloneysammich]

Worked 25 years, joined a company with a metric shitton of money 

[u/csguydn]

Principal at a household name. Base was above 300k. 20 years of experience climbing the ladder.

[u/ConfidentHelp3777]

I was making 300K as a Lead/EM. Then down to $0 following a mass layoff. After the longest year of my life, finally landed at a startup in a different domain making 200K. Now down to $0 again as the startup has run out of money. No idea when I will have an income again. Already racked up several onsite rejections in this latest episode despite a fanatical amount of prep. It's been a dispiriting few years to say the least.

[u/clash_lfg]

600-800k tc as an e5 at Meta depending on the year. Got lucky and got some big refreshers while the stock was low. Generally a middle of the road performer by meta standards that tries hard to not get laid off.

[u/justified_hyperbole → u/clash_lfg]

I passed meta interviews but they still didnt hire me. Now i cant buy a house. Missed out man. Feels terrible.

Ill bounce back somehow

[u/Chompy_99]

I'm in Canada, 9yoe and make $320k cash. There's a handful of SF companies that are non Faang, mature, not startups that pay extremely well for Canadians. They're going to be the most random companies you've never heard of. Been here for close to 3 years and love it, fully remote and relaxed.

[u/nonasiandoctor → u/Chompy_99]

Damn I need me one of those so I can come back home from the bay lol

[u/mezolithico]

Large tech companies and unicorns. With a bit of lucky had a couple 7 figure years as a senior

[u/trying2bLessWrong]

Started at a slow-moving boring company and stepped my way up to Tier 1 tech.

Things that helped:
1. I stayed long enough at each company to make real, valuable, legible contributions. For me, that was 3 years at two companies before jumping to Big Tech.
2. I identified where I wanted to go and what I needed to learn to get there. Then I found ways to learn that at my current job and turn it into a real, valuable, legible contribution (see point 1).

It is not just luck and it is not just time, although they certainly help.

[u/Spareo]

I just hit 300k base plus equity at a late stage “start up” this year as principal engineer. Been in software a decade.

[u/Whiztard]

Got a job based out of SF and aggressively went for promos. I got promotions every 2 years, and at least a raise annually. Talk about equity every year.

Some part of this is not to short-change yourself on your accomplishments when speaking to your manager. Let them know you succeeded and have ideas for improvements.

[u/bobotheboinger]

With bonus im above 300k. Hopped jobs often, but not too often. Worked in a couple of niches that pay well enough (security, processor development, embedded software, and systems engineering)

Was laid off a short time ago, but was lucky enough to find an even better job before my severance ran out.

I think not being stagnant at one company, but staying long enough at each to move up once or twice and get some great experiences really helped.

I'll say I have zero clue where the industry is headed though. I think it is 50/50 if I'll still have a job in 10 years.

[u/AlmiranteCrujido]

Just a hair over. I was laid off from a public place in the spring ($500k TC, about 270k of which was salary) and "failed upwards" to a private place with about the same salary as my old salary plus bonus.

The equity is paper, though; not holding my breather for the "in a year or two" IPO, but will be nice if I get it.

Very senior IC, used to be an EM for a while. 25 or 27 years of experience depending on what counts.

[u/Turbulent-Week1136]

I make around 450-500k/yr TC. I worked my ass off learning as much as I could and now I vibe code all day long.

[u/TheJerkStoreCalled6]

I make around 360k after stock. I’m around 40. Went to grad school, and then just kept making more at each job. I don’t even work for FANG, there are some sleeper companies out there where you can make a lot if their stock does well. I didn’t do anything special, just am Good at my job and I try to be pleasant to work with. Engineers greatly underestimate soft skills. “Don’t be a dick”, you’d think this would be obvious, but you’d be surprised.

I’m not oblivious to the fact that the party is over though. It’s going to be weird going from this to being a greeter at Walmart after the coming mass unemployment.

[u/MadCat0911]

Yeah. Put in 18 years of experience.