I feel this too, a bit. I work with software that is written in PLSQL (which in itself is not my favourite language), but if you want to extend it, they offer a crippled version of it. It’s closed source, hard to debug, proprietary repository instead of git, proprietary IDE.
But if you know your way through all this, the pay is good, which discourages me from learning the hip and trendy tools that modern startups are using.
All in CHF
2010-2014: 40-48K (PhD)
2015-2020: 82-93k (Postdoc)
2021: 129k (industry) + 11-15k bonus + employer pays 2x into pillar 2
I’m a Software Engineer and had a successful progression in my current company.
If the raises continue like that I’d rather do it 5 more years and save as much as possible.
To be honest that’s what I thought one year ago. Since then, I had some salary increases. But on the other hand, my mental health got some hits and I even considered doing a complete career switch.
At this moment I prefer to take a risk with lower salary, compensation in a mid-sized startup, in an environment I’m confident I’ll enjoy, more work flexibility/independence, and, most importantly, working in something in which I believe.
I’m managing things to not burn bridges, so if things don’t go as intended, returning to current company should be an option.
That’s what I’ve just done. I will start at a startup soon leaving my big4 tech company job behind.
I think you’re right to prioritize your mental health!
One question:
Did you enjoy your job (more) before the pandemic?
I think a lot of people really got a hit to their life and job satisfaction during the last year.
This is not to discourage you from changing your career but to encourage you to look more broadly at how you could improve your well-being.
very interesting thread.
in Switzerland since 12 years.
From first swiss salary up by a factor of 4 now
From last salary before Switzerland up by a factor of 36
I have never asked for any promotion or salary raise in my life ive just did everything to the max/best of my abilities never wondering what other people get paid or caring if i happened to come across that information and was lucky enough to be under people who took notice.
I also provide the same to my people, if someone comes to me for a salary raise or promotion it means usually two things either i haven’t done my job of taking care of them correctly and proactively enough or they are delusional/read a book about asking salary raises : pp
Interestingly enough i found Dev being the position with the less stress which i didn’t know at that moment i thought it was too much stress but then i saw the other end of things and realised how “protected” i was so also very invested to the story of the fellow forum member and wondering in what shady establishment did he get involved in.
What’s your job grade that accompanied these salaries if I may ask? I used to work as a Manager at a Big4 and the numbers were much less than this. (unless you’re at Director level already)
wow, that’s quite a bump, congratulations. 
I’m up 20% in 9 years (before that I tripled my entry salary in the 7 years prior to CH), but I don’t see how would I even get double from 2012 levels.
I didn’t start low, though.
A reminder to stay agressive during negociations: I thought up to now that in my field, 120K was a hard cap. I’ve received an offer that goes to 150K (I don’t think I fit the profile so won’t reach that threshold in any case but that goes to tell me my assertion about salaries in my field was wrong). That’s a high but not top level position in the firm (which isn’t the biggest in its field either) so 200K-250K should be reachable for higher end positions in civil engineering.
Senior requires some form of leadership but usually technical, few people are doing people management. (And doing people management doesn’t increase compensation)
after university:
1st year: 90k
2nd year: 100k
3rd year: 115k (changed company)
4th year: 130k
5th year: probably 140-150k
high stress job (big corp, avg. 50-60h a week, almost weekly top mngmt attentions) so I am underpaid :).
looking for something with a little bit lower mgmt attention and less business focus (i have an actually an engineering background). but lack a bit the fantasy how and where I can still utilize my engineering background
I was kind of close to a Senior Security Engineer level (see levels.fyi and L4/L5 for Google for example). All my numbers are total comp including bonus and stock grants.
2011: ~4k-5k/ months as intern before master in developing electric cars control in a startup
2012: 70k as research assistent ETHZ
2013: 75k research assistant ETHZ
2014; 80k first “proper job” as advanced control engineer (27 years old)
2015; 83k same job, salary increase
2016: 95k/y switch to sales engineering for US software company,
2017: 110k/y salary increase, start to receve bonus. No responsibiliy, just a customer facing engineer
2018: 130k salary increase, more bonus, same job
2019: 145k again a salary increase and more bonus, same job
2020: 148k again, more base salary, less bonus, promoted to senior position
Quite happy, such a salary and 0 responsibilities is not bad. I just help out customer during evaluations of the software.
Hey Nab
In corporate world usually you have levels and salary ranges and each level is attached to a salary range, more often than not the level is used also on any bonus calculation.
In 90% of the cases when you manage people you move one level up compared to them thus opening a higher salary bracket and potentially higher bonus calculation
so i was a bit curious on how you ended up with the conclusion that people management doesnt increase compensation.
Thanks!
Nik
In general, people management increase compensation
In some companies (especially tech), you can have the same/higher salary as a manager if you are a tech expert.
Yesterday I read a good quote on LinkedIn. It made the following point:
Engineering and management are two completely different career paths and no engineer should be forced to move to management to get a higher salary. Highest (middle) management salary braket should be equal to highest salary for best engineers. A good engineer != good manager and you might let them waste their talent in one field to struggle in another. In short: pointless
There are two flavors of managers. One was an engineer that knows his particular business in and out and worked his way up. Another is a generic manager, that learned management, maybe made an MBA. Musk was highly critical of this kind of managers.
The path to leadership should not be through an MBA business school situation. It should be kind of work your way up and do useful things. There’s a bit too much of the somebody goes to a high-profile MBA school and then kind of parachutes in as the leader but they don’t actually know how things work. They could be good at, say, PowerPoint presentations or something like that, and they can present well, but they don’t actually know how things work.
Another category is entrepreneur. A good entrepreneur/businessman =/= good manager. A manager is naturally more risk averse, makes sure things run smoothly, but an entrepreneur is always on the lookout for new opportunities.
I subscribe to this view and would like to add the following thought: leadership and management are two different things too. They often intersect and maybe that’s why some people confuse them.
Engineers can be leaders. I’m a technical leader in my discipline (think ”principal” in the traditional engineering titles) and I lead people daily (usually other engineers). My decisions can have a huge monetary impact but what I am not is a manager. No one in my line reports to me and that’s not something that really interests me. Regardless, I sometimes mentor other people and help them grow.
Our company also has line managers but I don’t consider many of them leaders. For me my current role is really the sweet spot - at least for now. I haven’t always aspired for this and maybe I’ll think differently in a couple of years.
Wow you all seem to earn more than twice as much as I do. Anyway, here are my numbers:
But I’m at the beginning and plan to earn more in the near future 
EDIT: I’m sure I’m not the only one earning “only” 60k. Please stop hiding and show me I’m not alone. Please, pleeease.
Isn‘t that we seniors are supposed to do?