<story><title>Tech compensation in 2021</title><url>https://jacobian.org/2021/oct/13/tech-salaries-2021/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>franciscop</author><text>Everything else being the same, it&amp;#x27;s better to make 300k than 175k&amp;#x2F;year. And not everything is the same, normally in those better paid jobs you have better Engineers, a lot of challenging problems, many nice perks, etc. What you don&amp;#x27;t normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week. Also you don&amp;#x27;t get highly ethical companies, just average ones at that (and it might actually be better to donate the diff between 300k and 175k vs working in a slightly more ethical place for 175k).&lt;p&gt;So as far as general advice goes, it makes sense to recommend trying to get those FAANG jobs if you can.</text></item><item><author>eminence32</author><text>It seems like a lot of HN readers are continually playing the &amp;quot;maximize salary&amp;quot; game and use like articles like this one to figure out how well they&amp;#x27;re doing.  If you want to play that game, then good luck, have fun.  I understand the desire.&lt;p&gt;But it&amp;#x27;s not for everyone.  Are you able to live comfortably on $175k per year?  Do you enjoy what you do and the people that you work with?  If so, I don&amp;#x27;t think there should be any shame in staying where you are.  Don&amp;#x27;t feel like you have to chase every last dollar.</text></item><item><author>throwaway2016a</author><text>20 years experience, two books under my belt, and lead architect (with a CTO title) on several good sized projects and most I have ever gotten in $175k... every time I see an article like this, I think I am doing something &amp;quot;very wrong&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I live about 40 miles outside of Boston.&lt;p&gt;Edit: Looking at levels.fyi for Boston that actually puts me above the median[1]. Why the heck is Boston so low compared to other markets?&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: Boston, MA and Denver, CO on Levels.fyi are both a median $159k but due to cost of living, that $159k in Denver is the same as $211k in Boston. I.e. adjusted for the cost of living, Denver pays 25% better.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.levels.fyi&amp;#x2F;Salaries&amp;#x2F;Software-Engineer&amp;#x2F;Greater-Boston-Area&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.levels.fyi&amp;#x2F;Salaries&amp;#x2F;Software-Engineer&amp;#x2F;Greater-Bo...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>vincnetas</author><text>i had to read this twice to make sure i was reading it correctly:&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  and it might actually be better to donate the diff between 300k and 175k vs working in a slightly more ethical place for 175k
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
this really triggered me.  you basically say its ok to do shady things as long as you give something to the poor. sounds so much like &amp;quot;indulgence&amp;quot; in Christian churches where you could pay off your sins. sad.&lt;p&gt;i&amp;#x27;d say money is not a permission for you to do bad things, and it should not make you fell better about bad things you did (and continue to do) just by giving some of the money away.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Indulgence&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Indulgence&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Tech compensation in 2021</title><url>https://jacobian.org/2021/oct/13/tech-salaries-2021/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>franciscop</author><text>Everything else being the same, it&amp;#x27;s better to make 300k than 175k&amp;#x2F;year. And not everything is the same, normally in those better paid jobs you have better Engineers, a lot of challenging problems, many nice perks, etc. What you don&amp;#x27;t normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week. Also you don&amp;#x27;t get highly ethical companies, just average ones at that (and it might actually be better to donate the diff between 300k and 175k vs working in a slightly more ethical place for 175k).&lt;p&gt;So as far as general advice goes, it makes sense to recommend trying to get those FAANG jobs if you can.</text></item><item><author>eminence32</author><text>It seems like a lot of HN readers are continually playing the &amp;quot;maximize salary&amp;quot; game and use like articles like this one to figure out how well they&amp;#x27;re doing.  If you want to play that game, then good luck, have fun.  I understand the desire.&lt;p&gt;But it&amp;#x27;s not for everyone.  Are you able to live comfortably on $175k per year?  Do you enjoy what you do and the people that you work with?  If so, I don&amp;#x27;t think there should be any shame in staying where you are.  Don&amp;#x27;t feel like you have to chase every last dollar.</text></item><item><author>throwaway2016a</author><text>20 years experience, two books under my belt, and lead architect (with a CTO title) on several good sized projects and most I have ever gotten in $175k... every time I see an article like this, I think I am doing something &amp;quot;very wrong&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;I live about 40 miles outside of Boston.&lt;p&gt;Edit: Looking at levels.fyi for Boston that actually puts me above the median[1]. Why the heck is Boston so low compared to other markets?&lt;p&gt;Edit 2: Boston, MA and Denver, CO on Levels.fyi are both a median $159k but due to cost of living, that $159k in Denver is the same as $211k in Boston. I.e. adjusted for the cost of living, Denver pays 25% better.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.levels.fyi&amp;#x2F;Salaries&amp;#x2F;Software-Engineer&amp;#x2F;Greater-Boston-Area&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.levels.fyi&amp;#x2F;Salaries&amp;#x2F;Software-Engineer&amp;#x2F;Greater-Bo...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>tubby12345</author><text>&amp;gt;What you don&amp;#x27;t normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week&lt;p&gt;This isn&amp;#x27;t true. Google allows you to &amp;quot;scale&amp;quot; your work (eg 80% pay for 80% time).</text></comment>