Fresh out of school with MSEE and working at Qualcomm with base 100K, TC 124K, at Bay Area. I have been considering switching to SW after looking at how much I will earn in the future. Currently I am paid OK compared to peers, but the future doesn't look so promising: with 5~10 yoe a SW guy can make like 300k while HW only 200k or less. The difference seems acceptable in the beginning but becomes significant later. I did some leetcoding, took an algorithm course 1 year before and did lots of python, I feel that programming interests me. Question is, given my currently OK job, is it worth the effort to switch? Any thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
I guess it truly depends on the big why. Why would you like to switch? If for the big TC, then yes go for it. But if you would be much happier if you’re HW, I’d stay with HW. TC isn’t everything.
I did some SW and HW projects back in school and I feel I am happy with both. Now that if I can make much more by switching, why not ?
Python is not programming, and just knowing programming is not Software Engineering. There is so much more to it. Your 'software' skills may very well make you stand apart from the HW crowd. Try to be really good in what you think you really are good at, and then make it wholistic by adding your 'software' skill.
Thanks for advice
Don't fool yourself. You're young now and you can afford to work for fun. But the time will come when you will want to start a family and to buy a house and you won't afford that and you'll get very frustrated. The more you stay in the field, the harder it will be to switch. I say switch now and don't waste opportunities. Hw is dead.
Try getting into the hardware division at Google. The pay is way higher than Hardware folks from other companies but slightly lower than what you would get if you did SWE at Google
I am thinking of start learning skills that are good-to-have for both SW and HW, like OS and C++
Also add database to your skillset
I joined Qualcomm right after college in the Bay Area as a HW (verification) engineer. I think OP should absolutely switch. I switched after 1 yr by going back to school to get a MS in CS. My initial offer after MS was ~ 240k TC while Qualcomm only gave ~120k. For someone with 5-10 yoe the difference will be more like 350-400k in SW(FNG) vs 150-200k in HW at Qualcomm, not even counting the perks and career growth.
Even the initial tc difference is huuuuge. Also, Qualcomm(hw in general) has almost no bonus or stock refresh. In the long run the stock refresh will be a major source of your tc in software.
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Don’t switch just for TC potential. You’ll regret it!
Care to explain?
If you don’t have passion for software, you might struggle a lot. It’s hard to keep faking it and taking home high TC! Software workers have to deal with huge pile of crap on a daily basis as well. With HW background you might find those even more intolerable :)