After three open houses and a couple hours of analysis, I thought I picked the top 5 rental candidates with the best financial records, but I was wrong. All was fine until my fourth and last open house when a 28 year old single guy who graduated from CalTech came in and applied. He is a software engineer at Google and makes $450,000 a year! What the……
In addition to his eye-boggling income, he has $400,000 saved up after 6 years of working. Perhaps some of that is 401K or Google stock, but whatever the case, I was blown away. The 35 year old cardiologist who makes $300,000 has nothing on this Google guy, partly because the doc is in so much debt and also because he is so anal! After 20 questions, you’ve got to give a person some breathing room buddy.
When I went to business school, a third of my classmates were engineers because they were the smartest people who were “stuck” making $150,000-$200,000 a year. They saw their less smart colleagues in sales and marketing move up in the firm and make $300,000+ a year and were envious. These guys all got 730+ on their GMATs out of 800 and 3.8+ GPAs out of 4.0. It seemed obvious to me they had a chip on their shoulder and felt like they should be running the place.
The Googler’s applicant simply shattered my belief that engineers face a ceiling. If you are 28 years old and making $450,000, you are absolutely crushing it. Only in industries such as private equity, money management, and banking do 28 year olds with 6 years of experience make this kinda dough. Even if you went to Yale Law School and joined super prestigious Wachtel Lipton, you start off at around a $200,000 base (vs. $160,000 base for the other top 20 corporate law firms) and a potential $100,000 bonus.
The war for talent is on! So what about the rest of us?
PLEASE STOP MESSING AROUND
It upsets me that the difference between the haves and have-nots is widening. I know there are people who are unemployed and living at their parent’s house. I know people who go into a lot of student debt only to find a job making $12 bucks an hour at Starbucks. Yet, over the past couple weeks, I’ve seen some of the most decorated candidates around, all vying to rent my average two bedroom apartment for $3,500 a month. Only one of the 20+ applicants will get chosen, and they are ALL highly qualified!
If you are making $250,000-$350,000 a year and cannot lock down an apartment to rent, that is absolutely ridiculous! San Francisco must be a fairy land. So the big question is, if these guys can’t get a place, what chance in hell does the person making $150,000, $100,000, and $50,000 a year have in living in a decent apartment in a nice neighborhood? It’s impossible to compete because of the relative competition. At some point, things unravel and San Francisco becomes prohibitively expensive and firms move out. You must compete on kindness, which is something not to be underestimated.
Some questions to ask yourself:
Why only study 5 hours a day and get into a 50th ranked school when you could study 10 hours a day and get into a 10th ranked school and potentially be set for life?
Why exercise 1 hour a week and be unhappy with your body when you could exercise 5 hours a week and feel great about your body?
Why get in like every other bozo at 8am when you could come in at 7:30am, get so much more done, avoid traffic, be recognized by your hard work and get paid and promoted?
Why wait a week to respond to your e-mails when you could respond within 2 hours and impress potential partners with your efficiency?
Why not take the time to read the instructions and figure things out on your own, rather than use your bullet to annoy instead of impress?
Why think small when you can think big?
Why be an asshole when you could be a nice?
Ahhhhhhh, the mysteries of the world dumb-found me!
IF YOU KNEW YOU COULD MAKE $450,000 A YEAR BY 28
Good morning sunshine! If you knew you’d be financially set if you got into Cal Tech, MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia, Brown. U Penn, Cooper Union, and join a firm like Google as a software engineer, wouldn’t you work like hell to get there? Wouldn’t you force your kids to stop slacking off?
All it takes is studying 8+ hours a day, taking practice test after practice test, and developing a unique skill and personality that will differentiate you from the rest. Even if you messed up and didn’t go to a great school, there is still time NOW for you to be the best at what you do with extra effort.
Here’s the kick in the booty. The guy at Google making $450,000 a year is getting pinged by the folks at Twitter who want to give him a promotion and pay him $600,000 a year with more stock options! Why else did Google raise salaries by 10% across the board last year? In fact, if you are the best at what you do in any field, you will get a highly disproportionate number of phone calls from people and organizations trying to woo you.
If you are in the bottom half of what you do, good luck chuck because nobody is going to want to pay you the big bucks when there are plenty more qualified people than you. The bottom half should just be happy they have a job in an economic downturn!
