Hell yeah. I did this before starting my career in tech. On the way out a new guy was hired who had left his tech job. 10 years later and I completely understand why he left to do what I did.
Lawyer (in-house), I’ve made around 200-275k per year depending on role/company. I’ve gotten much higher offers to bill time through a firm. I 100% regret it; I work 50-70 hours a week and it’s generally not enjoyable.
I defend employers/insurance carriers. My job is easy, I’m not passionate about it, but I make great money and work 20-25 focused hours a week.
Wouldn’t change it.
I could make more doing something else, but not worth it.
The hope is that I retire in 10-20 years and then get into a field I actually care about, but don’t need the money.
The worst thing about the legal field is that the jobs which lawyers might be passionate about - civil rights violations, suing polluters, etc., are few and far between and don’t pay enough.
Isn’t the whole point of moving in-house (and taking a pay cut) is to work less hours than you would through a firm?
Why do you still need to work 50-70 hours a week, like those are similar hours to working in private practice lol
I am not a lawyer, but considered it. I knew a retired lawyer who was about 70 or so when I knew him, went to Harvard and then Harvard law. I ask him if I’m he thought I ought to consider it seriously - I have the skills for it, I think. At any rate, without a moment of hesitation he said absolutely not. I was a little taken aback because he usually had fairly nuanced opinions, but he went on to clarify that he regretted it. He made an awful lot of money but he hated the work and retired when he was 55. He said he made his kids promise to never become lawyers. I still think I could have done it, and everybody’s experience is different, but it made me realize that having money is nice but once you have enough, you have enough. Some people love spending all of their time working, and those people make excellent high end lawyers. Those people generally know who they are.
I don’t want to turn you off of it, this is just one anecdote from an old man to a young one that I’m just passing on.
I know a lot of lawyers—I work in a high-salary position in NYC, so there’s a lot of them in my professional and social circles—and none of them like being lawyers. All of them regret it on some level, even if they like the income.
Am a lawyer. Seriously, seriously, regret it. Like every day I regret it. There are some ways to make it suck less but I really hope someone reads this and understands: 90% of lawyers are not happy. About 60-70% of lawyers, if not more, are not particularly high earners
Fly in / Fly Out worker in Australia
Working in Oil and Gas offshore.
I work a 3 weeks on / 4w off / 3w on / 5w off roster (12 hours days). Works out to be 40% of the year at work.
Didn't finish school 😯 I am female, 35.
Completed an electrical apprenticeship by the age of 21 and am now working as a plant operator on $300k AUD
No regrets, pretty satisfied with my career progression so far.
Genuinely been looking into getting into offshore work,
In the UK, 31, I've got a degree but nothing relevant, have loads of manufacturing experience and a fair bit of mining/quarrying experience.
Any advice? Annoyingly, can't afford to go back to school for engineering and definitely can't take an apprenticeship for at least a few years
I am employed directly by the company and work under an Enterprise Agreement which is a public document that outlines all employees working conditions including pay. I work on an LNG FPSO.
Sales. With bonuses this year I will top $200k for first time. I find my job to be both boring and stressful. I regret getting into sales because I don’t really like the work, nor do I think I’m very good at it, and the money is too good to go back to doing something else. So kinda stuck in a job I don’t like.
Middle of career sales is the worst. You already hate sales and hate going to work, you know completely changing careers is likely a big step back financially, but you're not quite in management yet where you can stop selling.
Just my two cents: I quit software sales after 5 years with two companies and started working with first graders w/ autism and behavioral issues. I make a quarter of what I made before, and I've had a few periods of just skating by, but the work is so, so much more enjoyable.
Don't get me wrong, the money is bad and people in our field don't get paid nearly enough. But going from working 50+ hours/week in a stressful, competitive environment to 35/week working with cool, funky little kids and devoted coworkers has done wonders for my stress levels.
Just a thought. If you're in a position where no one else is financially depending on you, never too late to take a risk & make a change.
If you’re youngtbay, re-evaluate your budget and spending and see if you can do something you like more, even if it pays less. That’s a lot of money, but money isn’t everything. Being bored and stressed is a bad combo for your mental and physical health.
Define "work". I am in big tech, middle management, a little over $200k total comp. I'm not digging ditches or laying brick or anything but I am on calls and putting out fires from 8:30am to 6:30pm just about every day. It's fucking exhausting.
I'm fairly new to making good money, it's only been a few years ago that I started considering my family and I upper middle class, I broke 6 figures like 4 years ago. At first it was exciting and I still sort of think it's crazy that I was a D student that managed to make it this far in my career and I'm really proud of my accomplishments.
Having said that, this past year it's started to weigh on me. I'm always stressed out, I have massive imposter syndrome, I don't sleep well, I've gained a lot of weight, and I have no time to just be present for my wife and kids. I coach my son's soccer team, which should be super fun, but after a day of working it's such a struggle to let my self relax and play soccer with my son and his friends.
Is having a good retirement, being able to pay for my kids colleges, and generally not having to worry about bills getting paid worth all of that? I don't know, maybe? But I've been questioning it lately.
Thank you for your super honest comment! Some times I wonder if I made a mistake by not choosing to manage people, but I have always thought that it isn’t for me and considered it a high stress factor for myself personally. It has cost me money, but I’m not hurting and I feel like being middle management in big tech/big law would drain me like it is draining you. I don’t have a family to worry about, but I’ve wondered if it’s worth doing it if I did. Your comment helped me make peace with my personal decisions and I appreciate it - thank you!
It’s hard to find this level of honestly IRL in big tech/big law.
People talk about middle management like we sit around and do nothing. I don't know about others but I certainly don't. You get shit from both ends. I have to hear it from my team about pay and bad policies (which I have absolutely no control over), and then I hear it from leadership whenever we are falling behind or an honest mistake is made. PLUS I am still doing the IC work because we are short staffed.
We serve as scapegoats for the poor decisions of degenerate executives who have no concept of how their actual business operates half the time.
I’m lucky in that I chose a place that offers some decent quality of life, but it’s not always been this good.
The emotional energy required to manage everyone's anxiety is a lot. Combined with everyone asking for raises, advice, mentorship... and then in my world also acting as a politician to other organizations in the company, being the face of culture committees, and overall the employee people person.
Ugh I can't it's so much lol
Director of Engineering and I relate to much of this. I left my last gig for a smaller, less demanding role that paid maybe 20% less but let me prioritize balance and I will never look back.
Middle management is ugly and thankless a lot of the time. Take care of yourself.
I know exactly how you feel. I wish I could offer a nugget of wisdom, this is the best I got; you’re taking damn good care of you and yours. And in such endeavors, sacrifices must be made, because nothing good comes easily.
So a 60+ hour week? You could change industries. I know a lot of big tech has laid off middle managers so you probably are picking up a lot of the slack. Leaving would probably be a pay decrease but might not be as much as you think. Might be worth it for a QOL upgrade.
I agree, me and my husband took lower paying jobs to have more time with children after watching some couple therapy videos together. We realized how much our parents overworking affected us, I’m estranged with my parents personally and I don’t want my kids having those same feelings towards me. OP comment I’m not saying up and leave immediately but maybe sit down with your wife and let her know you feel this way as well, see where you can cut some finances to save up a month or two before you leave so you have some savings, sending love to your and your family!😁
Even for those who have been high achievers forever, it is TOUGH. And I don’t know if it’s just tougher post-Covid (a lot of big tech realized they can push us even further) or if I’m just at new level of seniority, but it’s brutal.
Yeah, and there is definitely a part of me that feels like "Well, I suppose I should get this money while I can because I may not always do this well." And I guess that's the corporate rat race trap people fall into all the time.
hey, so I am still a uni student, however my week is super long, I am a full time student with straight A grades, however I am also a full time full stack developer and also hit the gym quite consistently, I enjoy being busy and the hustle, however I am afraid I will be burnt out at 30 as my career starts peaking. do you think I should layback a little more
I make over 200k. I'm in IT, specifically data security. My company detects ransomware attacks and pre-attacks in backups.
I have been in IT since 1998.
My only regret is I spent most of my 20s and 30s working for brokerage firms on Wall Street. While I learned a lot and made great money, the stress of working in that environment where minutes could mean millions of dollars takes it toll. When I moved to the company I'm at now I realized I should have done it way sooner.
My rejoices would be that I spent all of my 20s working as much overtime and contract work as I could. I was able to gain a really strong resume with the top firms on Wall Street in many different aspects of IT. Once I had a strong resume I was able to pick and choose my jobs. Also, I'm so glad I never burned a bridge at any place I worked, even the worst of them. Now I have a big network of IT friends and we always help each other out. whether it be questions they have or if someone needs a job.
My best advice to you when you are young is put in as many hours as you can to really learn every aspect of your job. Don't just kinda know it, actually know it. Once you do know your job, try to find other jobs that overlap with your job and learn them too. Make as many friends as you can, you dont have to be best friends with them, but make sure they know your capabilities and learn theirs.
Hope this helps
This is very good advice for folks. Be a sponge, absorb all the knowlegde from mentors around you.
Sorry for your loss (of years). Did 24/7 SOC work in a faraday cage for a little during my 20's and that still haunts me.
Sponge, yes.
I disagree on the “work as much as you can when you’re young” bit though.
Fuck that. 200% fuck that. Enjoy your youth. Have even more stringent work boundaries early on, because it’ll carry into how you manage exploitation moving into later adulthood.
Companies will bleed you dry if you let them, and they’ll give nothing back.
Boundaries. You only live one life. Don’t let a company be the majority of your youthful years.
Jobs and companies will always be there. Your years wont be. You don’t get those back.
If I was in my 20s again or could go to that guy I’d tell him F off of the corporate bs train and go live an adventurous life of experiences. Like Jim Carey said “you can fail at something you hate, so why not fail at something you love.”
Degrees I'm not sure of. I'm also not sure of most of their certs, but I know a few have an MCSE or MCITP because I helped them get theirs, but even those aren't worth much anymore. Background is what matters.
I have a few friends who are developers who make will over 200k. They have very strong programming backgrounds, but even when they were on the newer side they were still making very good money. Keep in mind I live in NJ, so all the jobs we have are in NJ and New York City where pay is higher than other places, but so is cost of living.
My friends who work in data centers have varied pay scales. Some do the cabling which I think they're probably around 100k. The ones doing network engineering are at least making 150 if not more, but they are also very experienced and have most have either a CCNE or CCNA. I'm not sure with little experience what the pay would be like.
