After 3 years I'm making around 44K€ before tax (~33K after tax).
I'm one of the better paid in my peers, however seeing salaries talk online, I feel a bit "cheated". People are talking about making 100Ks and vesting.
Should I be asking for more? Should I move elsewhere (possible VISA requirements) ?
Whats your take on this gap?
- No, you're not being paid enough. No one is.
- You don't say what level you're at. 44k for a junior is good. For a senior it's not great.
- Salaries posted online only tell part of the story. For example, if you compare your wages to the USA they're low, but you don't need to pay for things like health insurance.
- Very few developers are paid a lot. There's usually other responsibilities that account for the higher salary (eg leading a team, architecture design, being more client-facing, etc). That takes the role some way out of being a developer and into something else. If you love the challenges coding that could be a problem.
- Re "vesting" - Ignore equity in salary negotiation unless you're taking on a role that could genuinely influence the success of the company and won't be diluted to zero before any exit.
- Always ask for more, but don't expect to actually get it unless there's a good reason. "I could earn more elsewhere" is a reason for you to leave; it's not a reason for the business to pay you more.
That seems about right to me. In Paris I know several people getting about 42/46 at the same level of experience. So 44 outside of Paris is not bad at all.
Although, there is a huge disparity. There are some opportunity at 70k in Paris for 5Y of experience..