Ask HN: What to do when you have hit the salary ceiling?

4 points by tamaatar 11 years ago | 9 comments

Hi, need a bit of advice here. I am a software professional with 8 years experience. I am in Europe.

I am truly a full stack developer meaning I can code in java, javascript, Python, Erlang and I am learning scala and GO. I know distributed systems very well. Maintain heavily loaded cassandra and hadoop systems on a daily basis. I setup continuous delivery for my company and I do all things devops starting from chef code to automating out 400 node AWS cluster which changes dynamically.

I can learn anything in no time. I have been a late bloomer meaning I slacked off for quite sometime. Joined a startup and rediscovered the love for technology. used Linux for the first time and now I help people in my company with all things linux. I am a computer science graduate from a very reputed university. My basics are clear, so learning something is really never hard for me.

All the above in the last 3 years.

Now here is the dilemma: I have hit the salary ceiling. I make good money but it's just impossible here to make more money as an employee. Startup in Europe don't pay much and for we don't have the US culture where better gets paid more.

What do I do? I want to make more money. I can bring a lot on the table for a company if they pay me. I don't want to just settle for whatever I get paid. I want to learn more, work more and get paid more.

I am not the startup kind of person. I just don't have it in me. However, I can join someone else's idea. But I can't go for low pay and equity. I need more salary.

jasonkester 11 years ago |

The quickest thing to do would be go work for a company in the Bay Area.

You can do this from Europe without too much trouble, since a lot of good companies are waking up to the idea of remote teams. I, for instance, split my time between France and England, work for a company in the US, and bill out at a rate that would make sense were I fighting to live in the San Francisco housing market.

The second option, which you can also do without leaving home, is to start your own software product company. You'll start out with a huge salary cut (to zero), which you can hopefully mitigate by doing your buildout during nights and weekends while keeping your current gig. But the upside is unlimited.

mathgeek 11 years ago |

I think your ceiling here is made more of glass than concrete. Look for new opportunities outside of your current employer. If your skill set is truly as strong what you think it is, you can even find US companies that will hire you to either work remotely or come work here.

If you've truly hit the salary ceiling, you should consider other pursuits in life that don't involve making more money. You're already making more than enough.

The answer, at least in the US, is "if you can't make more where you are, leave."

alain94040 11 years ago |

Why have you hit a salary ceiling? Is this because you work at a small company and you literally earn the most of the engineers around there? If so, you can move to a much larger successful company (their pay ladder will scale quite a bit higher). Or you can stay at the small company, by offering to have a higher impact. That's the nice thing with small companies: you can actually make a difference (and pocket the difference). Is there anything you do that contributes to the company actually making money? If so, do more of it.

In any case, developers are usually better considered (ie., higher pay) at software companies [exception: banking]. Make sure you work for one (kelukelugames suggested Microsoft). Don't be a cost center.

module0000 11 years ago |

Consider contracting (in addition to) your day job. My day job reached peak salary 2 years ago(160-ish as an engineer), and I started taking on remote contract work for larger IT companies(eg VMware and Cisco, not John Doe's Lawn Service). My contract earnings soon eclipsed my salary by double, and eventually triple. The rest is history as they say... I wish I had done this years ago.

TLDR; If you want money above all else, work for yourself, and contract out to companies that have deep pockets. With your skill set, you shouldn't have much trouble getting in the door.

sterlingw 11 years ago | |

How did you get in touch with these larger IT companies?

tannk11001 11 years ago |

If you've hit a salary cap at startups, and care that much about salary, it's time to leave startups.

Generally, startups leverage enthusiasm and equity opportunity in order to pay less for their talent. Meanwhile, big boring multinationals pay ridiculous salaries in order to fulfill all the dull but critical needs of themselves and their clients. And there's a whole continuum in between.

If you do like startups and want to stay around, start negotiating for the perks that won't hurt their burn rate so much: equity, time off, R&D opportunities, etc.

bbcbasic 11 years ago |

You could try join a proven startup like DropBox or AirBNB etc. They should be able to give you a good salary and equity and there is still scope for it to go up.

Or you can foray into sales, or CTO role at your smallco. Then as a director negotiate shares.

However sounds like you'd be good as a technical cofounder. You said "I can learn anything in no time" and it sounds like you are ambitious.

You could also launch a lifestyle business like many on HN have done, which can slowly grow to beyond what a dev could earn in a job.

lgieron 11 years ago |

Move to London and start contracting, established companies have deep pockets (ex. 600 pounds per day for a right skill set) while the projects can still be very technically challenging.

kelukelugames 11 years ago |

Microsoft Europe has a salary cap?