The Google software engineer is just an example. We can turn the question around and ask: If you knew you could quit your day job in three years if you started a blog, joined the Yakezie, and work hard to network and write consistent content, wouldn’t you? Do rabbits like to jump and hump?
GETTING RICH IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!
For some reason, I get e-mails from folks who ask what I think is the answer to financial success. First, it’s whatever financial success means to you since many people can live happily earning $35,000 a year. Without debt, I know I can.
Second, if you desire for a little more, then the answer is simply to get the best education possible and be so good at your job that no company can afford to not pay you gobs of money. And if you’re an entrepreneur, simply have the most useful product out there. If you are talented enough to know how to communicate, analyze, interact, and understand without any education, more power to you! I’m too much of a dumb-ass to figure things out on myself.
$450,000 a year is gobs of money for a 28 year old. And when the 28 year old turns 35, he’ll be making that much more. Not everybody can go to CalTech with a sub 8% acceptance rate. But the beauty of economics is that there are plenty of high quality schools that will let you in if you are the best and pay them money. It’s the same thing with anything you do, be it the blog with the most consistent and entertaining content, the product that is most effective, and so forth.
“Shoot for the moon, and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars……”?
START A PROFITABLE BLOG TODAY
It’s been six years since I started Financial Samurai and I’m actually earning a good multiple six figure income stream online now. The top 1% of all posts on Financial Samurai generates 31% of all traffic, which makes much of my online earnings highly passive.
I never thought I’d be able to quit my job in 2012 just three years after starting Financial Samurai. But by starting one financial crisis day in 2009, Financial Samurai actually makes more than my entire passive income total that took 15 years to build. If you enjoy writing, creating, connecting with people online, and enjoying more freedom in your life, see how you can set up a WordPress blog in 15 minutes with Bluehost. Hosting costs less than $5 a month.
The actions you take today help create your future. You never know where the journey will take you in 2016 and beyond!
Regards,
Sam
Who wants to spend 8 hours a day being the best at art history, humanities, bowling, etc. to prove their worth in any field unrelated to those three?
Because if you can’t be flexible and do well in history and bowling, then perhaps you aren’t flexible enough to do well elsewhere. College is just a test to see if one can take on multiple challenges, work well together in a team, and be a contributing individual.
We only remember ~15% of what we learn anyway, so if Google wants you to be the best pot maker you can be, and you want to join Google, well, you better not break any pots!
Would love to know what this $450,000 software engineer at Google is working on there – is it the search engine, user interface for the website, etc…?
Clearly I’m at the wrong company. Low six figures is the highest I’ve seen software engineers make.
I seriously though engineers top out at $250,000… and those are for the 10 year+ ones. I don’t know what exactly he is doing, but if Google can pay him and thousands others that much money, Google is clearly making that much more money. And that’s the truth, as you can tell from their latest multi-billion profit quarterly statement.
Well said. College is really a life learning ground to help people learn how to think on their own and work together.
If you have someone who fights the system so early, well then, s/he will never be able to fit in and will therefore never listen or get hired.
And that’s when that someone should just be an entrepreneur. Perfect solution!
I think a fair amount of it has to do with parenting/upbringing and personality. Some parents are quite laid back with their kids, letting them relax and have fun while allowing them to find their own interests and motivations. Others are breathing down their kids necks forcing them to study around the clock and be in multiple clubs and such. Parental influences wear off eventually when we’re out on our own but I think they really shape how we perform in school and how we start off our careers.
A lot of our performance during and after college comes down to personality and drive. There’s a reason some people choose to attend a party school vs a greek free academically focused one. People who want to make a lot of money in a competitive field are going to have to get good grades, network, and interview well to launch their career. If others are happy kicking back, dropping out of school, and depending on the bank of mom and dad, that’s their choice and they’ll face the consequences. Hopefully their parents will knock some reality into their heads though b/c they won’t understand true adulthood until they’re financially independent and able to fend for themselves.
You are spot on Sydney. This reminds me of Amy Chua and the Tiger Mom article she wrote. Frankly, I wish my parents were even MORE tiger momish when I was growing up, so I’d speak more languages better and have better musical talents. Alas, I’ve got to putz around with what I have b/c I enjoyed skateboarding and goofing off infinitely more than practicing!
