What do you do, how much do you make, and how'd you get there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Senior attorney at a large Silicon Valley company. Manage several legal teams.
2. About $600k per year, excluding equity which is on average $700k - 800k per year.
3. SLAC, law school, DOJ and then inhouse.

Would you say you are equally or more busy than someone who works at a big law firm?

I would say less busy. I work around 50 hours per week. More if it is EOQ, travelling to HQ or leading a project with the tight deadline.

How hard is it to land this type of job? My husband is a partner in a mid-level law firm in DC and makes less than you do (only 2nd year partner not equity). He works insane hours. We would both love if he could get a less busy job than he has now but cannot afford the pay cut.

PP has a unicorn job. Mid-level law firm partner isn't landing that gig.

+1. PP may not be a unicorn job, because i think top lawfirm'ers could land it. But midlevel law firm partner isn't going to.

Pp here - I actually have no idea if his firm is mid or top level. It’s top 100 firm in the country I think. But not top 10.

NP. I think what they are trying to say is that you probably have to be in a big law law firm (appearing to be a "get" for the company) to land that job and make that money. The steady, reliable person doesn't get that job. Though I would say that the steady, reliable person could get a job working for the PP. But there is also so little job security there.

[Anonymous]

Can PPs who are making into the 300s in tech sale give some context about the companies they work for (if not name by name)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly the DCUM middle class making $400k+ are shy to reveal their path to success. Thanks to the 1M lawyer

1) NASA engineer
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite engineering degree and masters, hooked up with a NASA mission I believed in and thought would make world better place. Regret not following the money into tech or defense, mommy tracked last decade and reluctant to take a risk because of DH more demanding and better paying job which disrupt our working parent juggle mid air.

1) NASA scientist
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite science degree and top Ph.D., joined NASA to do great things and love it, but took 15 years post-Ph.D. to get to a GS15 and there’s no promotion from here.

So jealous, you are so happy, how do you afford to live here, and wonder if you should have detoured to make a nest egg when your classmates probably went to become quants, and then pivot to start their own space company at 40 after earning millions? My peers basically all did this and I was the dope being idealistic and not selling out to do “science”. Share you wisdom for contentment!

PP. I can share my route to contentment but it probably wouldn’t work for most DCUM folks. First, I’m not strongly motivated by money. Yes, the possibility of leaving science and earning much much more has always been present, but I didn’t ever take those off-ramps. So I worked very hard in my 20s for almost nothing, then worked very hard in my 30s to catch up to everyone, and by my early 40s I’d arrived at a position with no upward mobility. Nobody who cares about money would do any of this. Second, I’m motivated by the impact of what I do. I’m working at a very high level on a very large project that will change our understanding of the universe. What could be better than that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly the DCUM middle class making $400k+ are shy to reveal their path to success. Thanks to the 1M lawyer

1) NASA engineer
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite engineering degree and masters, hooked up with a NASA mission I believed in and thought would make world better place. Regret not following the money into tech or defense, mommy tracked last decade and reluctant to take a risk because of DH more demanding and better paying job which disrupt our working parent juggle mid air.

1) NASA scientist
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite science degree and top Ph.D., joined NASA to do great things and love it, but took 15 years post-Ph.D. to get to a GS15 and there’s no promotion from here.

So jealous, you are so happy, how do you afford to live here, and wonder if you should have detoured to make a nest egg when your classmates probably went to become quants, and then pivot to start their own space company at 40 after earning millions? My peers basically all did this and I was the dope being idealistic and not selling out to do “science”. Share you wisdom for contentment!

PP. I can share my route to contentment but it probably wouldn’t work for most DCUM folks. First, I’m not strongly motivated by money. Yes, the possibility of leaving science and earning much much more has always been present, but I didn’t ever take those off-ramps. So I worked very hard in my 20s for almost nothing, then worked very hard in my 30s to catch up to everyone, and by my early 40s I’d arrived at a position with no upward mobility. Nobody who cares about money would do any of this. Second, I’m motivated by the impact of what I do. I’m working at a very high level on a very large project that will change our understanding of the universe. What could be better than that!

