$65k, 36, “successful” and award-winning journalist.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Agreed. I made $85k at age 25 with no degree. (I now have a masters and make twice that in a government job.) People who are overly fixated on education as a means to increase salary overlook the fact that scanning your environment for opportunities is more likely to yield results than sitting back and expecting your degree to do the talking.

I don't think people are necessarily fixated on the degree but it can vastly improve your STARTING position. Where you go with it almost never depends on your degree although having a degree(s) from name brand places can help when moving around.

Started at $60k in 2006. A few degrees later (none terminal) and a move to the government about 9 years ago and I'm at $160k. The flexibility with a young family is key at the moment.

Flexibility with or without a young family is always key -- it doesn't change.

PP here. While flexibility is nice without a young family, it was not nearly as important (or valued) to me when I did not have a family. If I was still single, I would certainly be making different career choices.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Agreed. I made $85k at age 25 with no degree. (I now have a masters and make twice that in a government job.) People who are overly fixated on education as a means to increase salary overlook the fact that scanning your environment for opportunities is more likely to yield results than sitting back and expecting your degree to do the talking.

I don't think people are necessarily fixated on the degree but it can vastly improve your STARTING position. Where you go with it almost never depends on your degree although having a degree(s) from name brand places can help when moving around.

Started at $60k in 2006. A few degrees later (none terminal) and a move to the government about 9 years ago and I'm at $160k. The flexibility with a young family is key at the moment.

Flexibility with or without a young family is always key -- it doesn't change.

Anonymous wrote:
Agreed. I made $85k at age 25 with no degree. (I now have a masters and make twice that in a government job.) People who are overly fixated on education as a means to increase salary overlook the fact that scanning your environment for opportunities is more likely to yield results than sitting back and expecting your degree to do the talking.

I don't think people are necessarily fixated on the degree but it can vastly improve your STARTING position. Where you go with it almost never depends on your degree although having a degree(s) from name brand places can help when moving around.

Started at $60k in 2006. A few degrees later (none terminal) and a move to the government about 9 years ago and I'm at $160k. The flexibility with a young family is key at the moment.

Op I’m a project manager with a PMP in a non technical role and make $90k. You should get certified if you have the experience required. I’m currently interviewing for a new job and asking $110k, no one has said that’s unrealistic. I’m 33

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for the manager on a recent thread who leads a technical org of 50 people and made $200k. He had a new job that would have required frequent travel to India which barely bumped him to $300k. Makes me wonder how many people my company are dramatically underpaid.

Huh? I know many people who manage lots of people and travel frequently and don't make anywhere near $200 or 300K.
My husband is a fed in a technical field and overseas several thousand employees and travels frequently. He has many similar colleagues, in and out of government.

in tech, as in any field, there is great, good, mediocre, and bad talent. there are a lot of mediocre software developers who write awful code and could never architect. the bad ones basically lie about knowing how to write software.

if you are "great" (top 10%?) then your entry level salary is $125k in any major urban market. "good" (next 20%?) then closer to $80k. both of these should double within 5 years as you become a highly productive IC. that's for 40 hours of IC work with no travel and no management responsibilities.

now add in management of a small team of direct reports. to entice developers to take this on there is typically a 30% bump in comp. now you're at $325k for great and $208k for good.

now bump yourself up a couple levels such that you have layered reports and are leading a technical org of 50 people. what comp is needed to offset that extra stress? at my company you'd be double the last comp figures, at a minimum, if you were terrible at negotiating. if you held this job at a startup or other company whose fortunes were less certain then you'd offset that risk by asking for more equity comp to offset the downside risk.

again, i'm describing real software developers who are technically proficient and can architect, implement, and scale production software. not the many bozos who claim to be technical because they worked an IT help desk call center or learned how to script in php or python.

if you really know any ex-software developers who are technically great, experienced managers, and OK with frequent travel, and make substantially less than the numbers above, encourage them to get on LinkedIn and start connecting with internal recruiters and headhunters. they will thank you.

Anonymous wrote:

For those of you at nonprofits, are you at charities? think tanks? trade associations?

I’m a PP making $85k at a non-profit (director level). In my case, it’s a national/international environmental conservation org. I’m a bit underpaid even for my sector.

I'm a PP making $60k at a nonprofit, not a director level but a senior member of my team. Animal protection org. I think I am a little underpaid, but probably not super underpaid (realistically). Given my age and education, I *could* and probably should be earning a lot more - but given the work I actually do, eh. (I have a more ambitious husband who earns a little more than twice what I do - on my own, this would be hard, since I am still paying off student loans. Though we moved to a much lower cost of living area, where the median HHI is less than what I earn on my own, so I try to bear that in mind whenever I start getting antsy.)

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for the manager on a recent thread who leads a technical org of 50 people and made $200k. He had a new job that would have required frequent travel to India which barely bumped him to $300k. Makes me wonder how many people my company are dramatically underpaid.

Huh? I know many people who manage lots of people and travel frequently and don't make anywhere near $200 or 300K.
My husband is a fed in a technical field and overseas several thousand employees and travels frequently. He has many similar colleagues, in and out of government.

I feel bad for the manager on a recent thread who leads a technical org of 50 people and made $200k. He had a new job that would have required frequent travel to India which barely bumped him to $300k. Makes me wonder how many people my company are dramatically underpaid.

Anonymous wrote:

For those of you at nonprofits, are you at charities? think tanks? trade associations?

I’m a PP making $85k at a non-profit (director level). In my case, it’s a national/international environmental conservation org. I’m a bit underpaid even for my sector.

I’m director level at an association and making about 50 percent more than you. And I know I’m underpaid compared to other directors here.

For those of you at nonprofits, are you at charities? think tanks? trade associations?

I’m a PP making $85k at a non-profit (director level). In my case, it’s a national/international environmental conservation org. I’m a bit underpaid even for my sector.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just depends on your degree. I made more than that in 2000 (my second year out of school) with an accounting degree.

What?!! Whose accountant are you? That’s crazy. And I’m a CPA. Graduated in 2003 and did not make that.

Not that crazy. My starting salary out of undergrad was $56K

Anonymous wrote:Where are y'all on the rest of DCUM? I'm feeling so...normal. As long as I forget that the thread title is "terrible salaries."

Lol me too

Anonymous wrote:I’m 39, in non profit, a program manager and make $78K. It’s depressing how low my salary is after working for so many years and I have a Master degree as well. I would get out of non profit, OP. I should have years ago but didn’t. Now I feel trapped.

I work st a nonprofit and make just under $200K - i am 40. About to switch to another nonprofit at a similar salary. There are high paying jobs in the nonprofit sector, although I do appreciate how lucky I am to have found these jobs - I have been looking to move for about 3 years and many of the roles I was looking at could not match my salary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just depends on your degree. I made more than that in 2000 (my second year out of school) with an accounting degree.

It actually doesn't depend on your degree. It depends on your hustle. At the age of 32, I was making $85,000 a year and was managing three people with an English undergraduate degree. Now, I will admit, at the age of 23, I was making $30K. But I am a hustler, and I'm very talented and professional. It's not the degree. It's how you present yourself, what opportunties you make for yourself, and how you get along with other people.

Agreed. I made $85k at age 25 with no degree. (I now have a masters and make twice that in a government job.) People who are overly fixated on education as a means to increase salary overlook the fact that scanning your environment for opportunities is more likely to yield results than sitting back and expecting your degree to do the talking.

Are you a GS 15?

SES