Oh, I totally had Asian tiger parents and it completely backfired. My parents cut me off from all social interaction — talking on the phone, going out on the weekends — with a singular focus on my studies, and this really hindered my ability to learn how to mix and mingle with people. Even today, I’m impressed by how “socially advanced” or “mature” some 20-year-olds are in comparison to how I was. Furthermore, when you get the impression that your parents are more interested in your grades than your happiness, you start to intentionally sabotage your grades just to see if they’ll still love you — at least, that’s what I did. I definitely DON’T recommend pushing your kid to Asian Tiger Parent levels. To this day — I’m 28 now — my relations with my parents are strained.
That kinda sucks to hear. Guess there’s only so much a patent can push before pissing off their kids!
I had the “don’t give a shit” parents, and while I would obviously have rather had a different upbringing, a benefit is that I was forced to fend for myself at an earlier age. On the other hand I know people who grew up in rich families and while there were family problems the parents could always make up for it with money. The downside of this is that the kids were never motivated to become independent because… they never had to be. What motivation would you have to work and bring yourself up if all your needs are provided for into your 30s? I just hope I can find the proper balance myself when I’m in the role of the parent.
That really is good benefit, fending for yourself early on and giving you the motivation to succeed in what you want. I think you’d be a great dad :)
Thanks for the encouragement, Sam! Actually I have a post on my site today from my girlfriend who had “loving tiger” parents, and it really helps to see the difference but also to understand that good fortune doesn’t appear out of thin air (most of the time) — it has to be worked toward!
I agree! My parents didn’t go to college, and I was the first to get a B of S degree in Comp Sci in my family. I honestly didn’t even think I was going to college until my dad mentioned that I should start thinking about colleges when I was in 10th grade. Up to that point it was never talked about.
With my kids, it’s different. They both get straight As and I’m teaching them as much as I can to give them a leg up, not to mention that 529 plan that is grossly underfunded (lol)
Great article!
That’s awesome your dad guided you towards college, and a very useful degree nonetheless! I think your life would be MUCH different if it wasn’t for that push, no?
Unfortunately, not all the Cal Tech grads do so well. This is also true of the other elite schools too. Despite my statement, one of my friends graduated Cal Tech and retired in his 50s. He was a environmental engineer. There are only so many Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison. Yes, you have a better chance if you go to one of those schools, but it is what you do with that education that matters. BTW, I knew a software director who had a degree in phys ed. He worked for a tax software company and earned a salary of $500K plus more than 15 years ago.
I hear you. Of course not everybody does well after being the best to get into the best school… because even in the best schools, there are folks better than you. That said, might as well give it our all an see what we can do, be it with a school, job, entrepreneurial endeavor so we can have more Choices!
Wow, that guy is crushing it! But like Krantcents said, not all good school graduates land great jobs that pay so well. It is really what you make of it. For each one that goes to a good school and makes it big, I can find one that didn’t go at all and made it big as well. I think it is more a personal drive than anything else.
I was incredibly surprised. Seriously… I’ve always believed there’s more wealth out there than one knows, but his financials were off the charts!
Yep, it’s what we make of it.
Are you sure he is making $450K a year from Google (like did you see his pay stubs?)? coz regardless of what he is doing for Google and how smart he is, if the numbers are true, he is waaaay overpaid. Even their Directors don’t get paid $450K a year, forget about a software engineer. So unless you saw some real proof of his earnings, I would be skeptical of the numbers.
He only put he made $400,000 not $450,000. I didn’t see his pay stub.
He has no incentive to lie as I would have eventually found out.
In any company leave alone Google, $400K for a software engineer (even a principal software engineer) is way too much and very unlikely to be true becoz like all companies Google has pay bands for grade levels and HR policies restrict the maximum you get per payband (there is overlap with the next band ofcourse) – none of the paybands for software engineer will allow anywhere close to $400K (absolute max total cash would be ~300K for the Bay Area). Google salaries usually have been slightly below market average (I guess plenty of people are willing to sacrifice a bit for free food and perks). After last year’s hike, they became at par with the average.
oh minor correction….he could have sold his startup and part of his pay out might be amortized across years so he might be including that. Then the number quoted is plausible.