PP here. I wasn’t motivated by money until we had kids and had to buy a house — I always lived simply, but with kids there are base level of support that gets very expensive very fast. Do you have kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can PPs who are making into the 300s in tech sale give some context about the companies they work for (if not name by name)?

I’m curious what is the winnoning in tech sales. Say 100 people start at $65k at a tech firm, how many end up making $500k+? All of them? Half of them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly the DCUM middle class making $400k+ are shy to reveal their path to success. Thanks to the 1M lawyer

1) NASA engineer
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite engineering degree and masters, hooked up with a NASA mission I believed in and thought would make world better place. Regret not following the money into tech or defense, mommy tracked last decade and reluctant to take a risk because of DH more demanding and better paying job which disrupt our working parent juggle mid air.

1) NASA scientist
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite science degree and top Ph.D., joined NASA to do great things and love it, but took 15 years post-Ph.D. to get to a GS15 and there’s no promotion from here.

I had no idea there were two other NASA family members on DCUM.

1. NASA System and Network Administrator
2. $175K
3. Started as low-man on the totem pole 31 years ago and worked my way up.

Currently a principal network manager on a flight mission, leading a team of sysadmins. I have peers in the private world making much more, but as a geek, I love working at NASA which deserves the reputation of the best agency to work for in the federal government. Plus the work-life balance is much balance is much better at NASA than at private corporations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Senior attorney at a large Silicon Valley company. Manage several legal teams.
2. About $600k per year, excluding equity which is on average $700k - 800k per year.
3. SLAC, law school, DOJ and then inhouse.

Would you say you are equally or more busy than someone who works at a big law firm?

I would say less busy. I work around 50 hours per week. More if it is EOQ, travelling to HQ or leading a project with the tight deadline.

How hard is it to land this type of job? My husband is a partner in a mid-level law firm in DC and makes less than you do (only 2nd year partner not equity). He works insane hours. We would both love if he could get a less busy job than he has now but cannot afford the pay cut.

PP has a unicorn job. Mid-level law firm partner isn't landing that gig.

+1. PP may not be a unicorn job, because i think top lawfirm'ers could land it. But midlevel law firm partner isn't going to.

Pp here - I actually have no idea if his firm is mid or top level. It’s top 100 firm in the country I think. But not top 10.

NP. I think what they are trying to say is that you probably have to be in a big law law firm (appearing to be a "get" for the company) to land that job and make that money. The steady, reliable person doesn't get that job. Though I would say that the steady, reliable person could get a job working for the PP. But there is also so little job security there.

So I'm the poster who works at the SV company. The fact is that I worked in-house for the last 20 years and I never worked at big law firm. Previous to joining the SV company, I was employed at a Fortune 100 company working on complex tech transactions (commercial and public sector). The position paid well but opportunity for advancement was limited. I decided about ten years ago that I needed a change of pace. I wanted to work for a smaller company that had signigicant growth potential. Obviously, there was risk with such a decision as the tech space can be a fickle beast. I picked right and the unicorn turned into a company with a $100B market cap a year ago. My teams have grown dramatically over the years.

Over the years, I have only hired one person from a law firm. He worked as outside counsel on a project. Typically, for management roles, we promote from within or poach talent from another tech company. They understand the SaaS world well.

[Anonymous]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median earnings in the DMV for someone with a master's or professional degree is $110k. The median earnings overall is $72k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can PPs who are making into the 300s in tech sale give some context about the companies they work for (if not name by name)?

A big household name with stock that’s going up. And I am paid more now than when I did similar work for a large brand name company whose tech was aging and stock was on the decline. It’s important to look for places that are growing, investing, doing well or else the raises and bonuses will not be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can PPs who are making into the 300s in tech sale give some context about the companies they work for (if not name by name)?