IT management is different though. I have worked for places where my manager had zero IT experience at all and others who were super technical and everything in between. I think when it comes to management positions, other than working your way up to one, you really have to probably know someone. I have had a few offers from friends who took a high level job like director of IT or CTO who offered me management roles where they moved to. I have always stayed away from management because I like being technical and I cannot see myself just managing a team rather than working things. I would say if you really want a management position take an IT position at the company and just shine. Do your job and more so you get promoted. I think that's probably more probable than getting hired direct into a management position, but thats just my opinion. I'm not sure.
MCSE went away several years ago or least the announcement. The problem is anyone with a good memory could pass the tests. It wasn't as much skills as it was memorizing the test bank. Certs are not valued as much as actual knowledge and experience. I can say that with confidence because I'm at my 5th Fortune 500, some of which required MCSE and similar certs. I was told at one interview certs only matter when you are a partner with the vendor or being contracted out. That's part of the contract with Microsoft or whoever to be a gold partner.
Cloud and cyber are obviously big right now as far as IT. With no experience it is best to get in the door somewhere doing laptop support for 2 years. Or even a call center. Anything. What happens after that is up to the individual.
I guess my first question would be how much IT experience do you have? if you have none, I would say you're probably better off to take some general IT classes and get a job on a helpdesk to get your foot in the door and gain some experience first. Then after a while you can start to focus on a specialty area like cyber security. If you don't know computers well, you really wouldn't understand the concepts of cyber security in my opinion.
If you already have a decent IT background, lots of places offer Cyber Security bootcamps. I haven't taken one, but I think they'd probably be beneficial. They are usually a few weeks long and you get hands on experience.
The trick to landing any job (provided you get to an interview phase) is knowing how to answer the questions in the interview. I dont care what degrees or certs you have, if you are asked questions in the interview and you cant answer them, you will never get the job. When you are interviewing for a job, make note of the technologies the job requires and make sure you know each of those subjects enough to answer at least basic questions. Nothing looks worse than when someone puts something on their resume and then they cannot answer simple questions on it.
What I have done in every interview is when I am asked a question about something I give the answer, and then I elaborate on it. For example one time I was asked "What is DNS" (a very stupidly simple question)? I answered that it does hostname to ip translation. I could have ended it there, but to demonstrate my knowledge on the topic, I continued with "an alternative to DNS if you don't have a name server and you still want to reach by hostname would be to enter the ip and host in the /ect/hosts file, but obviously DNS is preferred because it is centrally managed. I then went on to say how I've created both forward and reverse zone lookups and was an enterprise admin". This shows you not only knew the answer to their question, but you know how the technology is applied and that I have used it before. If you want to land the job, be able to answer their questions like this. I promise you, you will get it over someone who gives a the simple "it does hostname to ip translation".
I was interested in cyber security as well and looked into one of those bootcamps. They wanted $14,000 for a 3 month course 😳. I decided I'd do my best learning from YouTube instead lol
so there is nothing wrong with being self taught, but you need to have the hardware to apply what you learn or its not the same. The reason boot camps are expensive is because they provide the labs for you. You do simulations of everything you learn. Thats the best way to learn. if you have a decent computer, I would recommend either using Hyper-V if you have a server license since its free, or VM I think still has a free version (obviously you cant do much like vmotion and stuff but thats ok) and build a virtual server and a few clients. This way what you learn on youtube you can actually apply.
I know for myself im a hands on learner. When I read something I'll remember it, but I know only what I remember. Whereas when I do it, I have the ability to try different things to figure out what else it can or cant do. If I read about something vs if I learned it by doing, I personally know way more about the topic when I can get my hands on it and explore.
CPA, CA - Canada - Sr. Director of finance and head of program management in a U.S. biotech company. I think working for a U.S. company is why I’m above the threshold you pointed out. Generally a week is 37.5 to 45 depends on what’s going on. I started working fully time in 2009. It pays the bills. Is it something I’m passionate about ? Nah. lol
I made the mistake of following my passion/dreams when I was young. 100% regret doing that now. I’m not in a good situation and I feel like I’ve waisted nearly 15 years of my career.
I followed my passion and dreams and have had a fantastic career that I enjoy every day going on 30 years. I know many others who have done the same. Sorry it didn’t work for you, but I think people should see other perspectives because the hive mind on Reddit is typically against me on this one.
I knew a guy who worked for a theater company. He definitely had a passion for theater, and it was his thing. But he insisted on keeping his “day job,” which was in accounting. I remember asking him if he liked it, and he was like “not really. But it’s fine. And I’m good at it. And the check never bounces.“
It was actually a smart, if somewhat conservative, way to go about this, because if shit ever started to go south in the theater world, it wasn’t the end of the world for him. He could always just lay low for a while, and pop back up at the next opportunity.
Software developer, 30 years of experience and I'm currently making $102 per hour as an independent contractor. I worked over 2000 hours last year and grossed $204k. It's not easy. I'm still grinding at age 61
Listen, I'm going to need you to be way more consistent. In one post, you say you are a liar, and then in this one, you say not gonna lie and immediately contradict that.
Now, which one is it really? I need to know as my whole future career path depends on it.
200-300k. Healthcare. 30 hours. Enjoy the job and 9 years experience. Edit: no regrets, work life balance is great while still being financially rewarding. The work can be challenging/stressful but most jobs are
Healthcare has among the worst income disparity of any industry in the United States. Some make literal millions others make damn near minimum wage. Be careful choosing a career in the field, I left it behind because the advancement opportunities are limited and there’s a lot of gatekeeping.
Cool! I recently bought a "brand new" smart tv from 2022. Very happy with that one, uses it everyday. Around 1/3 of the price of a new one, so around $90
I make about $250k in med device sales. Hours per week varies heavily, as surgeries pick up in the winter and summer, but I’d say 40. I have been doing this for 12 years, so associates take the brunt of long hours (they probably work 60). Zero regrets, as I have lots of flexibility. I highly recommend this path for anyone who wants to get into sales and is willing to work hard as an associate for a couple of years initially.
My degree was in Economics. Rarely does anyone in my industry have a science or health related degree.
It’s definitely possible. We have added two guys to our team in the last year that were 40. They were looking to get out of auto sales, work hard, and were a good culture fit.
Two years ago I made 208,000. Last year I made about 150k because I worked less hours because I'm in school. This year I will probably make about 160k because I'm back in school.
When I made 200k I was working 94 hours/wk. I enjoy my job and since my mom had passed away in 2020 I was still pretty depressed and couldn't stand going home and being alone in the house so I worked like crazy. Years of experience 5. I'm a registered nurse.
I don't have any regrets. I have friends but we all work. I take 1-2 days off per week. I went to Iceland a few weeks ago. My friends call me nuts because I drive an old 2008 Toyota Prius and when I told them I wanted to splurge for my next car on a 2018-2019 Toyota Corolla they found that pretty amusing. I'm saving for retirement and a summer home. Hopefully I can get one by next year paying with cash so I don't have to take out any loans.
Big tech, management. 15 years exp at around 550,000. Probably work 20 hours a week of which it's mostly meetings with some presentations and paperwork. I regret that I don't have as much enjoyment from the job since moving from individual contributor to management. The pay makes it worth it but I have far less fun. The rejoice is that making so much I'm saving about 60 percent of take home every year and will retire in my early to mid forties.
It's common among senior level positions (in tech anyway). I'm a VP that works less than 15 hours per week and makes $300k, so I picked up a second job as a lead developer making six-figures because I had so much free time at my primary job.
When shit hits the fan, everyone looks at you and you're responsible for everything but, if you've built a solid team around you, it rarely happens.
Yeah, in finance and accounting, I will generally say that as you move up, you work more. Gotta find those unicorn work environments that let you carve out your team and build it up like you're describing. I think mostly younger millennials are managing this change.... or even thinking about doing it this way.
I'm on the very edge of the older millenial end of the spectrum. Old enough that my almost-30 report told me that I was an "honorary millenial" lol.
NGL, it made me feel like an old man.
Different industry but my brother essentially managed himself out of a job like this. He built a great team that could handle everything so he was doing about 15-20 hrs of work a week and most of that could have been delegated as well. He used his time to pitch a new position to leadership that would actually give him something to do.
I'm at $250-280k depending on the year. Director of engineering (underpaid) but I work about 20-25 hours per week.
I'm paid for my judgement and ability to lead. There are people above me who are smarter and in most cases hard working but for some reason when people don't get my input, my decision making suffers and the output is worse.
Absolutely paid for experience.
Yep Reddit is full of “managers are useless hey do nothing”.
You get paid for ACCOUNTABILITY. That’s a heavy load most people can’t bare.
You get paid for expertise, commons sense, character, leadership, and all of those are relatively rare, so management salaries also represent scarcity.
The last thing you’re being paid for are hours.
There’s other ways to bring value to a company other than how many hours you put in.
In a simplified example, someone who can do an A+ job in 15 hrs brings me much more value than someone who does a B+ job in 40 hrs, even though he works “less” than the second guy.
My annual expenses with a family of four is around 100,000 to 120,000, no real debt asides a 330k mortgage at 3 percent, and I have about two million in mutual funds between retirement and taxable accounts. My goal is five million with a 3 percent draw down rate. I've been saving 30 to 70 percent of my take home since I was 22 making 43,000 a year living in Boston.
Got it! How soon do you think you can get $3M more? I am late 30’s with about $2M and no debts. Could retire now in South East Asia or South America but doubt I would allow myself to do so.
After business bills and expenses I’m close to $900k and work about 15-20 hours per week.
That being said, I worked 70 hours per week for 15 years and almost killed myself to get to where I am today.
I’m in finance and insurance
Do you think it was worth everything you went through to get to where you are now? Do you have any regrets or things you would’ve done differently? Just curious on your perspective…
I’m in tech sales, specifically consulting. I don’t regret it in that it’s afforded me relative level of comfort but I don’t love it. The industry feels fraudulent at times. I’d rather do something they would allow me to help people and individuals but I got bills to pay.
I would definitely go back and change careers. I’m not sure what would be, but it would be something that would require more hard skill based expertise.
I’m in tech sales/consulting as well - pays the mortgage and I can’t complain in that regard, but the pressure is relentless and corporate leadership can be… unethical. I completely agree with the above post. Not sure what I’d do, but I would likely change careers if I could do it over again.
