zlacker

Speaking as someone "getting by" on lesser money, yeah, that's certainly true.

Maybe I'm just really bad at marketing/promoting myself or I gasp have to take work "below my pay grade" because it's still work and I've got bills, but I'm not netting six figures doing highly technical work (embedded development, electromechanical development, board layout and design, etc.). In the last five years I've had one in which I grossed six figures. I'd figure I just suck and am an outlier but I keep hearing the same stories from friends who are also not at big shops.

>>system+(OP)
There are plenty of 6 figure jobs outside of FAANG, and the lowest pay I'd even fathom taking for a software development role isn't far below that (maybe 85-90k for a straight-out-of-school junior dev). If you're making less than that, with enough experience to be talking about "the last five years", then you probably should start looking for roles at other companies.

>>OkayPh+O31
Yeah, probably, but I'm stuck with the current situation for now.

Wages for developer work are not consistent, though. I was making around $45K out of college in upstate NY in 2011 or so. I left that job around $55K in 2015 when we moved from the area. Those were entirely normal salaries in the NY capital district for developers with a four-year degree and proven skills in a given language.

I'm now in central VA and am friends with the owner of a local media/web development shop. Their average pay is around $20/hour. Remote work levels the field a bit now, but that's what folks who want to work locally at a desk are offered. They have people actually working there, so I guess folks think that's a reasonable pay "for the area."