Maxed out salary as Architect. Now what?
I’m making ~$160k as a software architect at age 34. Based on conversations with recruiters, this is roughly top of market (Texas). Now what? I don’t particularly want to go into management because I prefer working with code, but I also don’t want to be stuck at this salary for the rest of my career. I also don’t want to hang around for a 3% annual raise for the next few years and then find myself taking a pay cut if I ever get laid off. What do you do when you’ve reached the top of your pay scale and you’re still young?
That's not really top of market. A friend of mine recently joined a startup in Texas and got $180k + equity. Just gotta sell yourself and be honest with your salary expectations up front so as not to waste your or their time
How much experience? As an architect or what role?
Did you find that directly or go through a recruiter? I’ve been wondering if there are select recruiters that have the better paying clients, cause no one I’ve talked with goes much higher until you move into management.
I think either moving or finding remote work are your two options.
Does remote work pay better? From what I’ve seen, it often pays the same or less. Where do you find high quality remote jobs?
Well you could do one as a second job and prob get your TC near $300k. You prob don't want two jobs though lol. I've seen remote work pay really well and it's perfect for a developer. As far as where to find work, I'm not sure other than the regular ways - online job sites/LinkedIn
moving for a higher salary and higher cost of living is stupid. zero sum game
Only if your objective is to buy a home (for SV anyway)
Move, 2x to 3x your salary and bonus points you don't have to live in Texas anymore?
Exactly - bonis is you don't have to live in TX
Live where u have friend circle. Don’t just run after money and show ur greed. Friends & Family matter most. a life changing guidance 🙏
Move to Bay Area , bump up your salary level and savings , move back in a few years . Rents are high but salaries are higher .
Move. Despite cost of living you’re better off. Have you done any calculations or research?
Yes. I agree that with some prep I could land something in the high $300s in SF. I was hoping to stay in Texas.
Pure bs, never believe any recruiters. I was getting 200k+ when I was an architect in Texas. No point of moving to move to bay area if you can make 200k+ in Texas.. Note - when I said Texas, obviously it's Austin... nothing grows outside of Austin in Texas!
Move to some place that has higher pay. There's not much else to be done if the market isn't offering more. I have about 2.5 yrs of experience and make about 230k in the bay area, I would make way less where I grew up, would be lucky to be making half. You need to move to a tech hub if you want to increase your pay more.
True, but the cost of living is also much higher there. I’d take $160k here over $230k there. It’d have to be over $300k to consider the move, which seems doable, but I do like living here overall.
Only if you rent. You can buy a house with your high salary. Other expenses shouldn’t be much higher. and 230 is for a lucky mid experienced engineer, architect would be much higher.