I’m curious what is the winnoning in tech sales. Say 100 people start at $65k at a tech firm, how many end up making $500k+? All of them? Half of them?

With tech sales, you need to be prepared to jump to new companies and new technologies. You're not going to sit in one company and sell Oracle for 15 years. Most will do 3 maybe 4 years with one company and then jump to the next big thing. I think most Career Tech Sales People who are full commission, no base, and selling a strong B2B SaaS product are pulling in 300-800k annually. The ones who don't succeed are pushed out of the entire field within 5 years... One company will dump them after 18 months. Another might give them a try even though they didn't hit quota at the previous... and they are out quickly after that... not that they leave sales entirely, they might sell something else, other B2B or jump to pharma or bio med, different sale, different decision makers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly the DCUM middle class making $400k+ are shy to reveal their path to success. Thanks to the 1M lawyer

1) NASA engineer
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite engineering degree and masters, hooked up with a NASA mission I believed in and thought would make world better place. Regret not following the money into tech or defense, mommy tracked last decade and reluctant to take a risk because of DH more demanding and better paying job which disrupt our working parent juggle mid air.

1) NASA scientist
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite science degree and top Ph.D., joined NASA to do great things and love it, but took 15 years post-Ph.D. to get to a GS15 and there’s no promotion from here.

So jealous, you are so happy, how do you afford to live here, and wonder if you should have detoured to make a nest egg when your classmates probably went to become quants, and then pivot to start their own space company at 40 after earning millions? My peers basically all did this and I was the dope being idealistic and not selling out to do “science”. Share you wisdom for contentment!

PP. I can share my route to contentment but it probably wouldn’t work for most DCUM folks. First, I’m not strongly motivated by money. Yes, the possibility of leaving science and earning much much more has always been present, but I didn’t ever take those off-ramps. So I worked very hard in my 20s for almost nothing, then worked very hard in my 30s to catch up to everyone, and by my early 40s I’d arrived at a position with no upward mobility. Nobody who cares about money would do any of this. Second, I’m motivated by the impact of what I do. I’m working at a very high level on a very large project that will change our understanding of the universe. What could be better than that!

PP here. I wasn’t motivated by money until we had kids and had to buy a house — I always lived simply, but with kids there are base level of support that gets very expensive very fast. Do you have kids?

Yes, and kids are expensive so retirement is underfunded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. Senior attorney at a large Silicon Valley company. Manage several legal teams.
2. About $600k per year, excluding equity which is on average $700k - 800k per year.
3. SLAC, law school, DOJ and then inhouse.

Would you say you are equally or more busy than someone who works at a big law firm?

I would say less busy. I work around 50 hours per week. More if it is EOQ, travelling to HQ or leading a project with the tight deadline.

How hard is it to land this type of job? My husband is a partner in a mid-level law firm in DC and makes less than you do (only 2nd year partner not equity). He works insane hours. We would both love if he could get a less busy job than he has now but cannot afford the pay cut.

PP has a unicorn job. Mid-level law firm partner isn't landing that gig.

+1. PP may not be a unicorn job, because i think top lawfirm'ers could land it. But midlevel law firm partner isn't going to.

Pp here - I actually have no idea if his firm is mid or top level. It’s top 100 firm in the country I think. But not top 10.

NP. I think what they are trying to say is that you probably have to be in a big law law firm (appearing to be a "get" for the company) to land that job and make that money. The steady, reliable person doesn't get that job. Though I would say that the steady, reliable person could get a job working for the PP. But there is also so little job security there.

So I'm the poster who works at the SV company. The fact is that I worked in-house for the last 20 years and I never worked at big law firm. Previous to joining the SV company, I was employed at a Fortune 100 company working on complex tech transactions (commercial and public sector). The position paid well but opportunity for advancement was limited. I decided about ten years ago that I needed a change of pace. I wanted to work for a smaller company that had signigicant growth potential. Obviously, there was risk with such a decision as the tech space can be a fickle beast. I picked right and the unicorn turned into a company with a $100B market cap a year ago. My teams have grown dramatically over the years.

