Am I underpaid for my position / cost of living in Seattle?
I live in Seattle and work for an insurance company as a Senior analyst. Job is mainly pulling data (SAS, R, Python, Excel), analyzing profitability, growth, occasionally giving senior management presentations, etc. Not a lot of predictive analytics, but doing some light regression models etc. YOE is about 4.5 years of analyst work, and 7 years prior in non-technical roles. Annual salary is right around at 100k. I came from a location where a 60k salary is high, so when I moved to Seattle, I got 73k, then to 95k and now 100k. Although the salary is manageable, does this salary seem over/under or just right? Is anyone in a comparable position or mind sharing where I stand in the distribution?
I know people with similar backgrounds in the bay making about 120k so I'd say 100k in Seattle beats what they're getting. Overall, TC is determined by company. You can get higher TC as an analyst at FANG type places, but those roles may not be that common for them.
If you're single or have a working partner, it's plenty to be comfortable. That said, I have <1 YoE as a support engineer and make just a bit under 100k altogether, so you could likely make more if you looked around and interviewed.
Grind Leetcode problems in Python and learn some bash scripting and automate your day job. Take freelance work and make it look like your own work and make 30% on top of your salary for your day job in the free time you created with automation. Build up those green dots on Github. Join Amazon as a SDE and 2.5x your TC in a year or less. You’re welcome.
OP has 12 yoe, he'd be starting out as junior SWE at amazon, colleagues will be a decade younger. honest question - is it worth it? are companies even looking for junior SWE's in their mid-thirties who are slower, might have families etc.
That’s hella low. I know a lot of folks in your industry (up to C level). Do yourself a favor and don’t get stuck.
Thanks all. Yea, I dont think I want to be a junior SWE. I'm moving towards the data science track at the moment (getting a MS in it) so definitely dont want to deviate too much from it. The work that I do is more or less related to DS, so I do get some practice with it. I'm still about 1 year or so away from my MS degree, so Im still deciding whether it's better for me to wait till I graduate and then start looking or there's room for me to make a lot more as of now (or at least find a role that's more prominent DS rather than 'analyst' If i"m not competitive as a data scientist yet). Also...not sure of my chances of getting into. FAANG
Getting into FANG is all about interviewing. Your chances will be good if you start preparing for interviews a good six month in advance.
Start putting in applications and networking. If you are qualified for a better job, you will find your way there. I don't see any point in waiting, unless your job is so easy and low-stress that it makes your coursework manageable.
Dude, as a data analyst in Seattle, you could be making $175k base with 5-6 yoe. All companies need data, so you my friend are in high demand.
Analyst jobs generally pay significantly less than data scientist roles.
No way to that base....