Ask HN: San Fran "Competitive Salary" for Devs

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2610459

by throwaway09810 • 15 years ago

17 10 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

How much should one ask for for a San Fran "startup" developer position? Midwest salaries are much lower (due to cost of living and small tech scene) and the avg developer makes around $60k, so my reference point is low. Moving to the valley and possibly getting a job for an exploding startup, what is a reasonable starting point w/ 3 years of solid experience?

grandalf• 15 years ago

I don't think experience matters that much. If you're awesome, you should be paid $100K or more. If you're awesome, btw, I'd like to make you such a job offer.

throwaway098102• 15 years ago

Awesome at what? Solving problems? Check. Dedicating myself to things? Check. Working hard to get things done properly and quickly? Check. Having fun doing these things? Double check.

I'm not the best programmer in the world (jr level I'd say), but I sure as hell love what I do and I'm improving every day.

Currently my biggest tools are Ruby, Rails, Javascript (jQuery mostly), and HTML/CSS. Half front-end/half back-end dev in my day job.

email me: aanon2247@gmail.com if you're interested in talking.

note: obviously throwaway accounts

rick888• 15 years ago

are you being serious? How can you be awesome without experience? Otherwise, why not hire a janitor and pay him 100K as a developer (he's awesome!)

neworbit• 15 years ago

I'm pretty sure he means "can make great things happen" trumps "7 years Java experience on the resume"

shazow• 15 years ago

Depends on the amount of funding and how much equity you're getting.

If they're well-funded (Series A or later) and you're getting negligible equity (hopefully not), then you should take the same salary as an established company like Facebook or Twitter would offer you. Probably a bit over $100k base for 3 years of experience.

Take that starting point and adjust it for the amount of equity they're offering and how much you think it's worth. Now your goal is to get them to pay you no less than you're worth. :)

throwaway098102• 15 years ago

Judging worth is not always easy unfortunately. It varies by need, in relation to other benefits, region, and more. I wish there was a simple test to take that would spit out a salary worth... Alas...

Ask HN: San Fran "Competitive Salary" for Devs

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