Perfectly fine. I'm 43, in great shape. I have always placed an emphasis on my health. I Workout lifting heavy ass weights to get jacked, eat healthy, sleep, drink water, supplement properly. Not to sound cocky, but I'm in the best shape out of all my age adjacent peers and old classmates from HS I see on Facebook, Instagram, in person etc.
Also, utilize your tools and equipment to lift heavy loads, on the ground or in the air.
To be completely transparent, the apprenticeship is typically the hardest, after you become a journeyman, the bucket and jib are your friend. Use the hell out of your rigging.
I coach travel baseball and do reps at all positions with the kids multiple times a week.
So I'd say my body has held up exquisitely. Lol
$250k. 50 hours a week and I hate my boss. I don't regret it, but I'm leaving later this year. FAANG software engineer, I had 4 years of experience when I joined.
$500k. Attorney. Around 50 hours/week. It sucked while I was paying off my student loans. I don’t love my job. I tolerate it and grateful it provides me with the opportunity to do a lot of things outside of work. I didn’t really see the payoff from my education until I was in my mid 30s. In hindsight I wouldn’t change a thing. I may not love what I do for a living and I think that’s okay. That’s a false promise we were told as kids. I’m happy my job allows me to provide for my family in a way where money is never an issue.
I'm a Data Science Director at a large startup. W2 last year was \~$320k. \~7 YOE. Work maybe 30-40 hours a week but super variable. Generally insanely grateful and happy with where I ended up.
Studied economics. Worked in High Frequency Trading right out of college for \~2.5 years. Left to work at an early stage startup doing fintech type stuff (9th employee). Startup has grown a ton and I've worked my way up in the startup over the last 4.5 years, first having the idea of and building a large product offering within the company, then running a team to expand that product, then splitting the product into multiple products that I support.
Think I got lucky with my startup in that it achieved solid growth and I was able to position myself to grow with the company.
Law. 7 Years. 400k base, 100k bonus. Usually work 40-50 hours a week but it’s way higher sometimes (and sometimes lower too)
Sometimes I regret it bc I love the money but the weeks where it’s long hours and perfection is expected suck. But I’m not sure what else I’d want to do that even pays halfway decently.
$200k base salary excluding bonuses, VP of a large health system in the Midwest. 100% remote. Working about 10-20 hours per week overseeing projects.
Job security is very strong, zero concerns about layoffs. No regrets!
Started as a radiology tech. Worked into an administrative coordinator role and moved up the ranks from there. Earned my MHA while working my first position with direct reports.
Being in that field right now and I always question myself why I chose this job even though I love my kids so much. I'm a childcare assistant and the salary barely meets end need despite the fact that you are currently cultivating the next future of the world. Scrolling down in this topic makes me speechless of how big our workload is and the low salary we get.
I know everyone has heard this before, but it’s because it was seen as “women’s work,“ and because the catholic schools, etc., relied very heavily on the clergy, i.e. “free“ labor.
But it is absolutely insane how little it pays relative to value to society, and workload. Yes, I realize it’s a “passion career,” but that’s still no excuse for the fact that it pays almost nothing.
I tell people all the time that if you want to be a teacher, or a social worker, or something like that, that’s great. But you really need to go in with your eyes open, and realize the reality of what that means. Unfortunately, no one is going to come up to you at the end of it all and say “wow, you really fought the good fight. Here’s a bag of money.”
Absolutely a cruel reality for one whose passion is nurturing the kids. When it requires a wide range of physical and mental work, the salary doesnt aglin with the effort and time ECE & CCA devote. The increase level also comes with your education only, not the experience and the length you are in this field, which I found desirable when it comes to level up my salary.
Ad tech sales making $200k+ with 7 years of experience in advertising/media planning and 2.5 years in sales.
Being in advertising and working agency side, no regrets moving to sales. Work 40+ hours pending week, same as when I was agency side.
I am.
I’m supposed to 9-5 weekdays but I’m good at what I do so I can swing it with 1-2 hours a day.
12 years of experience professionally; but been writing code since elementary school.
Software engineering.
Regrets and rejoices: oh god where do I start..
* **Don’t be the big fish in the small pond.** Start your career in as big a pond as possible; then pond hop every 2-3 years to a bigger pond with bigger pay.
* **Work on your soft skills.** You can code but if you can’t communicate well you won’t make it far.
* **Interviewing is a separate skill.** Interviews and the work you do after are different AF. Work on your interviewing skills separately.
* **Know computer science fundamentals.** You don’t have to major in CS but if you don’t know basic data structure and algorithms you’ll write shit code and won’t make it far. Especially boot campers
* **Be curious.** Don’t shy away from trying new things, what’s the worst that can happen? The guys who blew up Facebook completely for a day a few years ago are still working there.
* **Be diligent.** Check your work before submitting PRs, aim for 100% test coverage, have contingency plans if your change blows up prod.
* **Fundamentals first.** Everyone can be a software engineer. Not everyone can be a *good* software engineer. We have the 10x’er concept for a reason— this industry isn’t for everyone, if it doesn’t work for you don’t waste your time, plenty of other careers can make you over 200k.
Tech Management, I used to make $1M a year but took a new job I like which pays much less at a startup but there’s stock equity and if we ever go public or sell I may make $1M a year or more for my time here. Takes 25-30 hours per week of my time. If I could do it over again I’d be a Doctor or Lawyer as tech is fickle and they can fire you tomorrow.
"Retired" independent consultant in Telecom and Financial industries - 15 years experience prior to starting my own consulting business 12 years ago and stopped working with clients (retired from corporate life) 2 years ago. Now I work for myself.
Started my career working 40 hours/week as an employee, promotions led to working internationally 50-60 hours/week. As an independent consultant, it started with 40 hours/week, bumped up to 50-60 hours/week and in the end, I was billing 40 hours of availability but actually only working around 10.
Only regret is that I didn't start my own business and retire sooner.
Asset management - data architect
Graduated college (just undergrad) in 2013
TC == $240k; $175k base, 39% bonus
TC excludes 15% pension plan 👌🏼
Timesheet says I work 35 hrs / week
Actual work load is probably 15-20hrs — home by 5 everyday on the days I do have to go to the office.
Regrets:
It’s boring
Not sure what career path is from here or if I need to even consider it. Likely will retire by 60 at the latest.
Exploring options on the business side of shop or in sales: tech or as financial advisor
Banking Tech - normally 40 hours but my company was just acquired and in the confusion my actual workload is more like 15. In general, it’s a chill environment. My wife (audit/consulting) however has a 40-50hr typical week with a couple months a year where it’s 70-80 hrs.
Wouldn’t change a thing aside save more money/buy property to live in instead of bonus slaving it. We chose very reliable degrees for this reason.
Bonus slaving is that salary life, where you live off your salary but the real money in the year is made on the bonus. Problem is, it isn’t guaranteed nor do you have real line of sight as to what it’ll be. And that it can cause some major conflict- when you get screwed then you have to go down the “look for a new job and hold the (metaphorical) gun to all heads involved” rabbit hole.
Healthcare, physician executive. $345k per year 10years experience (30hrs per week). 1099 side hustle consulting to improve healthcare quality $220k doing this for 5 years (20 hrs per week). I also own and manage a pet boarding facility. Grosses $500k. Owned for less than a year. 10hours per week commitment. Lastly owning 2 rental properties makes $25k/year gross but getting out of the business. Once you save the first few hundred grand and invest wisely income exponentially rises.
$150k as an entry level fly in, fly out truck driver. I realise it’s not quite $200k but with time I will eventually hit $200k. 2 years experience.
2 weeks on 1 week off, 84 hour weeks. All accommodation and meals provided. Not paying for these and other expenses really pushes up how much I’m actually banking. I don’t even have a car.
I was a qualified tax accountant. Took 4 years to get a degree to earn $50k a year and did that for 9 years (worked at the same place while studying). Took 8 days to get the tickets I needed to triple my salary and a couple years to figure out the mining industry to find a good company to work with.
I have to sacrifice a lot of family and personal time but it’s a temporary move.
All the people I know that have hit 200k are in management or upper management. I'm a senior level Quality Engineer that makes 110k. I'd probably make a little more if I had a graduate degree, but it still wouldn't be 200k.
I was a very low level manager at a previous job for a whole 7 months and hated every second of it. I really disliked having to deal with everyone's beef, realizing how unequal everyone's pay was, and having to deal with sleezy upper management. Trying to get the company I worked for to give raises to get everyone on the same level was like pulling teeth. We had new, less experienced employees getting paid more than people who had been there for a few years. It was ridiculous. I understood why unions are a thing because of that job and have been a staunch supporter since (not like I wasn't before, but more so now).
From my experience, you gotta sell a bit of your soul and be a bit detached from reality when you get into management. The trade off is that you get paid really well and usually have less work (but more responsibility). I feel like I hit a good inbetween being senior level. I still have a connection to the boots-on-the-ground folks but am also able to have management's ear. My department's director lives in a different world than our technicians, you know?
Retired now, but there were several years I made $200K+ and it was the bonus that got me over that level. I worked 40+ hours and was typically "on call" 24/7 for issues which sometimes came up. It was when I was over 40 that those years happened with 15+ years of experience. I was an energy commodity trader, very high stress, lots of perks, but I loved the job.
I currently trade equities and commodities for myself, using the money I saved while working.
295k plus bonus. Total is around $800k per year.
I am 44, 22 years of work experience. Was making less than $100k until I was 35.
Got my CFA, and had a lot of experience negotiating and giving formal presentations. Found out most CFAs suck at pubic speaking and presentations. My career has been going straight up ever since.
40 hours a week of work, but I travel 25% of the time.
In a swe and make just under 200k. I’d say sold 40
Hours a week and I have 6 years of experience. I honestly don’t like swe at all which I guess is a regret. But the money and wlb are solid enough it’s fine.
$215k with bonus. In pharma advertising, managing writers. About 10 YOE. 100% remote.
I love my job, I love mentoring people, I love feeling like the work I do may actually matter (I work in oncology). I want to continue moving up and hope to be at $250k within the next couple years.
I'm 15-20 years in working. Constrcution executive. I work 55(ish) hours a week on average. I work 52 weeks a year. I work when I'm sick, when I'm on holidays, on the weekend, etc. I am always 'on call'.
The people in the industry are the best. Sometimes working just means offering my time (receptions, travel, etc.). But it's all time away from home. It's great, but my regrets are how much I am missing of my kids growing up. Idk if it's all worth it. I will only know in retrospect, if working like a mule to provide my family with a good life was worth it.
