How to Get Highest Paying Engineering Jobs in 2024
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I’m getting close to a decade of work in tech. Living in this bubble and talking with friends in the industry, you pick up on hidden playbooks of how engineers get best paying engineering jobs.
And compensation for engineers is a wide spread. Ranging anywhere from low 6 figures to well into 7 figures, in some cases even more. This is because there are multiple levels to compensation within the industry. Plus, there are roles with a lot of asymmetric upside.
In this blog, I talk about different types of compensation ranges that exist and how to achieve them. As well as how to spot roles with asymmetric upside.
Relevance and Leverage.
Software is a giant market and it has a significant place in many people’s every day life from work to play to connection. There’s a saying that “software is eating the world,” and at this point, it’s fair to say, “it already ate it.” So the demand is higher than ever.
In terms of leverage, software has zero marginal cost of replication. Which means that its fast and cheap to distribute it across the market. One person can deliver the same positive incremental impact to millions with a single action.
So, the way you set yourself up for maximum wealth generation is to make your financial gains corollate to your company’s leveraged impact. More on that further.
Your pay, as an engineer, is determined by 4 factors - level, demand to fill your type of role, location, and the company you choose. Maximizing them will get you maximum pay.
The most obvious and linear increase in compensation is across the seniority levels. You start from entry-level role and through accumulating experience, shipping products, grow to senior and above. I have a dedicated post describing all the different levels, their obvious/non-obvious responsibilities, and compensation - here.
Demand to fill your type of role is pure job market dynamics - supply and demand. Engineering is a broad field and there are more niche job families within: Machine Learning, Embedded, etc. The best way to keep tabs on up to date job market compensation, is looking at other people’s offer packages. You could also speculate and anticipate demand for particular roles, like ML engineering for AI hype. Check out my post on different engineering roles here.
Different locations pay differently. This applies to all jobs. It’s tightly correlated to the region’s cost of living and other broader economic factors. Silicon Valley pays engineers the most, the coasts in the US pay more than the mid west, US pays more than other countries, ad so on.
The company you choose. This is the biggest factor to compensation with the biggest variety of options. There are enterprise, mid-market, and startups companies with each segment having unique compensation packages. In addition, no two companies within the same segment are alike. It’s really a case by case thing. This is where you have to put on your investor hat.
I’ll tell you the secret to the Silicon Valley Wealth Machine…
But first, I’d like to emphasize that there’s a consistent way to hop between pockets of the job market to guarantee higher compensation. Like moving into the US to places like Silicon Valley or New York. Or going from mid market companies to big tech FAANG.
This way you can go from less than $100k to north of that. And by getting into a particular segment of companies, you can go from low 6 figures to mid-high 6 figures. i.e. $300k, $400k, $500k, $600k, etc.
HOWEVER, the true upside is in EQUITY. Using your investor hat and doing your due diligence can lead you to get rewarded multiple times over. Knowing where the ball is going next in tech is the key. And it doesn’t even have to be all or nothing like that. If there’s truly a good case for growth and impact in that company, then that’s enough.
I’ve had many friends and colleagues that joined high potential companies at a good time and rode the equity appreciation wave going into millions and even occasionally tens of millions.
And all of this - risk free. If you lose, you only incur a marginal opportunity cost.
That depends. Demand is dynamic and volatile. It’s all based on tech trends. Right now, I’d probably say AI and ML engineering jobs are most in demand and as a result, they have a lot of leverage in negotiations and compensation discussions. The way to know the most in demand roles at any given time is to do some online research, through tools like levels.fyi and glassdoor.com. See what positions are being paid especially well. Also, just by being in the industry, you’ll start to feel what’s in demand intuitively.
Keep in mind that this does not mean other engineering jobs don’t have high demand. All of tech is incredibly in demand. You just have to bring in relevant experience and expertise.
As an entry level software engineer. You don’t have a lot of wiggle room in terms of seniority level. But you can set yourself up for success with location and the company you choose. As a someone new to the industry, you should position yourself to be at the bleeding edge - SF bay area. So that you can maximally expose yourself to all the skills and experience you’ll need throughout your career.
In terms of companies, big techs pay the most in liquid compensation. So if you’re interested in highest paying entry level faang jobs, specifically, checkout the latest info at levels.fyi. But even at entry-level you shouldn’t skimp on high potential companies. Because you do have a shot at crazy asymmetric upside with equity too.
Software engineering salaries vary from location to location based on cost of living, talent density, and other broader economic factors.
In New York, software engineers typically earn between $100,000 to $160,000 per year. Salaries can be higher for senior or specialized roles, with cost of living being one of the highest in the country.
In California, salaries range from $110,000 to $170,000, depending on the region. Silicon Valley, specifically, sees some of the highest compensation packages, often exceeding $200,000 for senior roles, but the high cost of living, especially in the Bay Area, can offset some of that advantage.
Seattle offers competitive salaries for software engineers, typically ranging from $105,000 to $150,000. While the cost of living is high, it is more affordable than California's major tech cities, making it an attractive option for tech talent.
