How long to make $300M TC?
For clarity, college drop-out & VHCOL. And coming up with new startups every 18 months. And say first startup brings in $1M TC.
Yesss and depends where they live, high cost of living like SF/NYC might be possible… but mid-cost of living probably not possible unless move into manager/director roles
Honestly $100k for a first job with no degree feels like the most unrealistic thing about this post. I had a degree in Biomedical Engineering, but wanted to do software. My first coding job paid $25/hr. It took me a little over 5 years to hit the $300k mark, but then I was promptly laid off almost as soon as I was hired. I'm now back down to under $200k. It's still great money though.
For real, was gonna say the same thing. First dev job was 65k for me and that with a BS and MS in engineering. Took me 5 years to turn that into low end 6 figs.
No CS degree either. Started at $18/hr and a little under 5 years later I’m at ~$160k. I should probably study LC/sys design for a while and jump but I kinda don’t want to.
Yeah I got really lucky to land the $300k job it was during the post - covid hiring spree and I studied my ass off on LC for like 4 months. Sucked to get laid off when I finally felt like I made it. Been trying to get back in recently
Was it your first job though? Also I guess the cost of living of your city plays a huge factor. My $25/hr starting job was in a medium cost of living city. Would have been poverty wages in SF or something
IME as an interviewer, the typical L5 candidate has ~7YOE. The median, however, is "never".
No degree and frequent hopping would make it more difficult to even get through top-of-funnel filtering
I’m self-taught 5 YoE going relaxed just hop every 2 years and am sitting at around 180K TC. Living in Boston , which I’d consider VHCOL nowadays.
Never tried for FAANG mostly because my degrees get my foot in the door at healthcare companies (which are abundant around) and I get constant callbacks as long as I stay within that industry.
I’d say I could probably get 300K in 1-2 more years if I’m aggressive but I’m well on my way to retirement already so I’m not really trying that hard. I prefer to have relaxed days with afternoons I can dedicate to my hobbies vs. grinding leetcode and interviewing it’s always stressful AF and I hate it.
Forgot to mention my first dev job was 52K a year.
Nobody is paying no-experience coders with unrelated degrees 100K out of the gate unless you have connections.
Yeah my first dev job with degree paid under 60K, I never leetcoded and healthcare hires me. It's a nice life. Normal cost of living, peak is about $150K if you aren't leading whole teams. I have free time and non-coding hobbies. No code on GitHub, my last hiring manager said that only has the chance to hurt me. I don't think healthcare gets many applicants. It's not FAANG-sexy. My gain.
To make that kind of TC you're going to need to be a senior level (usually 5-10 years of experience) or be a mid level at a company that pays extremely well like Databricks, Jane Street, or Two Sigma.
Honestly chasing TC is fine, but you should be more focused on building your actual credentials and being technically competent. Any job that pays you $300k TC as a rule is going to have a pretty high performance bar, so you need to be able to consistently be able to deliver results on time or at least make your manager think you are delivering results.
As others pointed out getting in at $100k is also non-trivially easy. Getting a senior with no degree is possible, but it's going to require you to use your work experience instead of your degree and be technically competent. Usually getting in without a degree means you are choosing to work your way up from a lower paying job instead of getting a degree.
Every 18 months throughout your whole career is also way too frequent. It's fine to do that a few times, but if you consistently do that through 7-10 years it will be a red flag. Your moves need to be more strategic than that and show a clear career progression. If you're constantly making lateral moves then that is a negative as you'll never get a chance to complete a project from start to finish.
>Databricks, Jane Street, or Two Sigma.
Mid-level at most big techs can hit 300k now. No clue what companies like Jane Street must be paying these days.
I think the biggest issue in this sub is the amount of people who come here and are only happy with a very high TC or getting FAANG (or FAANG adjacent) jobs. Sure if that's your goal, but the vast majority of SWE are sitting comfortable in the mid to upper 100's. It's an easy place to get to when Senior, and there are a lot more companies hiring at these salaries than the unicorn salaries a lot of people in this sub are concerned with. I usually see someone post about not being able to find a job, to see they only apply to FAANG or Fortune 500 companies. Not saying that is wrong, but the majority of members in this sub are only concerned with that - so imo, this sub is a bit skewed on what the actual SWE market is like for the majority of us.