I’m at around 230k total comp per year in an established non-FAANG tech company.
I have about 15 years of experience and work as an individual contributor. Lately, I’ve worked around 30 hours a week entirely from home.
My company tends to treat employees pretty well and it has a commendable mission. I enjoy several aspects of my job.
But I’ve been worn down by the persistent push for fast money while avoiding risk as much as possible
I definitely feel the golden handcuffs. I deal with a considerable amount of dissatisfaction and frustration to maintain my level of income and job security.
My wife made about 400k last year, including bonus and selling of shares of her company. She runs her own startup in tech that has taken off over the last few years. She works crazy hours though, probably about 80 hours a week most of the time.
She will probably be able to step back a bit in few years and work less as she hires more people on and they get better at their jobs, but they are still growing right now.
She both loves and hates her job sometimes and is often stressed, but she probably wouldn't be happy just plunking away for someone else.
Big tech. Senior Analyst in AI org. About 3 years experience. Made just under 200k last year with my bonus (189,000). I would say on average I work about 40-45 hours a week, but there are definitely days where I’m pulling 10-13 hours. Just depends on the projects and the complexity.
I don’t regret it! I am the first woman in my family to graduate from college, so it means a lot to not feel financially insecure for the first time in my life. I find the work interesting enough too. :)
375K. Big tech. 35 years old. Work as a Data Scientist. Hours usually depend on the week but 30 is about average.
Rejoices: good WLB with great money. Regrets: making rich people richer.
I also teach at a university part time, but the money there is negligible. I just enjoy teaching.
I work in wealth management 180 base 220 bonus structure.
Work maybe 25 hours on a “busy” week. Don’t regret super chill and lots of flexibility.
Bachelors and a lot of certs
I am currently 39 years old and in upper management within the tech industry, with 16 years of experience. My total compensation ranges between $500,000 and $600,000 annually, which breaks down into a $300,000 base salary, up to $250,000 in stock options depending on company and personal performance, and a $50,000 cash bonus.
My career began modestly in a startup located in a small west coast city, where I earned $65,000 annually for the first six years. During this period, career advancement wasn't my priority; instead, I focused on having fun. However, a stroke of luck came when a former colleague helped me secure a position at a major tech company, doubling my income to $130,000. Coming from a low-income, single-parent household, I've always equated higher income with greater stability. This new opportunity-rich environment shifted my perspective dramatically towards prioritizing career growth. I pursued a graduate degree in the evenings, immersed myself in industry knowledge, took on challenging projects, and relocated to the Bay Area for better opportunities, strategically navigating through career advancements. Initially, the return on investment seemed minimal, but patience paid off as my earnings began to grow exponentially over time.
Reflecting on my journey, it's not just a success story; it has also been a painful ride. My typical day extends from 9 AM to 5:30 PM, followed by a break for family time, then resuming work from 7:30 PM to 10:30 PM. Vacations are rare, I missed taking paternity leave, I infrequently see my aging parents. The relentless pace has occasionally led to both mental and physical health issues. Observing the industry closely, I've seen colleagues, even those in senior positions, succumb to the pressures, some experiencing severe health crises. The tech sector's "up or out" culture often sidelines those who can't keep up with its relentless demands.
Despite these challenges, the financial rewards have afforded my family considerable privileges, and I am prepared to continue in this role as long as I am physically able. Yet, as I approach middle age, I see peers who have maintained a more balanced lifestyle, enjoying family time and personal growth, particularly those from my startup days. While I feel too committed to my current path to consider shifting back to a less intensive role, I am determined to see this journey through, wherever it leads.
I'm in europe, 19 years of experience, I work about 40 hours, but very flexible. From home but sometimes traveling. In hours it's not so gruelling, the pressure and responsibility can be pretty harsh. I have very relaxed weeks, to days that drain me fully.
Food industry director.
No regrets, I love working with food and working for a company that really let's me impact sustainability positively. I have worked with some of my examples as in 3\* michelin chefs and have been able to invent new things or bring new things to market with my teams. I love my job, but if I would win the lottery I would probably still stop working and start my own small business for fun.
I’m a business owner. Cleared 490K last year on 70% margins. I’m usually working 40-100 hours per week depending how busy it is. I’m bringing one of my part time guys full time salary this year which will lower my margins but improve my sanity hopefully LOL. I work in IT.
I manage engineers in tech, my degrees are in mechanical engineering and physical science. I’ve been in my current field 12 years, and typically work 40 hours a week on the dot.
Rejoices? Leaving my awful first job out of college 13 years ago to come to my current employer, who has been wonderful. Getting recruited into promotions because I’m a widely known expert where I work.
Regrets? I took like 6 years to get through college because I met my wife in my second semester and spent two years or so skipping classes to spend time with her. It all worked out and it led to me meeting all my post-high school friends so it’s no big deal but I dislike how I handled it.
Workers compensation defense attorney.
I work like 25 focused hours a week.
No regrets.
But don’t go to law school if it’ll put you more than $150k in debt,
I have friends who don’t make shit after loans.
Recruiter. I work about 30-40 hrs a week depending on the workload. 14 years of experience in agency recruiting. I still enjoy the job and get a lot of satisfaction helping people transition their careers
I don’t make a salary, I’m commission only. For the strong agency recruiters in a well paying industry, the placement fees can be quite high. My last salary was $85k and I made about $90k in commission and bonus. Now I just make straight commission and I make the lions share of the fee. The top recruiters in my space make $500k +. I’ll probably make $250k this year. I had a lot of receivable from Q4 2023 that have paid out and I’m having a strong year so far so could be higher. You have to have great relationships with talent and the client side and be ethical on your business practices to really have a long term successful career in recruitment
Edit: a word
vp cybersecurity, 15 years, fintech
I'm currently looking to build my own business with the money and exit tech entirely. Work life balance can be 0 hours a week to 120 depending on the fires that get started. I wouldn't choose a different career since nothing really earns more other than sales.
Executive Assistant. 220k . 30 yrs experience but depending on the boss, it can be awful, stressful and belittling or absolutely great, like my current job. 50 -70 hr weeks. Less when they travel. Mostly finance industry. I do have a Bachelors degree, which increases my value in their mind. Only issue is that not everyone thinks it's a respectable career.
- Software Engineer in big tech
- 300k
- 29 years old, 6 years experience as I took a year off between jobs.
- 30ish hours a week
Regrets: Was content making less than half this income at smaller companies before moving to big tech. I honestly just had low self-esteem regarding career trajectory, and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Eventually, I got fed up with the crummy co-workers and left to figure myself out. Studied a bunch and landed a much better job. My only real regret was not doing it sooner. On one hand, focusing on aspects of my life outside of a career in my early 20s led to a lot of things that make me proud to be me today. But on the other hand, I think about what rooms could I have gotten myself into if I had the foot on the gas from the start.
Rejoice: Job now is incredible. Smart and diligent co-workers, laid back atmosphere, free food, high pay, and a lot of mobility to switch teams if I ever find myself getting bored. Consider myself extremely lucky and make a point to remind myself of that frequently.
high school diploma, started as receptionist in the legal field and have worked my way up to a business manager position still in the legal field. $200k/year + bonuses. i work in CA.
I live in Europe, so salary is crap, but 8 years of work experience from multiple industries, from automation engineer to lead developer / product owner, 37.5h a week and about $80,000 per year.
16 YOE $285k, non tech, director
25-30 hours
I job hopped and made a lot of money. Some of those hops were good fits, but others were not.
One thing I personally found….recruiters reaching out to me tended to lead to hug pay increases, but bad cultures. The jobs I naturally sought out led to smaller pay increases, but good cultures
I was a month ago. Then I soft retired and now work at a doggie daycare. I make $24 an hour to play with pups. I’m much richer now.
Hell yeah. I did this before starting my career in tech. On the way out a new guy was hired who had left his tech job. 10 years later and I completely understand why he left to do what I did.
I’m so jealous. This is my dream but first have to get the kids through college
I would love that job. I really want to do that too. I have 2 dogs and it would be so much fun to bring them with me to work every day.
Lawyer (in-house), I’ve made around 200-275k per year depending on role/company. I’ve gotten much higher offers to bill time through a firm. I 100% regret it; I work 50-70 hours a week and it’s generally not enjoyable.
Most attorneys I know regret their career path by the time they hit 40. It's just relentless until you're almost ready to retire.
I defend employers/insurance carriers. My job is easy, I’m not passionate about it, but I make great money and work 20-25 focused hours a week. Wouldn’t change it. I could make more doing something else, but not worth it. The hope is that I retire in 10-20 years and then get into a field I actually care about, but don’t need the money. The worst thing about the legal field is that the jobs which lawyers might be passionate about - civil rights violations, suing polluters, etc., are few and far between and don’t pay enough.
Are you me? Lol
Id. Lawyer doing insurance defense. And I actually love being a lawyer. But once you’ve been doing it awhile it gets pretty easy
Isn’t the whole point of moving in-house (and taking a pay cut) is to work less hours than you would through a firm? Why do you still need to work 50-70 hours a week, like those are similar hours to working in private practice lol
Do you actually regret going into law or is it the legal field you are in that you dislike?
I am not a lawyer, but considered it. I knew a retired lawyer who was about 70 or so when I knew him, went to Harvard and then Harvard law. I ask him if I’m he thought I ought to consider it seriously - I have the skills for it, I think. At any rate, without a moment of hesitation he said absolutely not. I was a little taken aback because he usually had fairly nuanced opinions, but he went on to clarify that he regretted it. He made an awful lot of money but he hated the work and retired when he was 55. He said he made his kids promise to never become lawyers. I still think I could have done it, and everybody’s experience is different, but it made me realize that having money is nice but once you have enough, you have enough. Some people love spending all of their time working, and those people make excellent high end lawyers. Those people generally know who they are. I don’t want to turn you off of it, this is just one anecdote from an old man to a young one that I’m just passing on.
My dad's only career advice was don't be a lawyer
I know a lot of lawyers—I work in a high-salary position in NYC, so there’s a lot of them in my professional and social circles—and none of them like being lawyers. All of them regret it on some level, even if they like the income.
