$100k/yr for new Software Engineers! And other lies from the technology industry.
Ever heard of a poor software engineer? Me neither. I’m a 25+ year experienced developer, architect and DevOps engineer working for a multi-national cybersecurity company that you’ve more than likely heard of. I work on very large distributed systems that run petabytes of data and I work with the most talented engineers in the world bar none. I’ve also been turned down for more dev jobs than I care to count.
During my career, I’ve worked on successful projects for $20/hr that have gone on to make millions that I didn’t share in. I’ve been the most perfect candidate for a dream job that I was a shoe-in for only to be told that they went with an internal person for the position. I interviewed at one of the most prestigious and historically significant scientific laboratories in the world where I went through multiple rounds of interviews with the last one culminating in a verbal offer of employment for an absolute fantasy position leading a team of technical professionals delivering dynamic computing environments to world-class vaccine research scientists (not Covid), only to be told the following day that they decided to freeze hiring and close the requisition for the position (tears did fall on that one.) I’ve had my own share of experiences with hiring managers and I’ve been the hiring manager in more than a few instances, and I think there is a great calamity that is occurring in America right now in the technology industry: the fallacy of $100k software dev jobs for new grads.
The promotion and outright lie of big money for new grads serves to sometimes sway people who absolutely aren’t right for tech into a world where the money is more like a gateway drug to a career path that guarantees you will be spending time with a therapist. This industry as a whole is hard. The people that work within are not usually the warmest, most caring or even the least bit empathetic towards others. Additionally, because of the nature of the people who operate and build technology, there are few rules as with other departments like sales or operations or management. Software developers aren’t likely to be fired because they gave you a shoulder rub inappropriately. Developers often have long and distinguished recognitions in both technology initiatives as well as HR complaints. The more successful some developers are, the more entitled they become and frankly most companies are powerless to fire key developers no matter what they do. This environment isn’t for everyone. It’s still the Wild West in tech and you should plan accordingly.
If you are just out of college and looking for a developer job, I’m laughing out loud right now because of how industry hype lures and leads you to believe that employers will line up to give you $100k offers right out of school. Talk to me after you’ve been through a few real-world interviews with hiring mangers that are about to test every last piece of arcane computer science knowledge you might have heard of since 2nd grade, even though you will absolutely not be using any of that knowledge in your actual job. If somehow you make it through the initial interview with the hiring manager, I can assure there will be fourteen more interviews with people who either can only say ‘no’ and never ‘yes’, or people who have no idea how to interview anyone at all; ever.
Of course, if you don’t happen to be able to possess instant recall of how logic gate multiplexers work or the outcomes they produce, then you aren’t likely to be hired. Or, if perhaps you suffer from being nervous or have the inability to speak to a group of people while articulating your esoteric knowledge of Big O algorithm efficiency notation, then you’re also unlikely to be hired. In fact, even with experience, its really hard to get a decent job in tech without a corporate champion or some great luck coming down the pipe. Until you cut your teeth in a high-pressure, long-hours environment, for three to five years, making 50–90k and doing work that will make you strong as a dev, but also has a high likelihood of producing homicidal thoughts more often than you might like, it’s unlikely that you’ll be making north of 100k.
My best advice for new grads or for self-taught developers alike, is to build a showcase of applications on your own that no employer in their right mind could ignore. Build a demonstrable portfolio that showcases the talents that are necessary to get the job you are applying for. Otherwise, getting that first developer job that pays more than say, $25 or $30/hr is going to take a lot longer and be full of more heartbreak and frustration than I think most of you are prepared for.
Technical hiring managers are terrible at hiring engineers. In general the engineer evaluation process is completely fucked. I think I’m personally being kind describing it that way. The absolute lack of respect for candidate’s time and complete and utter misunderstanding of the skills the interviewer is actually evaluating is common and even rampant. This fact is disheartening for so many in tech, even those with vast experience, much less the incoming lambs who are quickly disenfranchised with the process.
True engineers build solutions in their minds. They conceptualize how to abstract real-world problems into a digital format that serves the business’ interest in the form of functioning software. As a new software dev, you can’t know how this works in the real world for a few years. That’s okay; that’s what this time is for. To cut your teeth. To learn the things necessary to take you to the next level. If you don’t enjoy this part of your career, it’s highly unlikely that you will enjoy your time in technology in the future. Get out early and save yourself the therapist bills. This business ain’t for the weak.
Please, save yourself the intellectual trouble and don’t leave comments that suggest that there are engineers who get big offers right out of school. Of course there are. I’m talking about those of us in reality who actually have to work to be good at stuff, not the magical alien-humans who learn through a seemingly-osmotic ethereal acquisition of knowledge. I’m also referring to corporate dev jobs that usually involve working for big companies, because most smaller shops can’t afford enterprise developer’s salaries, nor do they typically offer the breadth of resources or technology projects that big companies can offer to developers like myself who absolutely lust to work on cutting-edge tech and wouldn’t be happy otherwise.