Over the years, I have only hired one person from a law firm. He worked as outside counsel on a project. Typically, for management roles, we promote from within or poach talent from another tech company. They understand the SaaS world well.

DP. Thank you for taking the time to explain that. Are you saying that it is really about taking the risk early on and it paying off.

And are you saying to someone who needs to step into a better work/life balance and/or more money, this isn't a realistic possibility?

[Anonymous]

1. RN
2. 80,000 ( but easy enough job, no holidays or weekends)
3. State college

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly the DCUM middle class making $400k+ are shy to reveal their path to success. Thanks to the 1M lawyer

1) NASA engineer
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite engineering degree and masters, hooked up with a NASA mission I believed in and thought would make world better place. Regret not following the money into tech or defense, mommy tracked last decade and reluctant to take a risk because of DH more demanding and better paying job which disrupt our working parent juggle mid air.

1) NASA scientist
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite science degree and top Ph.D., joined NASA to do great things and love it, but took 15 years post-Ph.D. to get to a GS15 and there’s no promotion from here.

So jealous, you are so happy, how do you afford to live here, and wonder if you should have detoured to make a nest egg when your classmates probably went to become quants, and then pivot to start their own space company at 40 after earning millions? My peers basically all did this and I was the dope being idealistic and not selling out to do “science”. Share you wisdom for contentment!

PP. I can share my route to contentment but it probably wouldn’t work for most DCUM folks. First, I’m not strongly motivated by money. Yes, the possibility of leaving science and earning much much more has always been present, but I didn’t ever take those off-ramps. So I worked very hard in my 20s for almost nothing, then worked very hard in my 30s to catch up to everyone, and by my early 40s I’d arrived at a position with no upward mobility. Nobody who cares about money would do any of this. Second, I’m motivated by the impact of what I do. I’m working at a very high level on a very large project that will change our understanding of the universe. What could be better than that!

PP here. I wasn’t motivated by money until we had kids and had to buy a house — I always lived simply, but with kids there are base level of support that gets very expensive very fast. Do you have kids?

He makes $190k! Are you telling me you think you can't afford kids on that salary?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly the DCUM middle class making $400k+ are shy to reveal their path to success. Thanks to the 1M lawyer

1) NASA engineer
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite engineering degree and masters, hooked up with a NASA mission I believed in and thought would make world better place. Regret not following the money into tech or defense, mommy tracked last decade and reluctant to take a risk because of DH more demanding and better paying job which disrupt our working parent juggle mid air.

1) NASA scientist
2) $190k
3) excelled in high school, elite science degree and top Ph.D., joined NASA to do great things and love it, but took 15 years post-Ph.D. to get to a GS15 and there’s no promotion from here.

So jealous, you are so happy, how do you afford to live here, and wonder if you should have detoured to make a nest egg when your classmates probably went to become quants, and then pivot to start their own space company at 40 after earning millions? My peers basically all did this and I was the dope being idealistic and not selling out to do “science”. Share you wisdom for contentment!

PP. I can share my route to contentment but it probably wouldn’t work for most DCUM folks. First, I’m not strongly motivated by money. Yes, the possibility of leaving science and earning much much more has always been present, but I didn’t ever take those off-ramps. So I worked very hard in my 20s for almost nothing, then worked very hard in my 30s to catch up to everyone, and by my early 40s I’d arrived at a position with no upward mobility. Nobody who cares about money would do any of this. Second, I’m motivated by the impact of what I do. I’m working at a very high level on a very large project that will change our understanding of the universe. What could be better than that!

PP here. I wasn’t motivated by money until we had kids and had to buy a house — I always lived simply, but with kids there are base level of support that gets very expensive very fast. Do you have kids?

He makes $190k! Are you telling me you think you can't afford kids on that salary?

NASA is downtown near Lenfant plaza. A home with decent schools and commute will cost $1M.