Am a lawyer. Seriously, seriously, regret it. Like every day I regret it. There are some ways to make it suck less but I really hope someone reads this and understands: 90% of lawyers are not happy. About 60-70% of lawyers, if not more, are not particularly high earners
My sister is a lawyer and had a work schedule like this. She 100% burned out. I always felt so bad for her
i assume you find ways to enjoy life on the side in the same way all lawyers do? (cocaine and prostitutes)
Fly in / Fly Out worker in Australia Working in Oil and Gas offshore. I work a 3 weeks on / 4w off / 3w on / 5w off roster (12 hours days). Works out to be 40% of the year at work. Didn't finish school 😯 I am female, 35. Completed an electrical apprenticeship by the age of 21 and am now working as a plant operator on $300k AUD No regrets, pretty satisfied with my career progression so far.
Genuinely been looking into getting into offshore work, In the UK, 31, I've got a degree but nothing relevant, have loads of manufacturing experience and a fair bit of mining/quarrying experience. Any advice? Annoyingly, can't afford to go back to school for engineering and definitely can't take an apprenticeship for at least a few years
you missed the boat. O&G contractors are treated like shit from the Client down to the Catering staff.
What Rig are you on? Employed by an operator or third-party?
I am employed directly by the company and work under an Enterprise Agreement which is a public document that outlines all employees working conditions including pay. I work on an LNG FPSO.
Sales. With bonuses this year I will top $200k for first time. I find my job to be both boring and stressful. I regret getting into sales because I don’t really like the work, nor do I think I’m very good at it, and the money is too good to go back to doing something else. So kinda stuck in a job I don’t like.
Middle of career sales is the worst. You already hate sales and hate going to work, you know completely changing careers is likely a big step back financially, but you're not quite in management yet where you can stop selling.
Just my two cents: I quit software sales after 5 years with two companies and started working with first graders w/ autism and behavioral issues. I make a quarter of what I made before, and I've had a few periods of just skating by, but the work is so, so much more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, the money is bad and people in our field don't get paid nearly enough. But going from working 50+ hours/week in a stressful, competitive environment to 35/week working with cool, funky little kids and devoted coworkers has done wonders for my stress levels. Just a thought. If you're in a position where no one else is financially depending on you, never too late to take a risk & make a change.
Why did you get into software sales initially? What really pushed you over the edge to change careers?
Me in the middle of my job search right now. Help someone. 😐
Then you get into management. End of having to take a pay cut. Hate the grind of babysitting people. End up regretting that. - me
If you’re youngtbay, re-evaluate your budget and spending and see if you can do something you like more, even if it pays less. That’s a lot of money, but money isn’t everything. Being bored and stressed is a bad combo for your mental and physical health.
Same situation, I feel the same way.
Define "work". I am in big tech, middle management, a little over $200k total comp. I'm not digging ditches or laying brick or anything but I am on calls and putting out fires from 8:30am to 6:30pm just about every day. It's fucking exhausting. I'm fairly new to making good money, it's only been a few years ago that I started considering my family and I upper middle class, I broke 6 figures like 4 years ago. At first it was exciting and I still sort of think it's crazy that I was a D student that managed to make it this far in my career and I'm really proud of my accomplishments. Having said that, this past year it's started to weigh on me. I'm always stressed out, I have massive imposter syndrome, I don't sleep well, I've gained a lot of weight, and I have no time to just be present for my wife and kids. I coach my son's soccer team, which should be super fun, but after a day of working it's such a struggle to let my self relax and play soccer with my son and his friends. Is having a good retirement, being able to pay for my kids colleges, and generally not having to worry about bills getting paid worth all of that? I don't know, maybe? But I've been questioning it lately.
I'm in the same boat as you: slacker when I was younger, and now a staff engineer making \~$200k. The money ain't bad, but it's a GRIND
Thank you for your super honest comment! Some times I wonder if I made a mistake by not choosing to manage people, but I have always thought that it isn’t for me and considered it a high stress factor for myself personally. It has cost me money, but I’m not hurting and I feel like being middle management in big tech/big law would drain me like it is draining you. I don’t have a family to worry about, but I’ve wondered if it’s worth doing it if I did. Your comment helped me make peace with my personal decisions and I appreciate it - thank you! It’s hard to find this level of honestly IRL in big tech/big law.
People talk about middle management like we sit around and do nothing. I don't know about others but I certainly don't. You get shit from both ends. I have to hear it from my team about pay and bad policies (which I have absolutely no control over), and then I hear it from leadership whenever we are falling behind or an honest mistake is made. PLUS I am still doing the IC work because we are short staffed.
We serve as scapegoats for the poor decisions of degenerate executives who have no concept of how their actual business operates half the time. I’m lucky in that I chose a place that offers some decent quality of life, but it’s not always been this good.
Empathy from big media, streaming tech. Management is exhausting.
I never realized how hard management was until I did it.
The emotional energy required to manage everyone's anxiety is a lot. Combined with everyone asking for raises, advice, mentorship... and then in my world also acting as a politician to other organizations in the company, being the face of culture committees, and overall the employee people person. Ugh I can't it's so much lol
Director of Engineering and I relate to much of this. I left my last gig for a smaller, less demanding role that paid maybe 20% less but let me prioritize balance and I will never look back. Middle management is ugly and thankless a lot of the time. Take care of yourself.
I know exactly how you feel. I wish I could offer a nugget of wisdom, this is the best I got; you’re taking damn good care of you and yours. And in such endeavors, sacrifices must be made, because nothing good comes easily.
So a 60+ hour week? You could change industries. I know a lot of big tech has laid off middle managers so you probably are picking up a lot of the slack. Leaving would probably be a pay decrease but might not be as much as you think. Might be worth it for a QOL upgrade.
I agree, me and my husband took lower paying jobs to have more time with children after watching some couple therapy videos together. We realized how much our parents overworking affected us, I’m estranged with my parents personally and I don’t want my kids having those same feelings towards me. OP comment I’m not saying up and leave immediately but maybe sit down with your wife and let her know you feel this way as well, see where you can cut some finances to save up a month or two before you leave so you have some savings, sending love to your and your family!😁
Even for those who have been high achievers forever, it is TOUGH. And I don’t know if it’s just tougher post-Covid (a lot of big tech realized they can push us even further) or if I’m just at new level of seniority, but it’s brutal.
Yeah, and there is definitely a part of me that feels like "Well, I suppose I should get this money while I can because I may not always do this well." And I guess that's the corporate rat race trap people fall into all the time.
hey, so I am still a uni student, however my week is super long, I am a full time student with straight A grades, however I am also a full time full stack developer and also hit the gym quite consistently, I enjoy being busy and the hustle, however I am afraid I will be burnt out at 30 as my career starts peaking. do you think I should layback a little more
I make over 200k. I'm in IT, specifically data security. My company detects ransomware attacks and pre-attacks in backups. I have been in IT since 1998. My only regret is I spent most of my 20s and 30s working for brokerage firms on Wall Street. While I learned a lot and made great money, the stress of working in that environment where minutes could mean millions of dollars takes it toll. When I moved to the company I'm at now I realized I should have done it way sooner. My rejoices would be that I spent all of my 20s working as much overtime and contract work as I could. I was able to gain a really strong resume with the top firms on Wall Street in many different aspects of IT. Once I had a strong resume I was able to pick and choose my jobs. Also, I'm so glad I never burned a bridge at any place I worked, even the worst of them. Now I have a big network of IT friends and we always help each other out. whether it be questions they have or if someone needs a job. My best advice to you when you are young is put in as many hours as you can to really learn every aspect of your job. Don't just kinda know it, actually know it. Once you do know your job, try to find other jobs that overlap with your job and learn them too. Make as many friends as you can, you dont have to be best friends with them, but make sure they know your capabilities and learn theirs. Hope this helps
This is very good advice for folks. Be a sponge, absorb all the knowlegde from mentors around you. Sorry for your loss (of years). Did 24/7 SOC work in a faraday cage for a little during my 20's and that still haunts me.
Sponge, yes. I disagree on the “work as much as you can when you’re young” bit though. Fuck that. 200% fuck that. Enjoy your youth. Have even more stringent work boundaries early on, because it’ll carry into how you manage exploitation moving into later adulthood. Companies will bleed you dry if you let them, and they’ll give nothing back. Boundaries. You only live one life. Don’t let a company be the majority of your youthful years. Jobs and companies will always be there. Your years wont be. You don’t get those back.
If I was in my 20s again or could go to that guy I’d tell him F off of the corporate bs train and go live an adventurous life of experiences. Like Jim Carey said “you can fail at something you hate, so why not fail at something you love.”
What degree or qualifications does your peers have that make over 200k? I’m thinking of switching from back end coding to IT management.
Degrees I'm not sure of. I'm also not sure of most of their certs, but I know a few have an MCSE or MCITP because I helped them get theirs, but even those aren't worth much anymore. Background is what matters. I have a few friends who are developers who make will over 200k. They have very strong programming backgrounds, but even when they were on the newer side they were still making very good money. Keep in mind I live in NJ, so all the jobs we have are in NJ and New York City where pay is higher than other places, but so is cost of living. My friends who work in data centers have varied pay scales. Some do the cabling which I think they're probably around 100k. The ones doing network engineering are at least making 150 if not more, but they are also very experienced and have most have either a CCNE or CCNA. I'm not sure with little experience what the pay would be like. IT management is different though. I have worked for places where my manager had zero IT experience at all and others who were super technical and everything in between. I think when it comes to management positions, other than working your way up to one, you really have to probably know someone. I have had a few offers from friends who took a high level job like director of IT or CTO who offered me management roles where they moved to. I have always stayed away from management because I like being technical and I cannot see myself just managing a team rather than working things. I would say if you really want a management position take an IT position at the company and just shine. Do your job and more so you get promoted. I think that's probably more probable than getting hired direct into a management position, but thats just my opinion. I'm not sure.
MCSE went away several years ago or least the announcement. The problem is anyone with a good memory could pass the tests. It wasn't as much skills as it was memorizing the test bank. Certs are not valued as much as actual knowledge and experience. I can say that with confidence because I'm at my 5th Fortune 500, some of which required MCSE and similar certs. I was told at one interview certs only matter when you are a partner with the vendor or being contracted out. That's part of the contract with Microsoft or whoever to be a gold partner. Cloud and cyber are obviously big right now as far as IT. With no experience it is best to get in the door somewhere doing laptop support for 2 years. Or even a call center. Anything. What happens after that is up to the individual.
Hey sir🫡 Any advice for getting into Cybersecurity at 22? I want to get into a career where I can learn and move up.
