this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
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[–] housedogpartyfavor@lemmy.zip 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think for many, money isn’t why they became an engineer but it is why they remain one.

[–] CanadaPlus@futurology.today 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

You would have to have an incredible grindset to become a decent engineer without actually enjoying any of it. You could become a shitty one just by passing tests, I guess. (And probably many people do)

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

My job is also tough and more recently I felt despair because of pressure. But I remind myself that I chose my career because of good pay, which could improve once I leave my shithole company.

If money isn't an issue, I would pick a more relaxed job. There is plenty of snobbery against blue collar jobs, but they are the most relaxed jobs I have ever had.

[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I think it depends on the type of blue color job and company as well. Some of them, you're basically breaking your body to get some money and it could really hurt you in future.

I think having your own, or working for a small local business is great. Specially if you have a paid off house and aren't struggling otherwise.

[–] craftrabbit@lemmy.zip 5 points 2 days ago

I'm different; none of my software projects bring me any money...

[–] dejova281@lemmy.world 22 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Engineering as a whole is now diluted with a bunch of money-hungry STEM’s who were never even that good at engineering. Their parents probably pushed them into the degree. It’s sad.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

god forbid well-off parents want their kids to be financially secure...

[–] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It entirely depends on if the parents being well-off allowed their kid to get a degree they aren't really qualified for because they could use money as a crutch.

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[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

And AI is going to put that into overdrive.

For a little while, I helped with some intern and recent grad interviews and holy shit some people didn't have a clue. Had one guy on a remote interview that had a friend there helping him answer questions. It was obvious because he didn't even mute his mic and we could hear them. And it was extra pathetic because his friend wasn't even feeding him anything useful, like Bevis was helping Butthead with a software engineering interview.

We had a short break and when we resumed, he had at least figured out to mute his mic between questions (not that that helped, as muting yourself frequently when you're one of the main speakers in the meeting alone is a red flag without some reason that should be obvious when it isn't muted). Only resumed because I was fairly new to interviewing, if I got one of those today (and still did interviews), I would have ended it early.

[–] musubibreakfast@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Tell them to bring in the friend, then hire the friend on the spot and when they spin out of control say you were only kidding and end the meeting.

[–] rwrwefwef@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

diluted with a bunch of money-hungry STEM’s who were never even that good at engineering.

That's all the STEMs now. The actual competent ones are on Wall Street.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Yep. why struggle doing research when you can make 500K a year writing stock trading algorithms.

i had a roommate who was a physics PhD. He quit after 4 years and went to work for a Wall St and his starting salary was 400K, this was 2009, after the crisis. had he completed his PhD he'd have been lucky to make 60K a year and then after decades of work he might have made close to 200K. I would guess today he's probably making well over a million a year.

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[–] derry@midwest.social 44 points 3 days ago (4 children)

That reminds me, I need a raise

[–] ignotum@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Why should you get a raise? You're terrible at your job!

Not a single downvote, and you call yourself a downvote hunter smh

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

He already killed all the downvotes in his region

[–] mycodesucks@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah.

downvote_hunter: "Do you SEE any downvotes?"

Ignotum: "No..."

downvote_hunter: "You're WELCOME."

[–] ignotum@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Oh really? I just downvoted my own comment, and downvote_hunter did nothing to stop this from happening!

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[–] SHBI7368@sh.itjust.works 135 points 3 days ago (14 children)

god dam where they getting that

[–] femtek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 98 points 3 days ago (17 children)

Maybe that's the monthly pay

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 33 points 3 days ago (19 children)

If do contract work that's not even that much

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[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 59 points 3 days ago (2 children)

That's not that outrageous as a higher-level IC in a big tech company in a big city. But if you're that senior you're not questioning why you became an engineer.

[–] otterpop@lemmy.world 55 points 3 days ago (4 children)

There's a reason the typical dev career pipeline ends at farmer. People get tired of all the bs and leave never to be seen again.

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[–] tyler@programming.dev 35 points 3 days ago (8 children)

I mean, you definitely do. I know numerous people that dropped the field entirely (including me) even though the pay is ridiculous.

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[–] BartyDeCanter@piefed.social 52 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

Eh, that looks like typical take home for a staff level engineer in a big city.

Edit: Assuming they get paid every two weeks, that’s an annual take home of $161,122. Depending on state taxes, insurance coverage, 401k contributions, dependents, etc, that’s a base salary of $200-250k. Which, yeah, that’s what I budget for a staff salary.

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[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

If that's monthly pay, that's at or below average.

If that's bi-weekly......fuck I need to up my engineering game.

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[–] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)
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[–] jeniferariza@lemmy.world 22 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Engineering is just alternating between existential dread and direct deposit therapy.

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[–] Solrac@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago (6 children)

Where tf did you get that pay lmao, maybe its regional, but I need a raise like that, I'm a BE Dev 2, awaiting performance review for 3 (Senior) and sadly not as close to that as I'd like.

[–] abaddon@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Check levels.fyi. 400-500k+ isn't unusual for senior and above positions in US HCOL areas at competitive tech companies. Often this includes RSUs which can have downsides but are usually ok

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[–] RiQuY@lemmy.zip 32 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I guess I'm getting scammed then.

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 41 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Or comparing European vs US wages
At least we don't have to deduct 45% of our wages for the eventuality of needing a doctor and also walking 10km with a broken leg to avoid an ambulance ride.

[–] Bazoogle@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

As an American, I take offense to this. We would never use kilometers

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 19 points 3 days ago (15 children)

In Germany we get deducted around 40% directly, before the money even reaches us q.q Tbf that includes health care as well as taxes already and also we are a smidge farther away from fascism.

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[–] PacMan@sh.itjust.works 39 points 3 days ago

You got a job?

[–] arch@programming.dev 19 points 3 days ago

Omg, this is so true

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