A lot of us got into software development because we enjoy working with technology and solving problems with code. Of course a career in software development generally pays very well too, which is a nice-added bonus.
Of course not all software development jobs are created equal and some jobs pay a lot higher than others. I want to share some of the tactics I have learnt over the years that have helped me either increase my salary or increase my take home pay.
Location, Location, Location #
I live in the UK, which means even at the highest level, I am never going to get paid the multiple 6-figure salaries that engineers in San Francisco earn. Having said that, there is often a very large difference between salaries offered in London versus outside.
If you are looking at trying to increase how much you earn, then taking a job in a major city is likely to help, especially if it is a tech bubble.
According to Glassdoor, the salary range for Senior Software Engineers in the UK is £51K to £80K. Inside London however, this range jumps up to £63K to £93K.
Reduce your cost of living #
Even though you get paid a lot more to work in London/San Francisco a lot of this is down to cost of living. These cities are incredibly expensive to live in, which is why the salaries are often a lot higher.
If you choose to live outside of London then you need to factor in the cost of commuting and the additional time spent out of your day.
I commuted to London for 5 years. Even with the eye watering cost of the season ticket, it was still cheaper to do that, than it was to live in London. The commute does take its toll though.
As I mentioned in last week's issue, the sweet spot is to work remotely. In most cases, you still get to earn the same as someone working locally, but without the commuting costs your take home pay will be substantially higher.
If you combine this with living in a low cost of living (LCOL) area then you are going to increase how much you are going to be able to save or spend each month.
Switch jobs often #
The longest I have stayed at one company is 5 years and to be honest I stayed longer than I should have done. I don't know anyone who enjoys the job search and interview process, so I can understand why people stay at one company for so long.
If you enjoy your job, and are well compensated then by all means stay put. However, if you were disappointed with your last pay rise, then you might be better off looking around to see how much you could get paid elsewhere.
As this Forbes article states, employees that stay at a company longer than 2 years get paid 50% less over the lifetime of their careers. 50%!
In recent years, pay rises have plummeted due to COVID and the economy underperforming in general. It is not uncommon to see pay rises in the range of 1-5% and that's if you are lucky to get one at all.
Inflation is slowly going back down to 2%, but this is after several years of high inflation. Everything is now a lot more expensive than it was pre-COVID and pre-Brexit.
Unless your salary has been keeping up with inflation over the last 5 years you will likely have less disposable income now than you used to. The pinch that everyone goes on about.
Employees who switch jobs however, often see a pay increase of around 10-20%, if not higher. Unless you are early on in your career, a pay increase of that amount is often unheard of.
The biggest pay rise I have had working at the same company was about 12% which came with a promotion, a title change and more responsibilities. Switching jobs, my largest pay increase was 38% and that was with no additional responsibilities.
Go where the money is #
The last advice I have for increasing your salary is to "go where the money is". What I mean by this is, pick an industry that is growing and respects software engineering.
You can definitely earn more working in finance or FAANG than you can in other industries. It is a no-brainer, companies that are making a lot of money are going to pay higher salaries.
I often find that companies where software engineering is core to their business will pay higher than companies where software is less critical.
More than money #
For some, earning more is about increasing the quality of living for themselves and their families. I can understand that.
However, as the saying goes "money doesn't buy happiness". After a certain point, spending more money isn't going to make you any happier.
So what do you do with all this extra money? A nice problem to have I know.
One option is to invest it, either in the stock market or real estate. Who knows how long you are going to be able to work for? You could get sick or AI could take over your job. If you save and invest the money, then you will have a nice nest egg should something happen.
Turn down that promotion. I know what you are thinking, this post is about earning more money. However, with more money comes more responsibility. If you are going to end up working longer hours with more stress you need to consider whether the additional pay is enough to justify it.
Work fewer hours. There isn't really a difference in your quality of living between £80k and £100k, especially if you are investing the difference anyway. If you can afford it, you may consider switching to 4 days per week if your employer allows. You are more likely to appreciate the better work-life balance while you are your family are young even if it does push retirement out by a few years.
❤️ Picks of the Week #
📝 Article - How Stripe’s document databases supported 99.999% uptime with zero-downtime data migrations - Migrations are a pain, and they rarely go smoothly. It is always useful to read how other companies cope with them.
📝 Article - Mitsubishi develops robot that solves Rubik’s Cube-style puzzle in 0.305 seconds - It was always sadly impressive at how quickly some people could solve Rubik's cubes. It seems impressive anyway until you realise it is just about learning set patterns and spending hours practising. Still looks like they have been replaced by robots too now!
📝 Article - Microsoft AI Spying Scandal: Time to Rethink Privacy Standards - I have mentioned this before, but I don't like how companies treat privacy as optional. What seems normal now would be considered an invasion of privacy a few years ago.
📝 Article - Managing My Motivation, as a Solo Dev - If you are working on your own project these tips from Marcus are helpful to keep motivation going.
📝 Article - New zine: How Git Works! - Julia Evans Zines are a really nice way of learning bite size topics. If you have always been a bit afraid of git then it is worth a look.
👾 Game - Grid Garden - A game for learning CSS grid - This is a fun way to learn CSS Grid!
💬 Quote of the Week #
People are starting to feel the disconnect between what we've been told about how the world works and what they experience. You work hard, but get laid off anyway. You have the perfect life on paper, but no time to enjoy it. You retire with millions in the bank, but no idea what to do with your time.
From The Pathless Path by Paul Millerd.
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