However, the main issue I have is not his claims but that people shouldn’t get the wrong impression from your article that if you study hard and join Google (or Facebook or XYZ), you have a shot at earning $400K by being a software engineer in your 20s/30s. That is very misleading and will set up folks for disappointment. If you want to earn that kind of money in the IT business, you have to move up from engineering into upper management or marketing. If you want to remain in engineering and want to earn big bucks – be prepared to grow old.
Yes! This one hits home for me. It’s the reason I am working my ass off. I put in extra time with my blog, I get into work early, and I am working on career fitting designations. I truly believe that I am in control of my success and failure likewise. You could also correctly title this, if you want to be successful, stop messing around. It’s all about what is important to you. I have a friend who really wanted to make it in the music business. He lived in the studio, performed wherever he could and now he is on BET, MTV and your radio everyday. But it took him over 3 years. It’s hard work but it can be done!
That is AWESOME to hear your friend work on his/her craft everyday for 3 years and land on BET and MTV! 3 years…. I believe in this market. Let’s rock!
Inspiring message. A lot of people goof around because we can. Living in the land of opportunity, I think you have to be extra focused and determined to be the best that you can be. We have it pretty easy compared to the rest of the world, but I think we also have many distractions along the way, too.
I hear you LOUD and clear on distractions. With football season on, it has become that much harder to focus on work and online endeavors. They become huge time sinks. I try and make sure I write one post and do at least 150 situps if I am going to watch a game!
This one was a real kick in the pants for me. It’s so true but not always easy to hear. To the point Krantcents raised earlier, some places do have ceilings on how much you earn, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find or create opportunities for you to get paid what you are worth. For example, non-profits are typically thought of as not paying their employees very well; however, the leader of a non-profit I know makes in excess of $700,000 per annum. There are notable exceptions: the key is to be one :)
Ahhhh, the beauty of non-profits. Is it ironic that in a non-profit structure, one neat goal is to pay out all the profits to you so you don’t have any profits? Love it.
Absolutely. I think the structure is overused too. Sometimes, non-profit is the default business model for someone who doesn’t want to bother developing a business plan. Instead, some of these people should launch social-entrepreneurship models.
Had not thought about it that way before…quite ironic:). Though ofcourse I know many non-profit employees who make little (maybe they should work their way to the top;).
Thanks FC. Many non-profits fail. It is often reported that the non-profit model is among the most difficult of all business models. I’m not surprised by the lower salaries for many who work for them.
You’re alive! Good to see you back, Roshawn.
Good god, what do they put in the water in San Francisco. :) Over here $80,000 for software engineer is looked at as pretty good, and I am not even near to that. I doubt even the director hits $200,000 including everything.
Honestly, I have no idea. I did not realize Google software engineers make this much. There must be a ton of poaching going on, and companies are fighting like made to keep talent.
College students should see this and think, “Wow, I should study hard and be a software engineer because demand is greater than supply!”
I am actually looking into changing my career path after reading this lol! I wonder how long it woudl take to become a software engineer…
Interesting post, and a very good one. Really like this one.
Hits home in a way, because I’m one of those 730-800 GMAT people not making big bucks. Thing is, sometimes life/family/health get in the way, and people have to make choices about what’s important to them. There’s no right or wrong way to go, everyone has to make choices about what’s right for them and what’s possible for them given competing priorities and interests.
Ultimately that’s what it comes down to in my view – choices. When it comes to people’s career progression, health, etc – I think it’s often about what we choose to make of it. If you want something bad enough, you’ll choose to act in a way that makes it happen. Now, that might mean that you have to sacrifice some things to do that, but if you want it bad enough, you will make the sacrifices. If the sacrifices are too costly, you won’t – and that might be OK.
For example, if one wants to be rich but has a family that requires he or she to leave work at 5pm, it’s ok to make the choice to focus on family first and have financial success be secondary. It’s not lazy, it’s just a choice. If someone wants to be a stay at home parent, that’s all good, right? It’s a choice like any other.
Totally agree with shooting for the moon and even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. The ambitious goal could be anything, whether riches, family, or a balance of both..or whatever.
