My son wants a to be a $200,000/year Silicon Valley Software Engineer. Aside from the obvious, which schools do you

Hey!

I like this thread because I had the same goal before I started my career. First of all you need to collect all new info about is and I can share with you good resource where you can find a lot of about updates in software world. And on this page you can read about Java development cost in different countries

https://mobilunity.com/blog/cost-of-java-developer-in-ukraine/

Totally agree with you! Even a hundred inexperienced and under-qualified developers won't be able to create a high-quality product, especially when it comes to comprehensive software. Even when companies want to save money on software development, they prefer qualified programmers from Ukraine, Belarus and so on:

https://talmatic.com/find-a-developer/

Once again, no one wants to hire inexperienced coders who don't know what they are doing. And answering the question about the school, I actually believe it would be much better to start with self-learning. All the required information is out there. You can find anything on the web. Once you reach an entry level, it would be better to find an internship or something like that. I believe there's no point in wasting time on colleges anymore but that's my opinion only.

$200k isn’t a lot of money. If his goal is money than why aim so low? I make more than that and I went to a lousy state college.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Literally no idea. I run a large product management organization at a household name company and know salary levels of thousands of engineers, architects, product managers and design folks. I would say the average total compensation for one of our android, iOS or web engineers with a few years experience is 250k-300k with bonus and stock included. I personally have dozens of people working directly in my organization who earn over 300k annually.

Just go to levels to get an accurate appraisal.

This may offend your sensibilities but it is also the truth.

Big John wrote:

I have a hard time envisioning a company paying $200,000 for a computer programmer fresh out of college. I'm in electrical engineering, which admittedly is different, but I just can't see how you could sell a new hire at a price like that to upper management.

In any case though, it's still a good career choice. I think some of the comments about software jobs going overseas are valid concerns. One niche that might be safe from outsourcing is defense. I have some friends who are computer programmers with DoD security clearances, and they do pretty well. Granted they are not programming the venerable, morally superior, and socially conscious iPhone or whatever, but it's good work if you can get it.

I agree that the numbers are getting pretty crazy but $200k is the entry number for the top tech firms. Now it is split as base + bonus + RSUs (which vest over 3-5 yrs) but the numbers are right.

Higher numbers are actually in the “quant” finance/HF space (mostly a mix of math and programming). These jobs will go from $200-400k for entry level and have higher ceilings. Now these also have a lot more volatility and obviously less job security.

anyone who 'wants to be a $200,000/year Silicon Valley Software Engineer' should probably consider reading a book (a real book, not a fake book)

also, have fun with your half-Asian grandkids lol

Bra-ket wrote:

anyone who 'wants to be a $200,000/year Silicon Valley Software Engineer' should probably consider reading a book (a real book, not a fake book)

also, have fun with your half-Asian grandkids lol

I haven’t been on letsrun in a bit, so I’m not sure if I’m missing something but your comment makes no sense to me.

common now, but yes a bit crazy wrote:

Bra-ket wrote:

anyone who 'wants to be a $200,000/year Silicon Valley Software Engineer' should probably consider reading a book (a real book, not a fake book)

also, have fun with your half-Asian grandkids lol

I haven’t been on letsrun in a bit, so I’m not sure if I’m missing something but your comment makes no sense to me.

Oh I meant to reply to the original post. I was insinuating that his son has 'yellow fever'

Why Silicon Valley? I'd rather make my $200k in a lower cost of living area. My house is 3600sq ft at $300k. I can't imagine having a $1M mortgage making $200k. I'm fine at $300k with my $200k earnings

The amount of misinformation by people who don’t know anything about SWE in this thread is insane.

Here’s a site that has verified compensation numbers for tech, which shows that 200k, or close to it, is very much in reach for new grads:

https://www.levels.fyi/

If your son wants one of these jobs, get him to a California school, preferably one close to the Bay Area. Start learning to code now and take computer science classes in high school. Hard work and practice will help more in tech interviews than your degree will.