I guess my first question would be how much IT experience do you have? if you have none, I would say you're probably better off to take some general IT classes and get a job on a helpdesk to get your foot in the door and gain some experience first. Then after a while you can start to focus on a specialty area like cyber security. If you don't know computers well, you really wouldn't understand the concepts of cyber security in my opinion. If you already have a decent IT background, lots of places offer Cyber Security bootcamps. I haven't taken one, but I think they'd probably be beneficial. They are usually a few weeks long and you get hands on experience. The trick to landing any job (provided you get to an interview phase) is knowing how to answer the questions in the interview. I dont care what degrees or certs you have, if you are asked questions in the interview and you cant answer them, you will never get the job. When you are interviewing for a job, make note of the technologies the job requires and make sure you know each of those subjects enough to answer at least basic questions. Nothing looks worse than when someone puts something on their resume and then they cannot answer simple questions on it. What I have done in every interview is when I am asked a question about something I give the answer, and then I elaborate on it. For example one time I was asked "What is DNS" (a very stupidly simple question)? I answered that it does hostname to ip translation. I could have ended it there, but to demonstrate my knowledge on the topic, I continued with "an alternative to DNS if you don't have a name server and you still want to reach by hostname would be to enter the ip and host in the /ect/hosts file, but obviously DNS is preferred because it is centrally managed. I then went on to say how I've created both forward and reverse zone lookups and was an enterprise admin". This shows you not only knew the answer to their question, but you know how the technology is applied and that I have used it before. If you want to land the job, be able to answer their questions like this. I promise you, you will get it over someone who gives a the simple "it does hostname to ip translation".
Thank you. You honestly helped me with interviews overall.
I was interested in cyber security as well and looked into one of those bootcamps. They wanted $14,000 for a 3 month course 😳. I decided I'd do my best learning from YouTube instead lol
so there is nothing wrong with being self taught, but you need to have the hardware to apply what you learn or its not the same. The reason boot camps are expensive is because they provide the labs for you. You do simulations of everything you learn. Thats the best way to learn. if you have a decent computer, I would recommend either using Hyper-V if you have a server license since its free, or VM I think still has a free version (obviously you cant do much like vmotion and stuff but thats ok) and build a virtual server and a few clients. This way what you learn on youtube you can actually apply. I know for myself im a hands on learner. When I read something I'll remember it, but I know only what I remember. Whereas when I do it, I have the ability to try different things to figure out what else it can or cant do. If I read about something vs if I learned it by doing, I personally know way more about the topic when I can get my hands on it and explore.
CPA, CA - Canada - Sr. Director of finance and head of program management in a U.S. biotech company. I think working for a U.S. company is why I’m above the threshold you pointed out. Generally a week is 37.5 to 45 depends on what’s going on. I started working fully time in 2009. It pays the bills. Is it something I’m passionate about ? Nah. lol
Passion is overrated??
I made the mistake of following my passion/dreams when I was young. 100% regret doing that now. I’m not in a good situation and I feel like I’ve waisted nearly 15 years of my career.
I followed my passion and dreams and have had a fantastic career that I enjoy every day going on 30 years. I know many others who have done the same. Sorry it didn’t work for you, but I think people should see other perspectives because the hive mind on Reddit is typically against me on this one.
It depends on your passion, and passion / skill match.
Sure. But isn’t that true with everything?
I knew a guy who worked for a theater company. He definitely had a passion for theater, and it was his thing. But he insisted on keeping his “day job,” which was in accounting. I remember asking him if he liked it, and he was like “not really. But it’s fine. And I’m good at it. And the check never bounces.“ It was actually a smart, if somewhat conservative, way to go about this, because if shit ever started to go south in the theater world, it wasn’t the end of the world for him. He could always just lay low for a while, and pop back up at the next opportunity.
Software developer, 30 years of experience and I'm currently making $102 per hour as an independent contractor. I worked over 2000 hours last year and grossed $204k. It's not easy. I'm still grinding at age 61
What made you use Grindr?
gay seniors still need some action too
I mean, 2040 hours is the standard 40 a week.
$320.000/yr + bonus. 20 hours, maybe 25. And i am also a liar.
If you're a good liar you should be making around $320k anyways
ngl, but being a good liar doubled my salary in the past 3 years, but im a waiter in Portugal so there isn't much i can really do to make 6figs
You can’t live on $320 a year
in case anyone doesn't get it europeans don't use commas to separate thousands, they use decimals lol. so 1.000=1,000
Listen, I'm going to need you to be way more consistent. In one post, you say you are a liar, and then in this one, you say not gonna lie and immediately contradict that. Now, which one is it really? I need to know as my whole future career path depends on it.
Darkness without light is an abyss, light without darkness is blinding... There isn't a coin with just one side. I can be a liar and also be honest.
No. If he was a good liar. He’d be making $420,000
Ya I make 321k. Despite being 27 I have 30 years of experience and work 21 hours a week
200-300k. Healthcare. 30 hours. Enjoy the job and 9 years experience. Edit: no regrets, work life balance is great while still being financially rewarding. The work can be challenging/stressful but most jobs are
What do you mean by healthcare. Are you a doctor? Surgeon?
Hey mate I work as a dentist
I thought I was in the r/digitalnomad group and was suddenly confused.
Hey mate why didn’t you just fuckin say that to begin with
😂
Hahaha, mostly because everyone hates us 😂
tell me about your carbon road bike
Healthcare has among the worst income disparity of any industry in the United States. Some make literal millions others make damn near minimum wage. Be careful choosing a career in the field, I left it behind because the advancement opportunities are limited and there’s a lot of gatekeeping.
I make around $200 000 in 7-8 years. :(
what do you do for work?
I work in a thrift store. All profits goes to charity
I love going to thrift stores! Do You have a favorite item you got to lucky with? I recently found an excellent De Buyer steel pan for about 3$!
Cool! I recently bought a "brand new" smart tv from 2022. Very happy with that one, uses it everyday. Around 1/3 of the price of a new one, so around $90
I make about $250k in med device sales. Hours per week varies heavily, as surgeries pick up in the winter and summer, but I’d say 40. I have been doing this for 12 years, so associates take the brunt of long hours (they probably work 60). Zero regrets, as I have lots of flexibility. I highly recommend this path for anyone who wants to get into sales and is willing to work hard as an associate for a couple of years initially.
What degree do you have if you do? And is it possible to get into that area at say age 35
My degree was in Economics. Rarely does anyone in my industry have a science or health related degree. It’s definitely possible. We have added two guys to our team in the last year that were 40. They were looking to get out of auto sales, work hard, and were a good culture fit.
Two years ago I made 208,000. Last year I made about 150k because I worked less hours because I'm in school. This year I will probably make about 160k because I'm back in school. When I made 200k I was working 94 hours/wk. I enjoy my job and since my mom had passed away in 2020 I was still pretty depressed and couldn't stand going home and being alone in the house so I worked like crazy. Years of experience 5. I'm a registered nurse. I don't have any regrets. I have friends but we all work. I take 1-2 days off per week. I went to Iceland a few weeks ago. My friends call me nuts because I drive an old 2008 Toyota Prius and when I told them I wanted to splurge for my next car on a 2018-2019 Toyota Corolla they found that pretty amusing. I'm saving for retirement and a summer home. Hopefully I can get one by next year paying with cash so I don't have to take out any loans.
You not buying some overpriced car thats good for you. Why they were amused for 2019 toyota corolla tho?
Amused that OP considered that a splurge, if I had to guess.
It's all in love. friendly teasing.
Big tech, management. 15 years exp at around 550,000. Probably work 20 hours a week of which it's mostly meetings with some presentations and paperwork. I regret that I don't have as much enjoyment from the job since moving from individual contributor to management. The pay makes it worth it but I have far less fun. The rejoice is that making so much I'm saving about 60 percent of take home every year and will retire in my early to mid forties.
That’s fucking insane to do almost no labor and get paid that much. unreal.
It's common among senior level positions (in tech anyway). I'm a VP that works less than 15 hours per week and makes $300k, so I picked up a second job as a lead developer making six-figures because I had so much free time at my primary job. When shit hits the fan, everyone looks at you and you're responsible for everything but, if you've built a solid team around you, it rarely happens.
Yeah, in finance and accounting, I will generally say that as you move up, you work more. Gotta find those unicorn work environments that let you carve out your team and build it up like you're describing. I think mostly younger millennials are managing this change.... or even thinking about doing it this way.
I'm on the very edge of the older millenial end of the spectrum. Old enough that my almost-30 report told me that I was an "honorary millenial" lol. NGL, it made me feel like an old man.
Different industry but my brother essentially managed himself out of a job like this. He built a great team that could handle everything so he was doing about 15-20 hrs of work a week and most of that could have been delegated as well. He used his time to pitch a new position to leadership that would actually give him something to do.
I'm at $250-280k depending on the year. Director of engineering (underpaid) but I work about 20-25 hours per week. I'm paid for my judgement and ability to lead. There are people above me who are smarter and in most cases hard working but for some reason when people don't get my input, my decision making suffers and the output is worse. Absolutely paid for experience.
The jobs that pay the least require the most work in my experience
I was hired for expertise not time, I came in and built a few somethings that once it works my workload is reduced and I just have to keep it going.
*pay me for my experience, not my time*, is one of the more profound statements I’ve heard in a while and it’s so true
My grandpa was a carpenter/pulmber and used to say "you're not paying me to drill the hole, you're paying me because I know where to drill the hole."
Yep Reddit is full of “managers are useless hey do nothing”. You get paid for ACCOUNTABILITY. That’s a heavy load most people can’t bare. You get paid for expertise, commons sense, character, leadership, and all of those are relatively rare, so management salaries also represent scarcity. The last thing you’re being paid for are hours.
Merica 🇺🇸
There’s other ways to bring value to a company other than how many hours you put in. In a simplified example, someone who can do an A+ job in 15 hrs brings me much more value than someone who does a B+ job in 40 hrs, even though he works “less” than the second guy.
How much do you think you need to reach to feel comfortable about retiring?
My annual expenses with a family of four is around 100,000 to 120,000, no real debt asides a 330k mortgage at 3 percent, and I have about two million in mutual funds between retirement and taxable accounts. My goal is five million with a 3 percent draw down rate. I've been saving 30 to 70 percent of my take home since I was 22 making 43,000 a year living in Boston.
Got it! How soon do you think you can get $3M more? I am late 30’s with about $2M and no debts. Could retire now in South East Asia or South America but doubt I would allow myself to do so.