A lot of things get in the way, and I agree with you. Folks will do what’s important to them. I think deep down, people realize the path to wealth is very straight forward, just that many people don’t want to put in the effort to achieve. It’s easier to figure out ways sometimes to get someone else, or gov’t organization to pay, and then the addiction begins.
Even though my commute is only a couple of miles, I still leave early and am the first one in my office. Part of it is to avoid the little traffic I’d otherwise hit and part of it is exactly as you said, to get stuff done before the mad rush of the office starts.
Early morning hours work out well! I work a compressed schedule M-Th, 10 hour days, and not only does it afford me Fridays off to work on Frugal Confessions, but each day of the week I get an hour in the office before most everyone shows up (I get in at 7:00 a.m.)
It’s funny though. I got on the bus at 7:10am this morning to get to work by 7:30am and it was PAAAAACKED! Never seen it so packed before. I think I gotta get on the 6:45am bus now!
Thank you so much for throwing it out there. This was my “Monday morning” read, and so motivational. What you’ve stated holds true – it you’re going to do it, do it right. So many times we set out with a goal in mind and stop before reaching that goal because we become complacent. I’m guilty! There are many people out there who would love to leave their day jobs and have a dream of working from home or pursuing some entrepreneurial goal – but they’re afraid. I did leave my day job (coming up on a year now) and have survived on less… but the trade-off is so rewarding. @Financial Samurai – thanks for your insights… your wisdom (and kick in the pants) are invaluable to me.
Hi Lisa, thanks for sharing your thoughts and congrats for making it one year on your own! Must be kinda scary and exciting at once! I think many of us would love to join you one day!
I couldn’t believe that figure when I saw it in your response to my comment. I would say that yes, it is worth it to put in the extra work. I enjoy being successful and would consider myself very “driven” to succeed. BUT, I also think there is immense worth in doing what you want for your life. I would probably hate working for google. With that said, I wouldn’t mind working there for a couple years at that salary and then really do what I want for the rest of my life, not having to worry about anything.
p.s. is there a way you can verify these figures?? Just curious. Or do you have to just trust him?
I donno… I’m not sure you would hate Google making $450,000 a year, getting free food everyday and great benefits! You could easily work there for 4 years, save $500-700,000 and then do something else!
True. Very true.
The smart ones will always find a way…!
$450,000 at 28 years old certainly makes my eyes pop as well!
I am in a different boat here. I could get a job in private industry and double my current salary, but I choose to stay working for the government. I work in environmental regulations, and find a lot of satisfaction in ensuring companies are complying with the regs (I specifically work in air pollution).
Perhaps this will change for me in the future, but for now, I am satisfied and challenged where I am.
Hi Amanda, so long as you’re happy with your job, find it challenging, that’s really all the matters. Hence, a very big congrats to you on the situation you’re in!
I strive hard every day so I do not have to wonder what could have been. Thanks for the kick in the booty!
I had the over achiever parents- the ones with low self confidence who were always striving to improve and be better than the rest. This had a huge impact on me as a child. I was often stressed about not doing well enough. I have tamed some of this as I have gotten older but it still creeps up on me. I now try to use it in a positive way to make sure I work hard but I also try to have more self confidence than my parents did.
Sounds good Miss T. Do you think you would be in a better position if you had under achieving parents though?
This post is interesting for me right now as I struggle to balance what I *thought* I was going to do with my life with what I’m actually doing. I’ve always said that 18 year-old kids have no business making decisions about their careers – I chose one that aligns very closely with my personal values, but looking back, that wasn’t necessarily the best fit for me. I can be successful in my field, but I don’t know if that’s what I want for myself anymore.
Now I’m in this annoying limbo phase where I can’t decide whether to continue my current career path or shoot for something much more fulfilling (and with a lot more potential for growth). The Google guy you talked about is the same age as me – I’d love to have things figured out like he does!
What is the other thing you are thinking of doing? Those who are into tech, love tech forever. It’s like the Internet and software are in their blood. They love what they do unconditionally. It’s like a game to see who an event better!
Why does a young guy who makes $450k need to rent or share an apt with someone else? I think he could afford to get his own apt and have some privacy.
He wasn’t going to share. Was going to rent by himself. He just relocated from NYC where everything is 30% more expensive. So to him, everything looks either cheap, or the place looks like a $5,000/month place if it were in NYC.
