I remember this thread! That's actually hilarious.
Plan a career in IT: goal - £100k PA.
- Thread starter Diddums
- Start date
It is possible to switch industries but working in the wrong one can hold you back like I've found to my cost. That's why you should pick the right one as soon as you can not just for career progression but also for the sake of your mental health.
Soldato
Unfortunately very true.
I work in Product for a large high street bank... it's all controlled pay scales - regardless of how much I moan or perform "above expectations" etc.
Likely wait for my share save to mature in December and jump ship (unless I find something that covers it of course)
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Soldato
Yea man, it's annoying when it's like that. You just have to maximize where you are, to your advantage and then leave when you can no longer - Caveat to that is, should you be focused purely on the money side of things.
Soldato
Oh I completely agree, money isn't everything - not at all. I work from home 99% of the time, work life balance is great.
It will have to be for the right role, not just the XXX paycheck.
I actually got approached recently (as we all do). Ignoring the pay, it was based on site, with 1 day a week travel up North - no thank you
Soldato
I think it's easier to say that once you've climbed to a decent level haha which I'd say why I say this more now! I 100% chased the money for a lot of years and did everything I could to maximise my salary. When you're in the prime of your ability to do this I say do it!
Soldato
Very true. The reason I say money isn't everything now is because I worked my ass off doing stupid hours and earning a lot of money when I was younger and got myself into a decent position financially, so I can afford to not have remuneration as my primary concern any more!
Soldato
Oh I totally agree now. I was offered something in Zurich but had to be 4 days a week in the office. That's 4hrs a day on a train. Was about 40k more a year, but by the time you look at what that is after tax and how much time of mine that costs per year. That's 4hrs a day x 16 (days per month in office) x 12 (year) and it's 768 hours, or 32 days... 32 days a year!! No thanks.Been there done that, moved for money...regretted it. Balance is key
I hit 100k GBP after 4 years, in the US. It could have come faster if i joined a big tech but worked for a start-up. However that was after 5 years of PhD. Over the next 5-6 years i have progressed to about 175k base plus about 50% bonuses and RSUs, but that is in Switzerland and i work for big tech. If i wanted more i would have to commute , but i enjoy WFH and an office i can walk to. The biggest problem is the work is pretty dull and i am.not sure if the future prospects, so mostly sticking it out until the kids are older and i have more time to commute or dedicate to high risk start-ups
It's been mentioned before - but if you can combine IT/Development skills with finance/business knowledge, your value (and you salary) will go up.
There's a lot of mis-information about hedge funds. Yes, some of them pay well - some of them don't pay so well when they have a bad year (which is more often than not since 2008).
I've been at a hedge fund (the same one, sort of) for nearly 15 years - started as a Senior Dev on £50k and about 20% bonus in 2008, now I'm a Managing Director.
Current starting salary for an associate or recent graduate is up to £40k + 30% bonus.
Engineer - £40-£70k + up to 40% bonus
Senior - £70-£120k + 45%
Staff - £120-£140k + 45%
Principal - £140-£150k + 120%
Managing Director - £150k and up + 120% bonus + 100-200% Equity (vests over 3 years)
It took me 15 years to get from Senior Eng. to Managing director, although grades above "Senior" were only introduced in the last 4 years or so, presumably to attract FAANG developers who didn't want to go from Principal to "Senior".
That's all at the same company. So it is possible to stay where you are and get more salary year on year - although it is often easier to change jobs, but you then run the risk of not building up enough knowledge to make you valuable.
Associate to Engineer usually takes about a year for a decent dev though. So £100k total comp. after 2 years isn't impossible.
There's a lot of mis-information about hedge funds. Yes, some of them pay well - some of them don't pay so well when they have a bad year (which is more often than not since 2008).
I've been at a hedge fund (the same one, sort of) for nearly 15 years - started as a Senior Dev on £50k and about 20% bonus in 2008, now I'm a Managing Director.
Current starting salary for an associate or recent graduate is up to £40k + 30% bonus.
Engineer - £40-£70k + up to 40% bonus
Senior - £70-£120k + 45%
Staff - £120-£140k + 45%
Principal - £140-£150k + 120%
Managing Director - £150k and up + 120% bonus + 100-200% Equity (vests over 3 years)
It took me 15 years to get from Senior Eng. to Managing director, although grades above "Senior" were only introduced in the last 4 years or so, presumably to attract FAANG developers who didn't want to go from Principal to "Senior".
That's all at the same company. So it is possible to stay where you are and get more salary year on year - although it is often easier to change jobs, but you then run the risk of not building up enough knowledge to make you valuable.
Associate to Engineer usually takes about a year for a decent dev though. So £100k total comp. after 2 years isn't impossible.
I think Staff is something that US companies have brought into our working culture. It’s what I was promoted to last year and I’m looking at Principle as a target for 2-3 years from now. If I don’t just move companies into that position. But, I work from home, I have a 10 month old so life suits me and I know I can go into sales and earn a lot more but that also means more travel.
Vanity titles are funny, I guess those titles are common in big tech and so it transferred across, though I think in some cases "principle" (in the context of a developer/engineer) at some bank or fund or indeed at smaller firms can be a bit sus relative to "principle" at FAANG. Likewise (and perhaps far more egregiously so) "Vice President" at a bank is in no way equivalent to "Vice President" outside of banking and presumably arose initially as a way of trying to give late 20-something client-facing Investment Bankers some status when dealing with corporate execs from large companies.
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Soldato
In the old days, job title inflation was a very cheap way of holding on to people. A piddly pay rise and new business cards printed 
That was a signature move of somewhere I worked a very long ago before I wised up.
From what I've seen, a senior is a lead on a project and a principal as responsible for multiple projects. Principal isn't for everyone: its more management and talking about stuff (design, knowledge transfer, training etc) rather than doing. My employer doesn't have the concept of a principal at all, we are assigned to a specific customer project and looking after 3 or 4 would be impossible. All would expect 100% of your time.
That was a signature move of somewhere I worked a very long ago before I wised up.From what I've seen, a senior is a lead on a project and a principal as responsible for multiple projects. Principal isn't for everyone: its more management and talking about stuff (design, knowledge transfer, training etc) rather than doing. My employer doesn't have the concept of a principal at all, we are assigned to a specific customer project and looking after 3 or 4 would be impossible. All would expect 100% of your time.
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Isn't getting into a Hedge Fund almost impossible? You have to know the right people and have a very specific skillset/quals. All of the investment jobs I see very clearly state you must have previous experience in investment banking etc.
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Not at all, we hire people from all manner of backgrounds and experience. I joined with some years of Asset Management experience, but no sell side at all (it's very strange that a buy side company would ever specifically require sell side experience).
In fact, we specifically dropped that requirement a while ago and only require specific business experience where it is specifically required for the role.
Soldato
Going from principal to senior hurts a lot.
I found most companies don't have any developer career path beyond senior so if you want a job you have to settle.
It's like they expect developers to reach their maximum ability in 3-5 years and then not improve at all.
I'd easily earn double in America, it's very frustrating.
I found most companies don't have any developer career path beyond senior so if you want a job you have to settle.
It's like they expect developers to reach their maximum ability in 3-5 years and then not improve at all.
I'd easily earn double in America, it's very frustrating.
Once you hit a certain point the only 'upwards' step is into management from what I can see.
I take back my comments, looking at pure dev type roles it seems the requirements are less rigid
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