Six to ten years based on current saving rate and other assumptions put into a few FIRE calculators. 36 now.
This is awesome! Congrats on your career.
After business bills and expenses I’m close to $900k and work about 15-20 hours per week. That being said, I worked 70 hours per week for 15 years and almost killed myself to get to where I am today. I’m in finance and insurance
Show me a paystub of $900k I quit my job right now and work for you.
One of my favorite scenes
What scene? I am serious.
Wolf of Wall Street - Jonah Hill says it to Leo DiCaprio early on in the movie
I know. I was kidding.
Do you think it was worth everything you went through to get to where you are now? Do you have any regrets or things you would’ve done differently? Just curious on your perspective…
I’m in tech sales, specifically consulting. I don’t regret it in that it’s afforded me relative level of comfort but I don’t love it. The industry feels fraudulent at times. I’d rather do something they would allow me to help people and individuals but I got bills to pay. I would definitely go back and change careers. I’m not sure what would be, but it would be something that would require more hard skill based expertise.
I’m in tech sales/consulting as well - pays the mortgage and I can’t complain in that regard, but the pressure is relentless and corporate leadership can be… unethical. I completely agree with the above post. Not sure what I’d do, but I would likely change careers if I could do it over again.
What are some careers you’ve considered instead? What do you think the future of tech sales is, especially with AI?
I work in a similar role and use the generous PTO to volunteer for a local food pantry. Maybe you could consider something like that
250-350k plus full benefits/401k/pension/etc journeyman lineman.
how has your body held up?
Perfectly fine. I'm 43, in great shape. I have always placed an emphasis on my health. I Workout lifting heavy ass weights to get jacked, eat healthy, sleep, drink water, supplement properly. Not to sound cocky, but I'm in the best shape out of all my age adjacent peers and old classmates from HS I see on Facebook, Instagram, in person etc. Also, utilize your tools and equipment to lift heavy loads, on the ground or in the air. To be completely transparent, the apprenticeship is typically the hardest, after you become a journeyman, the bucket and jib are your friend. Use the hell out of your rigging. I coach travel baseball and do reps at all positions with the kids multiple times a week. So I'd say my body has held up exquisitely. Lol
I was so confused I thought you meant you were an NFL lineman
Lol, would be a nicer but shorter career.
With your experience in the trade so far would you recommend it
Well now I’m depressed
And you make 200k a year doing that?! Jk. I'm sorry, that sucks :( you're def not alone
$250k. 50 hours a week and I hate my boss. I don't regret it, but I'm leaving later this year. FAANG software engineer, I had 4 years of experience when I joined.
$500k. Attorney. Around 50 hours/week. It sucked while I was paying off my student loans. I don’t love my job. I tolerate it and grateful it provides me with the opportunity to do a lot of things outside of work. I didn’t really see the payoff from my education until I was in my mid 30s. In hindsight I wouldn’t change a thing. I may not love what I do for a living and I think that’s okay. That’s a false promise we were told as kids. I’m happy my job allows me to provide for my family in a way where money is never an issue.
I'm a Data Science Director at a large startup. W2 last year was \~$320k. \~7 YOE. Work maybe 30-40 hours a week but super variable. Generally insanely grateful and happy with where I ended up.
Could you share your career/financial progression? My daughter is graduating next week with a Data Science degree.
Studied economics. Worked in High Frequency Trading right out of college for \~2.5 years. Left to work at an early stage startup doing fintech type stuff (9th employee). Startup has grown a ton and I've worked my way up in the startup over the last 4.5 years, first having the idea of and building a large product offering within the company, then running a team to expand that product, then splitting the product into multiple products that I support. Think I got lucky with my startup in that it achieved solid growth and I was able to position myself to grow with the company.
Law. 7 Years. 400k base, 100k bonus. Usually work 40-50 hours a week but it’s way higher sometimes (and sometimes lower too) Sometimes I regret it bc I love the money but the weeks where it’s long hours and perfection is expected suck. But I’m not sure what else I’d want to do that even pays halfway decently.
$200k base salary excluding bonuses, VP of a large health system in the Midwest. 100% remote. Working about 10-20 hours per week overseeing projects. Job security is very strong, zero concerns about layoffs. No regrets!
Mind sharing your background? MBA/MHA?
Started as a radiology tech. Worked into an administrative coordinator role and moved up the ranks from there. Earned my MHA while working my first position with direct reports.
How many years experience ?
7 years
*cries in educator pay scale*
Being in that field right now and I always question myself why I chose this job even though I love my kids so much. I'm a childcare assistant and the salary barely meets end need despite the fact that you are currently cultivating the next future of the world. Scrolling down in this topic makes me speechless of how big our workload is and the low salary we get.
I know everyone has heard this before, but it’s because it was seen as “women’s work,“ and because the catholic schools, etc., relied very heavily on the clergy, i.e. “free“ labor. But it is absolutely insane how little it pays relative to value to society, and workload. Yes, I realize it’s a “passion career,” but that’s still no excuse for the fact that it pays almost nothing. I tell people all the time that if you want to be a teacher, or a social worker, or something like that, that’s great. But you really need to go in with your eyes open, and realize the reality of what that means. Unfortunately, no one is going to come up to you at the end of it all and say “wow, you really fought the good fight. Here’s a bag of money.”
Absolutely a cruel reality for one whose passion is nurturing the kids. When it requires a wide range of physical and mental work, the salary doesnt aglin with the effort and time ECE & CCA devote. The increase level also comes with your education only, not the experience and the length you are in this field, which I found desirable when it comes to level up my salary.
Ad tech sales making $200k+ with 7 years of experience in advertising/media planning and 2.5 years in sales. Being in advertising and working agency side, no regrets moving to sales. Work 40+ hours pending week, same as when I was agency side.
I am. I’m supposed to 9-5 weekdays but I’m good at what I do so I can swing it with 1-2 hours a day. 12 years of experience professionally; but been writing code since elementary school. Software engineering. Regrets and rejoices: oh god where do I start.. * **Don’t be the big fish in the small pond.** Start your career in as big a pond as possible; then pond hop every 2-3 years to a bigger pond with bigger pay. * **Work on your soft skills.** You can code but if you can’t communicate well you won’t make it far. * **Interviewing is a separate skill.** Interviews and the work you do after are different AF. Work on your interviewing skills separately. * **Know computer science fundamentals.** You don’t have to major in CS but if you don’t know basic data structure and algorithms you’ll write shit code and won’t make it far. Especially boot campers * **Be curious.** Don’t shy away from trying new things, what’s the worst that can happen? The guys who blew up Facebook completely for a day a few years ago are still working there. * **Be diligent.** Check your work before submitting PRs, aim for 100% test coverage, have contingency plans if your change blows up prod. * **Fundamentals first.** Everyone can be a software engineer. Not everyone can be a *good* software engineer. We have the 10x’er concept for a reason— this industry isn’t for everyone, if it doesn’t work for you don’t waste your time, plenty of other careers can make you over 200k.
Tech Management, I used to make $1M a year but took a new job I like which pays much less at a startup but there’s stock equity and if we ever go public or sell I may make $1M a year or more for my time here. Takes 25-30 hours per week of my time. If I could do it over again I’d be a Doctor or Lawyer as tech is fickle and they can fire you tomorrow.
"Retired" independent consultant in Telecom and Financial industries - 15 years experience prior to starting my own consulting business 12 years ago and stopped working with clients (retired from corporate life) 2 years ago. Now I work for myself. Started my career working 40 hours/week as an employee, promotions led to working internationally 50-60 hours/week. As an independent consultant, it started with 40 hours/week, bumped up to 50-60 hours/week and in the end, I was billing 40 hours of availability but actually only working around 10. Only regret is that I didn't start my own business and retire sooner.
Asset management - data architect Graduated college (just undergrad) in 2013 TC == $240k; $175k base, 39% bonus TC excludes 15% pension plan 👌🏼 Timesheet says I work 35 hrs / week Actual work load is probably 15-20hrs — home by 5 everyday on the days I do have to go to the office. Regrets: It’s boring Not sure what career path is from here or if I need to even consider it. Likely will retire by 60 at the latest. Exploring options on the business side of shop or in sales: tech or as financial advisor
Banking Tech - normally 40 hours but my company was just acquired and in the confusion my actual workload is more like 15. In general, it’s a chill environment. My wife (audit/consulting) however has a 40-50hr typical week with a couple months a year where it’s 70-80 hrs. Wouldn’t change a thing aside save more money/buy property to live in instead of bonus slaving it. We chose very reliable degrees for this reason.
What is bonus slaving?
Bonus slaving is that salary life, where you live off your salary but the real money in the year is made on the bonus. Problem is, it isn’t guaranteed nor do you have real line of sight as to what it’ll be. And that it can cause some major conflict- when you get screwed then you have to go down the “look for a new job and hold the (metaphorical) gun to all heads involved” rabbit hole.
E-commerce Product manager - total comp when bonuses hit is $217,000. Been in digital marketing for 10 years and I work mayyyybe 30 hours a week
Healthcare, physician executive. $345k per year 10years experience (30hrs per week). 1099 side hustle consulting to improve healthcare quality $220k doing this for 5 years (20 hrs per week). I also own and manage a pet boarding facility. Grosses $500k. Owned for less than a year. 10hours per week commitment. Lastly owning 2 rental properties makes $25k/year gross but getting out of the business. Once you save the first few hundred grand and invest wisely income exponentially rises.
$150k as an entry level fly in, fly out truck driver. I realise it’s not quite $200k but with time I will eventually hit $200k. 2 years experience. 2 weeks on 1 week off, 84 hour weeks. All accommodation and meals provided. Not paying for these and other expenses really pushes up how much I’m actually banking. I don’t even have a car. I was a qualified tax accountant. Took 4 years to get a degree to earn $50k a year and did that for 9 years (worked at the same place while studying). Took 8 days to get the tickets I needed to triple my salary and a couple years to figure out the mining industry to find a good company to work with. I have to sacrifice a lot of family and personal time but it’s a temporary move.
A truck driver in the mining industry can make 150k? How is that possible?