Wow $450K!? That’s a ridiculous amount of money for such a young guy. I wonder if that is composed of primarily wages/salary. Maybe he has a lot of investments, rights, royalties, rents, etc. I wish I could see his tax return, but alas…
Just wages and salary. I’m sure he has other stuff, but maybe not, given he is only 28.
Be careful talking about those salaries, before you know it, Obama will unleash class warfare on silicon valley too and there will be an #occupysiliconevalley contingent in your backyard!
Seriously though, you think these sort of salaries are sustainable? Seems like a social media, web bubble brewing to me… Just say Groupon’s IPO may go for less than Google was willing to pay for the company a year ago. hahaha! That one just cracks me up. Anyway, especially for companies that are mildly profitable, if at all, like Twitter and co., who keep raising funds from private equity and secondary market, they’re going to have to put up eventually, or the bubble bursts. Should be interesting to watch…
Obama loves the wealth out here in California. We are a blue State and he comes to meet Zuckerberg, Stone etc a couple times a year! Obama came last month.
$450,000 is pretty slick, but a fair amount of it isn’t in salary form. If he’s been there 6 years he benefited (and is likely benefiting) from the option repricing Google did in 2009 (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/announcing-googles-employee-option.html)
As a software engineer in the South Bay I can tell you a huge amount of compensation in our profession is deferred. As a financial blogger who recently dug into the household salaries of the Bay Area (and wrote an article with a calculator, haha), I can tell you with some confidence that a $450,000 household salary would put you in the top 2 percentile of Bay Area Households – so only about 35,301 households are making that out of 1.73 million. By almost any measure that’s astronomical – and not just for a 28 year old.
Great article though, always interested in stories about this area!
35,000 households is still a ton of households making over 450k in the Bay Area no?
Imagine if there were 35,000 Terminator machines in the Bay Area. You wouldn’t want to walk out of your house!
You mind sharing your engineer salary range? I really only thought it was 250kish.
Yeah, we live in an interesting area for sure!
I don’t want to blogspam your site, so if you want to see the methodology let me know and I’ll email you separately (I did a workup on Bay Area salaries and home prices). I can give you some nice salary/benefit info on Google, however:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ericz/incentives.pdf (For a quick idea of the sizes of the option grants, go to Table 12. This study happened after Google’s option repricing in 2009)
and for salaries:
http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Software-Engineer-San-Jose-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,24_IL.25,33_IM761.htm
This guy could very well be the top decile – options worth over $1,000,000 at grant date (the study goes through Q1’08 and Google has appreciated since then). So say his salary is around $170,000, tack on a sizable bonus, 401(k) match and restricted stock and you’re easily north of $200,000. If he’s still got options vesting it’s definitely theoretical he can clear $200,000 a year with those – top quartile had a value of $200,000 in ’08 and top decile had $1,000,000. Of course, that vests over a few years.
A huge option and restricted stock portion of his portfolio makes sense from a “not wanting to leave for Twitter” perspective too, haha. It’s impressive if he’s “just” an engineer no matter how you look at it, but he’s benefited from being at Google at the perfect time… well, he might have done slightly better pre-IPO but he’ll do just fine anyway. I think we’ll see a number of newly minted millionaires when Facebook, Zygna, and some of the other web properties go public. LinkedIn’s IPO created a few billionaires and at least 30 millionaires, and they’re definitely no Facebook.
Are you in the $250K range, or are you not at liberty to say? Can you jump ship to get to the $450k range since the demand for software engineers is outta control right now?
Just looked at the Glassdoor link. They are $240,000 too low on the high-end! Why is that?
I’m only a semi-anonymous writer online, so I’ll just say I make less (but likely also work less hours as well… Google has free meals for a reason.)
Glassdoor (and Indeed.com) salaries would be annual salaries, with the bonus listed separately. A whole bunch of his reward might be vesting from when he started – it wouldn’t be part of his ‘annual compensation’, it would just be sitting in an account until it vests. So he might be making $2xx,000 + another $2xx,000 from vesting options and restricted stock.
It’s not just Google and IPOs (and those with Apple stock)… a whole bunch of companies have revalued options; just Google News ‘technology company revalue stock options’ and see who got a windfall lately.
If you’re serious about tech, hit my email I’ll let you know in more detail.
