follow up 2 cents, only because I feel the data point is valuable
left the startup because it got very top heavy with VC pushed execs that didn't know what they were doing, watering down the mission so I went back to traditional big tech

Came in as an engineering manager. I'd say about 30% of my time is serving as main architect and product manager for the platform and 70% is development management. I probably put in ~20hrs/wk +/- based on schedule

250k+ base, unlimited PTO, another 400k+ in stock over 4 years great medical
1st year's bonus was another 150+ in stock

company has a durham office, which if I worked out of you could probably drop these numbers by about 15%

so the point of this was to show there's money out there, even in raleigh.

I never got my undergrad, did about half my masters in comp sci but they still don't have enough classes to finish in my concentration (artificial intelligence). I've just been good about making sure the work I do is easily demo'd and relevant. It'd be easy to get stuck working on some company specific problem that while interesting to solve, has no relevance outside the company and thus serves as nothing more than filler on the resume.

10/10/2019 10:27:48 AM

Congrats, you are somewhere near the top 98 and top 99 percentile of income in the United States. It blows my mind that someone can make $250k to work 20 hours a week.

10/10/2019 9:23:54 PM

Almost $400k per over 4 years

10/10/2019 10:50:13 PM

^^ big companies are generally very inefficient but I've been forced to be very efficient with time coming from my last 2 jobs. I ignore/avoid a lot of meetings and spent a few months when I first got in place building automation to administrivia. As a result, I'm generally waiting on others to catch up. I also am in a position where the work I spent the last few years doing is light years ahead of what's needed at my new job in some respects, so in general I know way more than my peers.

[Edited on October 11, 2019 at 11:57 AM. Reason : I don't anticipate the workload being this low forever, but probably for at least a year more]

10/11/2019 11:52:06 AM

^^^^
good fucking lord

10/11/2019 1:10:09 PM

In all honesty, I know several people with 100K+ jobs (typically around $120K - $130K) who don't work much at all. Some stay at the office for the full 40 but work more like 20. Others leave early or work from home exclusively.

If you speak to them, they will say either that they are really efficient, as above, or that they are getting paid for what they do not how much time they spend doing it- think price of a good based on value vs. paying for all goods based on how long it took to make it.

If you ask me, I think that some of those two points are true, probably more so in ^5's case since he built some automation, but I also think the inefficiency and loose definition of roles in large corporate structures makes it really possible. Times have been good for a long time, so I imagine some of that would be trimmed.

10/11/2019 3:58:25 PM

I could go back down to part-time at my job and still [barely] crack 100k. I think there’s a significant chance I’ll eventually do that, either to:

-commute from FL up to Duke or maybe UVA/UNC for grad school (assuming I can’t get admitted into Wharton/HBS/some other comical-level super stretch goal)

-add a second job once I retire from the USMC Reserves has in a few years...maybe a flying job, or something back in engineering, or maybe in the ange/venture capital space

-if I don’t go get my MBA (or can’t get accepted to a good enough school to do what I want to do) and get into finance or do any other job, I might just stay at my current job and taper off over time as I’m able to...Like, not right away, but maybe by my early 50s, maybe I’ll be cool with throttling back and taking a pay cut in order to work 20-25 hours/week, and then by 60 (hell that’s only 20 years out now!), just work 8-10 days per month and make 60-75k. By then, I’ll probably make that much again with military retirement and social security (depending on the state of SS).
____________

I’m 39 now for another few days. I went full time a few months ago after 2 years as a part-timer (making about 85k and 100k). It was a mind-bending thing to realize at 36 that I could live well for the rest of my life without ever again working full-time if I didn’t want to.

It’s a spectacularly great position to be in. I’ve paid a SHITLOAD of dues to get here, and there have also been some fortunate things that have happened...but it makes very real a question that previously was hypothetical:

How much (or little) would you work if the job gave considerable flexibility in that regard, and even on the low end, you’d make enough to live well? Would you work 10 days/month (some of those even being half days) for ~70k...or would you work full-time, plus every weekend you had the chance, plus sel back the maximum amount of PTO, and be nudging very close to 200k? ...or where in-between?

10/13/2019 11:01:24 PM

Depends on what's available outside work. I work a lot because my life is empty and devoid of people to spend all that free time with and because I'm legitimately getting to solve interesting industry problems. also, my hobbies end up being more solo/stuff based which cost a lot of money. If I had friends at similar points in their lives who'd have similar availability and means to be able to travel/do stuff, I'd drop it down whenever I wasn't working on really interesting stuff. similarly, if I had a family or significant other, I'd probably free up as much time as they could consume.

10/13/2019 11:41:34 PM

Yep, I hear that.

It's tough to find people to do the stuff I like to do. Most of it takes a certain skill set, and from there, considerable money...and then if there is anyone who knows how and can afford it, they're busy as shit, too.

At least my wife likes to SCUBA dive. She likes to fly and travel along with me, too.

10/14/2019 12:08:29 AM

Quote :

"250k+ base, unlimited PTO, another 400k+ in stock over 4 years great medical 1st year's bonus was another 150+ in stock company has a durham office, which if I worked out of you could probably drop these numbers by about 15%"

jfc

you hiring?

10/20/2019 10:26:24 AM

probably not until next year, but if you're a systems programmer in high concurrency hpc and distributed environments and particularly deep in cpp and rust PM me.

10/20/2019 11:38:25 AM

smoothcrim is all talk.

10/27/2019 1:02:40 AM

on salary? Nah. I actually thought he made a little more than that.

10/28/2019 12:31:35 AM

I gave conservative floors, but you're correct. We can't all do deals in hot tubs in vail, so you just gotta get by somehow

10/28/2019 11:26:07 AM

I switched to Aspen and Jackson Hole . The hot tubs are better.

10/29/2019 4:27:17 PM

i cant afford a hot tub...

10/29/2019 10:46:05 PM

There was a vendor at the fair selling hot tubs $0 down/%0 interest.

10/30/2019 10:22:49 AM

that's how mother fuckers got Legionnaires disease from the fair in western NC.

Two have died even. FFS.

10/30/2019 11:18:38 AM