Ask HN: Anyone making 200k as a software engineer outside the US?

Re:Ask HN: Anyone making 200k as a software engineer outside... by yughurt on Tuesday April 23, 2019 @11:27PM (#19735312)

My Dad makes more than that in Australia. He is a software scientist though, he makes prototype physics simulation software. I think he's underpaid when considering the amount of value he creates (in 5 months made a better version of one simulation technology than a team of about a dozen working in it for 3-4 yesterday) but then again my dad doesn't care much for money. He likes working on interesting problems.

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Re:Ask HN: Anyone making 200k as a software engineer outside... by NamTaf on Wednesday April 24, 2019 @12:01AM (#19735456)

It's worth noting that AUD$1 = USD$0.71, and that the cost of living here is substantially higher than most of the US (though the Valley is probably much more even-run). Having said that, AUD$200k is certainly not unheard of as you get on in experience.

I agree that if you were a specialist consultant and found an exploitable niche, you could pull USD$200k equivalent here.

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Re:Ask HN: Anyone making 200k as a software engineer outside... by austhrwy on Thursday April 25, 2019 @03:36AM (#19745859)

I make 165kAUD+ super, typical web dev full stack role. This is high for Sydney but some companies here are smart enough to throw an extra 30k into the offer to make sure they build a good team. To get to this from 100k a few years ago I just realised you increase your standard and wait longer to get a job.

OTOH this salary doesn’t go far in terms of lifestyle in Sydney. It is expensive, it’s probably enough to live off but I’m not sticking half my salary into the stock market like you American developer like to do.

200k US in Sydney means either get great at kernel level code or multithreaded c++ and help the poker players make more money from the stock market. Or forget technical and become a senior scrum master or project manager for CBA. I think rural doctors and phsyciatrists rake it in, and geologists during the next mining boom. Install air conditioning is another way or any kind of trade where the labour component can be marked up extortionately and where some “tax planning” can be utilised.

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