As others have pointed out, many times it’s about choices. I knew what would it take to increase my profile within the company. That would take much more travel, work and hours away from the family. Same with jumping ship to another company, and in so doing get a salary bump. Do that every couple of years, and 40% to 50% pay increase is not unlikely after a couple jumps. But that involves relocation out of state, something we’re not going to do, at least until the boys go off to college. And maybe not even then.
Amazing salary on that Googler, though.
Sometimes we have to sacrifice in the beginning in order to enjoy later on. Isn’t that the essence of almost everything though? It’s hard Yo live it up without working for it. Feels empty too.
A lot of good points Sam. It’s funny how most people know exactly what needs to be done in order to get where they would like; yet, they search for excuses not to do them.
People get paid based on how many people can replace them, which is exactly why professional athletes are leading the way.
I remember when I was in 7th grade, a high schooler told me to mess around in 7th and 8th grade b/c grades didn’t cary over. But once 9th grade started, to buckle down and study my ass off b/c grades did carry over. I had some of the craziest times when I was 12 and 13 years old. Drove my parents NUTS!
But once 9th grade came, I was an angel and busted my butt. My parents were like huh?
wow – that’s a lot of cash for a 28 yr old. what do you think this guy’s effective tax rate is? how much of that moolah is he getting to keep?
At 450k, his total effective tax rate is about 35% given he doesn’t have a tax shield.
That’s not TOO horrible :P. It would be 45% where I live plus 10-15% of sales tax.
Yeah, but you guys get Free healthcare for life! Sweet!
California sales tax is 10%.
So is this guy single? I figure a silly question goes right along with “Do rabbits like to jump and hump?” which made me laugh! I used to see taking chances and working hard for something big as a zero-sum game. You either won big or lost hard. I’m starting to see that even those who make sacrifices, work hard, build a good network and love what they do still are successful even if they “failed” at what they set out to do. I really have to start giving my life some serious thought… thanks for putting my head back in the game!
Yeah, I feel ya. Sometimes we work SO hard only to see nothing. And then we just have to remind ourselves that the good thing about hard work is that it’s OVER! All those hours spent studying, working, out, building something is done. There will be returns… sometimes it’s unclear when!
Glad I made you laugh!
Yes. Why holding ourselves down?
Why not embracing excellence instead?
A singular career / education focus leaves so much of life on the table. Sure, you’ll be able to enjoy life with that $400K salary, but not if you’re putting in 80hr weeks to obtain it. I’ve known many highly compensated individuals in my life, and one commonality is that they tend to be type “A”, highly driven individuals who would work their tails off, even if they didn’t have that kind of package. As for the rest of the population, you have two choices, study hard and get a good job, then dutifully climb the corporate ladder, if the rungs are there for you, or strike out on your own, make your own way, and build a business of your own you can one day leverage into a heck of a retirement plan.
I’m happy to spend 70-80 hours a week from ages 22-26 to attain a $400-$450,000 income by age 28 and be set for life. I don’t know why wouldn’t. I guess making excuses is easier.
If I had that kind of opportunity I would work up to 5 years for sure. At least, I would intend to — I don’t know if burnout would set in and what the effects would be. 5 years of that wage and you are VERY comfortable even with extortionate tax rates!
[…] Here’s a great one from the Yakezie archives about shooting for the moon. Why think small when you could think big? […]
Awesome, awesome, awesome! Love this post. I’m tired of people making excuses for their situations. No more hand-outs! Get off your butts, STUDY and WORK, people!
$450k in salary is definitely inflated. He was likely including bonuses and copious amounts of stock, but for the purpose of your form is made sense to just write it all together.
My brother works for Google as a software engineer and I can tell you that $450K is inflated. He graguated from top 5 Computer Science program with a MS degree and 4 years of experience and his initial offer from Google was $150. He then got a raise in 2010 and I think his gross salary (cash) is about $170 + $50K worth of bonus+stocks and he told everyone that he makes “roughly” $250. This is coming from a dude that’s been working for Google for more than 5 years. I really don’t think your guy makes $450K.
Thanks for the insights. $250,000 i sill not bad after 4 years. This guy has been at Google for 7 years and is one of the leads. So maybe he doesn’t make $450K, but at least $300K no? Not bad for 28-29 years old!