Ask HN: To those making 200k+ how did you get there?

I do, but I worked my way up to it over the past 30 years. I went to University back in 1989 in Munich, but was only there for a year and a half. My father was in the military and was deployed to the Desert Storm war so my mother had me come home. I did some night school classes while working during the day, but never did end up getting a degree. In ‘96 I went to a state sponsored training program started to train people in mainframe programming for the upcoming Y2K work. So I started as an assembler programmer on an IBM OS/360 system and eventually moved to COBOL. I started off at $26K living in Atlanta, GA. Still live here 28 years later, still a developer, current title was Analytics Architect, but company recently did title updates to match the industry, so I am now a senior staff engineer. I make a little over 200k base and get a COL adjustment and 10-15% bonus every year. I’ve been at my current company 20 years, currently enjoying a month long sabbatical to celebrate that. My area of Atlanta isn’t too HCOL, I live in the city of Decatur area. I’ve avoided leaving the perimeter and moving to the suburbs, trying to stay in the more democratic area away from the white flight. Since I‘be been at my job so long my work life balance is great. I do my 40hr weeks, 4 days at home, 1 in the office. I don’t work late or on weekends. I could have probably been making quite a bit more by now if I’d job hopped, but I like my job and my salary is more than enough to support me and my wife.

Graduated with a CS degree in 2012, worked at various small companies until I got referred to Google. Worked there for ~5 years, got promoted, and turned that into a pay raise in a field I actually care about. I also live in a HCOL in the US, which is sneakily the reason why I probably make what I do. If you are new to the industry, I have no idea; it looks like a warzone out there for junior recs. Work life balance is fine; I refuse to break 45 hours. I'd rather get fired.

B.S. in Comp Sci at no-name school (Washington State University)

Got taken advantage of in my first job out of college, started at $45k/yr working locally in a small city in California (San Luis Obispo). Worked for a small shop making B2B software to sell to the government. Spent a long time there (7 yrs) because it was chill and I had enough downtime to work on side projects, but wasn't really advancing in all the right ways technically. Didn't use JIRA or work on sprints or have a manager, etc. Got a $12k raise each year. Left at $120k because I could feel myself stagnating.

Moved to San Francisco, but, ironically, got a fully remote job helping a B2C online ecommerce shop. Small shop, about 10 engineers and ~40 people total. Started at $150k/yr + fractional percent of equity + bonus as a Sr. Software Engineer. Pay was not based on locality. Stayed with the company for 4.5 years and was promoted to Team Lead ($180k/yr) and then Staff Software Engineer ($200K/yr) where I oversaw a team of 6. Also received ~$30k EOY bonus + equity that ended up having a value of approx. $400k.

Second job was definitely more intense than the first. I worked more than 40 hours a week frequently, but enjoyed the fast-paced environment and worked with a lot of intelligent people that I learned a lot from. I would repeat the experience. I didn't work on-call at all, just opted in to trying to push the quality on projects which took more time.

Overall, I don't feel I did anything too crazy. HCOL isn't necessary. I would definitely make more ($250k~) working locally in SF. It's just consistent effort, putting yourself in jobs that have upwards trajectory, having loyalty when the job is a good fit, taking on more responsibility when it's offered rather than having a negative view that more work is a capitalist trap, and learning to push a little in negotiations.

My job title is Senior DevOps Engineer. I have no high school diploma and what they call "some college" (less than 2 years). I've been working as a sysadmin since the late nineties. I've done stints as a Director of Operations, and entrepreneur (trainer/consultant). But mostly ops work. I've been working remotely for the past 3 years (thanks COVID!). I live in a rural area. I try to put in about 40 hours a week, it's been a bit under recently as we're moving and it's been a distraction. The job opening was posted for under 200K but I asked for a bit over and got it. I was told my experience and enthusiasm was far above the other candidates. Hope this helps! (I majored in biochemistry when I was at uni.) I'm in Texas now.

Here’s some resources:

- https://levels.fyi

- https://Reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions

- https://Leetcode.com

$200k is quite achievable both remote, IF you have experience. If you are brand new to the industry things have shifted and new grads are having a very tough time.

Double or triple that was easily achievable remote from 2020 to 2023, but now likely requires going in-office in NYC, SF, or Seattle.

The work life balance is not significantly different at different pay levels once you get to true tech companies (leaving aside companies where the tech doesn’t bring in the money)

I would fathom that the number 1 factor in how they made that much is by working in a HCOL area.

Three ways I know.

1. Grind leetcode and prep interviews and get into a large tech co as senior engineer. This is my path (need an uplevel now). Can be done outside the US.

2. Consult. This is my backup path. I get $100/h so I can bump up to 200k TC short term ... but more importantly connect and network to get higher rates.

3. Finally: finance/trading. You like C++ or OCaml?

Bonus option: indie hacker build the next levels.fyi