Experienced web and mobile app developer jobs are going for $120k-$170k in Sili Valley. There's definitely been a jump recently.

Funny, I was thinking of this today when I mentioned to my wife that all her siblings do pretty well.

Wife makes 102k. Bachelors in food science (lol, wtf is food science? I still don't know).
Sister - PHD PharmD. No idea what that is. She works for L'oreal or some crap.
Older brother - 150k Bachelors in marketing. No idea what he does.
Younger brother - approx 80k, but he's a nit so he won't say how much he makes. Bachelors, finance.

I'm a finance major and make approx 100k, I'm underpaid. I could probably make 20k more if I changed companies. Out of my good friends, some are waiters and bartenders, they make 50-70k, and they are miserable. My "educated" friends have masters and bachelors in education and IT. Education dude makes 130k in NYC, but he's a federal agent. Other friend works for Merck, makes 140k, project manager or something. I only know one person whos "killing it", PHD chemistry, Intellectual Property lawyer, owns his own firm. I have no idea what he's making because he stopped telling me after 300k.

Is it hard to make 100k? I would say if you live in a decent job market and you have a certain group of degrees, no. Highly techincal or specialized degrees simply pay more. If you're a criminal justice or psychology major, you have to make some moves. If you're a Finance, Econ, Math, Engineering major, 100k is standard after 3-5 years. You'll start off 50-70k, and then you have to make 1 or 2 moves up, then you'll be either right over 100k or right around 90k.

It's not hard, but you have to be willing to either a) work really hard and stand out, or b) switch companies after 1.5-3 years until you make 100k. Switching companies/looking for a new job can make a huge impact.

Of all the people I know that are at least decently successful, they all have the same character traits - they work decently hard and can interact well with others (in a professional environment). The 1st part is pretty easy for people who want to be good at what they do, the 2nd part isn't and it's something you should actively work on.

In short, work hard, get in the right industry, keep your mouth shut and learn how to separate personal from professional relationships. You'd be amazed about how many people can't do the last thing. How you are perceived is a huge deal and people often don't realize it. If you don't believe me, do a little experiment : walk into your office/class and ask yourself who you would go to if you needed help with something that is very important that is work related. I'll bet you are surprised how quickly you can put people into categories of "he/she will know" and "no way I ask that person". You want to be in the first group, it'll get you promoted eventually.

Edit : 100k isn't that much money. It's fine for a single person with an apartment and a sensible car and a good social life. It's borderline tough for a person married who's spouse doesn't work and has 2 kids. It's downright impossible if you want a good location in NYC, SF, Chicago, LA. To put real numbers to it - after 401k and whatever else crap I have set up, I bring home approx 1975 every 2 weeks net, with a 5-15k net bonus a year. I'm sure people in any major city can see this is far from "rich" if you live in a good neighborhood. I could either live in a really nice area and be careful about what I spend when I go out, or live in a so-so neighborhood and spend whatever I want wherever I want. I can't have both, and I'm somewhere in the top 10% of income earners in the US. How's that for depressing? If I was in NYC or SF I really don't know what I'd do.

Ok now get your friend to write us the recipe for $300k.

People who say 100K isn't much money all seem to live in super expensive areas...

So yeah, 100K may be standard on Wall Street and you're stuck working **** hours and coming back to your shoebox 3,500/month apartment, but I think that misses the point of this thread.

A better thread would ask about making 200K in NY/LA/DC/etc or 100K in other areas.

Actually, I think he's in the 500k-1MM range, but he's embarassed to tell me, which I understand. In our group (10 or so), some people who are struggling financially have made comments like "you don't need the money!" when he won the fantasy football league really bothered him, and I can see why.

I know he lives in a house that has a basement big enough for me to live in alone, and drives an m5 that makes my head stick to the seat like I'm on the Gravitron ride from 1989.

Of course, he has a PhD Chemistry, graduated 1st in his class, then went to law school while working as a law clerk, finishing all his schooling at 29 or so while we were all drinking in the park and smoking weed. People like that really deserve everything they get. When he becomes governor of Maryland, I'll have all kinds of jobs I can hook you guys up with.

you learn how different gelling agents will affect the texture of food products so that you can learn how to make any flavor of perfectly consistent fruit rollups your company is contracted to make.

I don't live in an expensive area at all. Downtown Philadelphia can be pretty expensive to rent and ridiculous to own, but we do neither.

Surrounding neighborhoods are somewhat affordable. I make 100k, my wife makes 100k, we live in a very modest home and we save money for retirement and investments and spend whatever we want whenever we want, but we do not live in center city and we do not live in a great neighborhood. We both drive used cars.

The bottom line is that things are expensive. Saving for retirement, helping our parents, a baby on the way, our used cars, insurance, food, mortgage, entertainment, saving for the baby's education - it adds up to a ton of money.

I'm happy with our lives and I still wonder how the hell I got to be so lucky (I was making 400 a week 7 years ago), but I'm far from being in the Jay-Z Big Pimpin' video.

I'd need to make about $200k to even think of buying a modest place near where I live (LA/Redondo Beach). $300k to buy a place I'd actually like.

So you're saying that 100K finance jobs are plentiful in Philly?

How many finance people do you think are actually making that in Philly? What sorts of finance jobs are they in?

You're exactly right. 100k finance jobs in Philadelphia are not easy to come by. I didn't go through my whole story because I'm tired of people like OtisNixon (the guy with the black dude and the cheeseburger as his avatar) making fun of me. I could go through my entire work history, but that wouldn't really help much.

I started in finance, but I'm in the energy industry right now on the operations side. It's technical and has certifications associated with it, but the salary range is 75k-110k (approx) for what I do. Finance is somewhat tied to energy as many people here can attest to. We sell/buy/trade/arb generation (electricity) and dabble in natural gas, coal, oil. I'm on the operations side so I'm in a certain niche, but the traders are more on the financial side. I'm only explaining this to justify my salary that is in the energy industry, but not necessarily "finance", which is the point you brought up.

Once again, 100k finance jobs in Philly aren't easy to come by. You're right. I'm actually pretty happy I'm in the niche I am, as classic finance jobs are soul-sucking, whereas I do what I do, get paid a decent salary, then go home.

I wouldn't sweat it too much, OtisNixon has a pathological need to be right. Even when you admit he's right - he still doesn't stop arguing. He just searches for some facet to still disagree on and argues that.

-edit:some irrelevant comment that isn't in line with the topic

Yes. This is a topic that has been discussed before both on here and with friends. Assuming certain minimum requirements-- which are not excessive-- it would be impossible to live on $100k.

Yep

This sounds pretty similar to my friends (all 29-31); all have Master's or PhDs. I think it's not surprising because we became friends while in a good university and our high marks got us to form study groups together.