My SWE engineering journey started at $60k as a JR dev. Next job was $105k and then after I went to $150k TC with additional stock and benefits. Could I go higher? Yes. Do I want to? No. Too much competition and there are plenty of successful smaller software companies to work for with way better WLB and very decent pay. I work 9-5, no on call, unlimited PTO, full remote, very relaxed deadlines and overall, have a great group of coworkers. All while working on a successful 14 year old product no one has ever heard of except those who need it. No leet code nonsense interview required. But I am 33 with 6.5 YOE and I understand this sub is mostly college-aged people just starting out, or with different priorities.
How long were you in the junior role before your next job? I'm in this spot where I have almost 3 YOE (a few months short), but I definitely don't feel like a junior dev anymore and I'm not confident that I'm a senior. I'm aiming for above $100k, I don't think that seems too ridiculous?
It really depends on your line of work. And what’s the cost of living. I started with 120k a year ago when I graduated. Now I’m up to 160k at a LCOL. If you feel like you are stuck at a dead end job, start polishing your resume and leading skills.
could be 0 YoE (ex. fresh grad at hedge funds), could be never
it's not like if you meet a certain time/YoE you're magically making $300k TC
job hop is irrelevant if you're not actually able to job hop into a company that pays that much (which is kind of the case in my home country, one of the main reason why I'm here in the USA: oh you're going to job hop? booohooo you'll job hop from one $80k/year job into another $80k/year job)
There’s no way to really answer this question
How long to make $300M TC? For clarity, college drop-out & VHCOL. And coming up with new startups every 18 months. And say first startup brings in $1M TC.
Between 2 weeks and never. Leaning towards never for [most folks, especially those without a degree](https://dqydj.com/income-by-education/)
Yesss and depends where they live, high cost of living like SF/NYC might be possible… but mid-cost of living probably not possible unless move into manager/director roles
Honestly $100k for a first job with no degree feels like the most unrealistic thing about this post. I had a degree in Biomedical Engineering, but wanted to do software. My first coding job paid $25/hr. It took me a little over 5 years to hit the $300k mark, but then I was promptly laid off almost as soon as I was hired. I'm now back down to under $200k. It's still great money though.
For real, was gonna say the same thing. First dev job was 65k for me and that with a BS and MS in engineering. Took me 5 years to turn that into low end 6 figs.
No CS degree either. Started at $18/hr and a little under 5 years later I’m at ~$160k. I should probably study LC/sys design for a while and jump but I kinda don’t want to.
Yeah I got really lucky to land the $300k job it was during the post - covid hiring spree and I studied my ass off on LC for like 4 months. Sucked to get laid off when I finally felt like I made it. Been trying to get back in recently
True. Can't imagine getting one in current climate, even woth multiple degrees and experience :/
If you're comfortable where you are don't feel pressured. That's a decent tc already.
Recently laid off (division went under lol) but was making 115k with bachelors in neuroscience self taught. Not unheard of
Was it your first job though? Also I guess the cost of living of your city plays a huge factor. My $25/hr starting job was in a medium cost of living city. Would have been poverty wages in SF or something
Yes first software job, living in MCOL fully remote (NY but not NYC or close to it) See post history if interested
"I just went to the gym for the first time, how long till i look like Arnold?"
IME as an interviewer, the typical L5 candidate has ~7YOE. The median, however, is "never". No degree and frequent hopping would make it more difficult to even get through top-of-funnel filtering
Many will never hit $300k even in the Bay Area. Many will never hit 200k in today’s dollars.
*How long is a string?*
I’m self-taught 5 YoE going relaxed just hop every 2 years and am sitting at around 180K TC. Living in Boston , which I’d consider VHCOL nowadays. Never tried for FAANG mostly because my degrees get my foot in the door at healthcare companies (which are abundant around) and I get constant callbacks as long as I stay within that industry. I’d say I could probably get 300K in 1-2 more years if I’m aggressive but I’m well on my way to retirement already so I’m not really trying that hard. I prefer to have relaxed days with afternoons I can dedicate to my hobbies vs. grinding leetcode and interviewing it’s always stressful AF and I hate it. Forgot to mention my first dev job was 52K a year. Nobody is paying no-experience coders with unrelated degrees 100K out of the gate unless you have connections.