AT THESWOOSH wrote:

Why Silicon Valley? I'd rather make my $200k in a lower cost of living area. My house is 3600sq ft at $300k. I can't imagine having a $1M mortgage making $200k. I'm fine at $300k with my $200k earnings

Different people prioritize different things. I’m guessing “Silicon Valley” here was just used to mean “top tech company” (similar to “Wall Street” for banks, etc).

But regardless, some people enjoy Silicon Valley, others nyc, SF, etc which are all high cost of living. I don’t mind having a smaller apt/house (and no land) but having a lot to do close by, not needing a car, etc. And others would go crazy in that environment. I tried living in a suburb and lower cost of living area and really didn’t like it.

Another thing to consider is that on average these higher cost of living areas have higher paying jobs and much higher ceilings as they tend to be where the “top” people work. That isn’t always the case, but on average. So if you want to get to the $1mm + range (outside of running your own business) you usually end up at a high cost of living area.

I'm not sure it matters about the school. And I agree with posters saying it might be better to get a job with a FAANG company, but outside Silicon Valley.

One of my coworkers was pretty unremarkable. I think he did a couple years at a community college and actually dropped out and became a ski bum for a few years. He knew enough about software to get a job developing software (mostly python) at a minor company without a degree, and then went back to a state school and got his bachelor's when he was 28. He worked at another company doing software (mostly C++) for a year, and then applied at Amazon, Uber, and several others, and with that background, got a job in Denver with Amazon, making $140k.

I know that's not silicon valley, and $200k out of college, but assuming your son isn't a college drop out, gets some decent internships, and is good at interviewing, he shouldn't have a problem regardless of what school is listed on his degree.

To be a $200k software engineer you don't need to attend any school at all. You need the specific mindset. Being a high level software engineer is not teachable. If he can become one it will be visible from early age.

IAmSoftwareEngineer wrote:

To be a $200k software engineer you don't need to attend any school at all. You need the specific mindset. Being a high level software engineer is not teachable. If he can become one it will be visible from early age.

This. It’s all about aptitude, not education. Software engineering is a field you don’t need to attend school at all to learn. If he has the talent to become a $200K software engineer, the best course is for him to teach himself the skills necessary.

iflyboats wrote:

IAmSoftwareEngineer wrote:

To be a $200k software engineer you don't need to attend any school at all. You need the specific mindset. Being a high level software engineer is not teachable. If he can become one it will be visible from early age.

This. It’s all about aptitude, not education. Software engineering is a field you don’t need to attend school at all to learn. If he has the talent to become a $200K software engineer, the best course is for him to teach himself the skills necessary.

I agree at one level, but the top firms that will pay very high for new hires can be fairly selective and going to a “target” school for those firms definitely makes the recruiting process easier. Knowing your stuff is more important and you can generally get into the FAANG firms without a degree from a top school.

Additionally a “top” university will give you more flexibility if you change your mind on your career path and will also open doors to firms that are more selective (I.e. the quant type roles, or if you decide to switch into consulting, fin tech, banking, etc).

It’s all about cost of living.

Of course you can make in $200k in SF or NYC. Enjoy your $500k studio apartment and high crime rates!

Trump wrote:

It’s all about cost of living.

Of course you can make in $200k in SF or NYC. Enjoy your $500k studio apartment and high crime rates!

You realize nyc (Manhattan specifically) is one of the safest cities in the USA right? High up there when compared to other “large cities” and still very respectable when compared to smaller cities.

AT THESWOOSH wrote:

Why Silicon Valley? I'd rather make my $200k in a lower cost of living area. My house is 3600sq ft at $300k. I can't imagine having a $1M mortgage making $200k. I'm fine at $300k with my $200k earnings

What do you do to make $200k per year living in the middle of PA?

But can the OP come back to this thread. The initial thread was when his son was 15 and it was 8 years ago. What is the son up to now?