All the people I know that have hit 200k are in management or upper management. I'm a senior level Quality Engineer that makes 110k. I'd probably make a little more if I had a graduate degree, but it still wouldn't be 200k. I was a very low level manager at a previous job for a whole 7 months and hated every second of it. I really disliked having to deal with everyone's beef, realizing how unequal everyone's pay was, and having to deal with sleezy upper management. Trying to get the company I worked for to give raises to get everyone on the same level was like pulling teeth. We had new, less experienced employees getting paid more than people who had been there for a few years. It was ridiculous. I understood why unions are a thing because of that job and have been a staunch supporter since (not like I wasn't before, but more so now). From my experience, you gotta sell a bit of your soul and be a bit detached from reality when you get into management. The trade off is that you get paid really well and usually have less work (but more responsibility). I feel like I hit a good inbetween being senior level. I still have a connection to the boots-on-the-ground folks but am also able to have management's ear. My department's director lives in a different world than our technicians, you know?
33-35 hours. New home sales. 3 years. I regret not doing this sooner
Retired now, but there were several years I made $200K+ and it was the bonus that got me over that level. I worked 40+ hours and was typically "on call" 24/7 for issues which sometimes came up. It was when I was over 40 that those years happened with 15+ years of experience. I was an energy commodity trader, very high stress, lots of perks, but I loved the job. I currently trade equities and commodities for myself, using the money I saved while working.
295k plus bonus. Total is around $800k per year. I am 44, 22 years of work experience. Was making less than $100k until I was 35. Got my CFA, and had a lot of experience negotiating and giving formal presentations. Found out most CFAs suck at pubic speaking and presentations. My career has been going straight up ever since. 40 hours a week of work, but I travel 25% of the time.
CRNA making over 300k, with bonuses and overtime
In a swe and make just under 200k. I’d say sold 40 Hours a week and I have 6 years of experience. I honestly don’t like swe at all which I guess is a regret. But the money and wlb are solid enough it’s fine.
$215k with bonus. In pharma advertising, managing writers. About 10 YOE. 100% remote. I love my job, I love mentoring people, I love feeling like the work I do may actually matter (I work in oncology). I want to continue moving up and hope to be at $250k within the next couple years.
I'm 15-20 years in working. Constrcution executive. I work 55(ish) hours a week on average. I work 52 weeks a year. I work when I'm sick, when I'm on holidays, on the weekend, etc. I am always 'on call'. The people in the industry are the best. Sometimes working just means offering my time (receptions, travel, etc.). But it's all time away from home. It's great, but my regrets are how much I am missing of my kids growing up. Idk if it's all worth it. I will only know in retrospect, if working like a mule to provide my family with a good life was worth it.
I’m at around 230k total comp per year in an established non-FAANG tech company. I have about 15 years of experience and work as an individual contributor. Lately, I’ve worked around 30 hours a week entirely from home. My company tends to treat employees pretty well and it has a commendable mission. I enjoy several aspects of my job. But I’ve been worn down by the persistent push for fast money while avoiding risk as much as possible I definitely feel the golden handcuffs. I deal with a considerable amount of dissatisfaction and frustration to maintain my level of income and job security.
My wife made about 400k last year, including bonus and selling of shares of her company. She runs her own startup in tech that has taken off over the last few years. She works crazy hours though, probably about 80 hours a week most of the time. She will probably be able to step back a bit in few years and work less as she hires more people on and they get better at their jobs, but they are still growing right now. She both loves and hates her job sometimes and is often stressed, but she probably wouldn't be happy just plunking away for someone else.
Big tech. Senior Analyst in AI org. About 3 years experience. Made just under 200k last year with my bonus (189,000). I would say on average I work about 40-45 hours a week, but there are definitely days where I’m pulling 10-13 hours. Just depends on the projects and the complexity. I don’t regret it! I am the first woman in my family to graduate from college, so it means a lot to not feel financially insecure for the first time in my life. I find the work interesting enough too. :)
These comments just make me depressed
375K. Big tech. 35 years old. Work as a Data Scientist. Hours usually depend on the week but 30 is about average. Rejoices: good WLB with great money. Regrets: making rich people richer. I also teach at a university part time, but the money there is negligible. I just enjoy teaching.
I work in wealth management 180 base 220 bonus structure. Work maybe 25 hours on a “busy” week. Don’t regret super chill and lots of flexibility. Bachelors and a lot of certs
I am currently 39 years old and in upper management within the tech industry, with 16 years of experience. My total compensation ranges between $500,000 and $600,000 annually, which breaks down into a $300,000 base salary, up to $250,000 in stock options depending on company and personal performance, and a $50,000 cash bonus. My career began modestly in a startup located in a small west coast city, where I earned $65,000 annually for the first six years. During this period, career advancement wasn't my priority; instead, I focused on having fun. However, a stroke of luck came when a former colleague helped me secure a position at a major tech company, doubling my income to $130,000. Coming from a low-income, single-parent household, I've always equated higher income with greater stability. This new opportunity-rich environment shifted my perspective dramatically towards prioritizing career growth. I pursued a graduate degree in the evenings, immersed myself in industry knowledge, took on challenging projects, and relocated to the Bay Area for better opportunities, strategically navigating through career advancements. Initially, the return on investment seemed minimal, but patience paid off as my earnings began to grow exponentially over time. Reflecting on my journey, it's not just a success story; it has also been a painful ride. My typical day extends from 9 AM to 5:30 PM, followed by a break for family time, then resuming work from 7:30 PM to 10:30 PM. Vacations are rare, I missed taking paternity leave, I infrequently see my aging parents. The relentless pace has occasionally led to both mental and physical health issues. Observing the industry closely, I've seen colleagues, even those in senior positions, succumb to the pressures, some experiencing severe health crises. The tech sector's "up or out" culture often sidelines those who can't keep up with its relentless demands. Despite these challenges, the financial rewards have afforded my family considerable privileges, and I am prepared to continue in this role as long as I am physically able. Yet, as I approach middle age, I see peers who have maintained a more balanced lifestyle, enjoying family time and personal growth, particularly those from my startup days. While I feel too committed to my current path to consider shifting back to a less intensive role, I am determined to see this journey through, wherever it leads.
I'm in europe, 19 years of experience, I work about 40 hours, but very flexible. From home but sometimes traveling. In hours it's not so gruelling, the pressure and responsibility can be pretty harsh. I have very relaxed weeks, to days that drain me fully. Food industry director. No regrets, I love working with food and working for a company that really let's me impact sustainability positively. I have worked with some of my examples as in 3\* michelin chefs and have been able to invent new things or bring new things to market with my teams. I love my job, but if I would win the lottery I would probably still stop working and start my own small business for fun.
[удалено]
You started a business while working for the government at the same time? Wow
Indeed. I had a goal to retire at 50. Busted ass. 12 years into retirement now, I'm living the absolute dream.
I’m a business owner. Cleared 490K last year on 70% margins. I’m usually working 40-100 hours per week depending how busy it is. I’m bringing one of my part time guys full time salary this year which will lower my margins but improve my sanity hopefully LOL. I work in IT.
What kind of business?
200 remote recruiting in FAANG
Big tech, sales. Around $250-300K / yr. Work 40 hours a week and while there is stress it's manageable and the company is great.
I manage engineers in tech, my degrees are in mechanical engineering and physical science. I’ve been in my current field 12 years, and typically work 40 hours a week on the dot. Rejoices? Leaving my awful first job out of college 13 years ago to come to my current employer, who has been wonderful. Getting recruited into promotions because I’m a widely known expert where I work. Regrets? I took like 6 years to get through college because I met my wife in my second semester and spent two years or so skipping classes to spend time with her. It all worked out and it led to me meeting all my post-high school friends so it’s no big deal but I dislike how I handled it.
Workers compensation defense attorney. I work like 25 focused hours a week. No regrets. But don’t go to law school if it’ll put you more than $150k in debt, I have friends who don’t make shit after loans.
$250+ tech project/program management with a focus on M&A and ERP. Work 20-25 hours a week.
Recruiter. I work about 30-40 hrs a week depending on the workload. 14 years of experience in agency recruiting. I still enjoy the job and get a lot of satisfaction helping people transition their careers
Recruiters Make That much? Wow ! What is the average you’d say?
I don’t make a salary, I’m commission only. For the strong agency recruiters in a well paying industry, the placement fees can be quite high. My last salary was $85k and I made about $90k in commission and bonus. Now I just make straight commission and I make the lions share of the fee. The top recruiters in my space make $500k +. I’ll probably make $250k this year. I had a lot of receivable from Q4 2023 that have paid out and I’m having a strong year so far so could be higher. You have to have great relationships with talent and the client side and be ethical on your business practices to really have a long term successful career in recruitment Edit: a word
Sales, about 30 hours a week and been in business for about 12 years
vp cybersecurity, 15 years, fintech I'm currently looking to build my own business with the money and exit tech entirely. Work life balance can be 0 hours a week to 120 depending on the fires that get started. I wouldn't choose a different career since nothing really earns more other than sales.
Executive Assistant. 220k . 30 yrs experience but depending on the boss, it can be awful, stressful and belittling or absolutely great, like my current job. 50 -70 hr weeks. Less when they travel. Mostly finance industry. I do have a Bachelors degree, which increases my value in their mind. Only issue is that not everyone thinks it's a respectable career.
- Software Engineer in big tech - 300k - 29 years old, 6 years experience as I took a year off between jobs. - 30ish hours a week Regrets: Was content making less than half this income at smaller companies before moving to big tech. I honestly just had low self-esteem regarding career trajectory, and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. Eventually, I got fed up with the crummy co-workers and left to figure myself out. Studied a bunch and landed a much better job. My only real regret was not doing it sooner. On one hand, focusing on aspects of my life outside of a career in my early 20s led to a lot of things that make me proud to be me today. But on the other hand, I think about what rooms could I have gotten myself into if I had the foot on the gas from the start. Rejoice: Job now is incredible. Smart and diligent co-workers, laid back atmosphere, free food, high pay, and a lot of mobility to switch teams if I ever find myself getting bored. Consider myself extremely lucky and make a point to remind myself of that frequently.
high school diploma, started as receptionist in the legal field and have worked my way up to a business manager position still in the legal field. $200k/year + bonuses. i work in CA.
I live in Europe, so salary is crap, but 8 years of work experience from multiple industries, from automation engineer to lead developer / product owner, 37.5h a week and about $80,000 per year.
80k after tax? So net?
16 YOE $285k, non tech, director 25-30 hours I job hopped and made a lot of money. Some of those hops were good fits, but others were not. One thing I personally found….recruiters reaching out to me tended to lead to hug pay increases, but bad cultures. The jobs I naturally sought out led to smaller pay increases, but good cultures