I find the more interesting story to be the "Software developers really don't want to believe that their profession pays as much as it does" message that's playing out in the comments here and the similar Facebook story today.
It's something I notice every time salary comes up here.
Story: "Yet Another Datapoint showing that the current market rate for developers is $300,000/year and higher."
Hacker News: "No It Isn't!"
You can almost see the fingers stuck in ears reading the top comments on these stories. In my mind, the thing to do when somebody tells you how you can make twice what you did 5 years ago in this profession isn't to call that guy a liar. A better reaction would be to talk about actionable ways to go get one o' those salaries.
Just for a datapoint, I've never lived in the Bay Area (and haven't worked on-site for a dozen years), and I make a lot more than that as a developer. I am in no way unique. This is in fact what good devs make if we ask for it. Nomatter where we live.
Incidentally, you're right that you generally won't receive an initial offer for that kind of money. You need to negotiate for it. That is sadly another area we devs are not historically good at:
Do you own your own business? It's definitely possible to earn that much when you run a successful website or app. But I have a really hard time believing developer salaries are $300k+ at companies outside of CA/WA/NY.
The national median is right around $100k.
Developers that earn significantly more than that have significant ownership stakes in the company, highly desirable skill-sets, or notoriety in the field.
At the moment, yes. In the context of my above reply, no.
Personally, I prefer to listen to the person who has tried a thing and declared it possible, rather than the person who has never tried that thing and declared it impossible.
Sadly, this thread (and others like it) fill up quickly with that latter group.
You are absolutely unique. The fact that you have no problem pulling down a salary that's 3 times the median yet don't appreciate that fact suggests that you work in a bubble.
You're typical mid-western Java dev is not going to get a job for $300k. Or anywhere remotely close to it. Those salaries are for very specialized roles and consultants.
Would you be willing to give any details about what you were doing as an employee earning that much outside the Bay Area etc? What sort of skills were you using, what were you hired for, was it remote/contracting etc?
I don't think they're calling that guy "a liar". I think they're looking at credible available data and concluding that 300k is not the current market rate for developers.
And keep in mind, I can do both things at once. While I don't buy it that the current market rate is 300k even in San Francisco, I am absolutely all ears. I would appreciate it greatly if you wrote in more detail about how I can get to this salary level. Since this is HN, I guess I'll just add this bit: no, I'm not looking for detail to pick apart and argue about. I would absolutely like to hear about how you've achieved this and believe that it isn't a remarkably difficult thing to do.
It's something I notice every time salary comes up here.
Story: "Yet Another Datapoint showing that the current market rate for developers is $300,000/year and higher."
Hacker News: "No It Isn't!"
You can almost see the fingers stuck in ears reading the top comments on these stories. In my mind, the thing to do when somebody tells you how you can make twice what you did 5 years ago in this profession isn't to call that guy a liar. A better reaction would be to talk about actionable ways to go get one o' those salaries.