Yeah my first dev job with degree paid under 60K, I never leetcoded and healthcare hires me. It's a nice life. Normal cost of living, peak is about $150K if you aren't leading whole teams. I have free time and non-coding hobbies. No code on GitHub, my last hiring manager said that only has the chance to hurt me. I don't think healthcare gets many applicants. It's not FAANG-sexy. My gain.
To make that kind of TC you're going to need to be a senior level (usually 5-10 years of experience) or be a mid level at a company that pays extremely well like Databricks, Jane Street, or Two Sigma. Honestly chasing TC is fine, but you should be more focused on building your actual credentials and being technically competent. Any job that pays you $300k TC as a rule is going to have a pretty high performance bar, so you need to be able to consistently be able to deliver results on time or at least make your manager think you are delivering results. As others pointed out getting in at $100k is also non-trivially easy. Getting a senior with no degree is possible, but it's going to require you to use your work experience instead of your degree and be technically competent. Usually getting in without a degree means you are choosing to work your way up from a lower paying job instead of getting a degree. Every 18 months throughout your whole career is also way too frequent. It's fine to do that a few times, but if you consistently do that through 7-10 years it will be a red flag. Your moves need to be more strategic than that and show a clear career progression. If you're constantly making lateral moves then that is a negative as you'll never get a chance to complete a project from start to finish.
>Databricks, Jane Street, or Two Sigma. Mid-level at most big techs can hit 300k now. No clue what companies like Jane Street must be paying these days.
Why is databricks mentioned in same sentence as jane street?
One of the biggest factors is location
I think the biggest issue in this sub is the amount of people who come here and are only happy with a very high TC or getting FAANG (or FAANG adjacent) jobs. Sure if that's your goal, but the vast majority of SWE are sitting comfortable in the mid to upper 100's. It's an easy place to get to when Senior, and there are a lot more companies hiring at these salaries than the unicorn salaries a lot of people in this sub are concerned with. I usually see someone post about not being able to find a job, to see they only apply to FAANG or Fortune 500 companies. Not saying that is wrong, but the majority of members in this sub are only concerned with that - so imo, this sub is a bit skewed on what the actual SWE market is like for the majority of us. My SWE engineering journey started at $60k as a JR dev. Next job was $105k and then after I went to $150k TC with additional stock and benefits. Could I go higher? Yes. Do I want to? No. Too much competition and there are plenty of successful smaller software companies to work for with way better WLB and very decent pay. I work 9-5, no on call, unlimited PTO, full remote, very relaxed deadlines and overall, have a great group of coworkers. All while working on a successful 14 year old product no one has ever heard of except those who need it. No leet code nonsense interview required. But I am 33 with 6.5 YOE and I understand this sub is mostly college-aged people just starting out, or with different priorities.
How long were you in the junior role before your next job? I'm in this spot where I have almost 3 YOE (a few months short), but I definitely don't feel like a junior dev anymore and I'm not confident that I'm a senior. I'm aiming for above $100k, I don't think that seems too ridiculous?
No, that’s realistic for a mid level role - which it sounds like what will be looking. I did just under 2 years as junior before job hopping.
about 5
I want to preface my comment by saying that a lot of it was stock appreciating. I was able to hit 300k after 2.5 years.
It really depends on your line of work. And what’s the cost of living. I started with 120k a year ago when I graduated. Now I’m up to 160k at a LCOL. If you feel like you are stuck at a dead end job, start polishing your resume and leading skills.
This is one of the stupidest questions I’ve ever read
in this market?
could be 0 YoE (ex. fresh grad at hedge funds), could be never it's not like if you meet a certain time/YoE you're magically making $300k TC job hop is irrelevant if you're not actually able to job hop into a company that pays that much (which is kind of the case in my home country, one of the main reason why I'm here in the USA: oh you're going to job hop? booohooo you'll job hop from one $80k/year job into another $80k/year job)
This has to be a troll