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Comment by mkl95 | Hacker News Reader

> Landing lead/lower management roles seems to be difficult if you have limited experience leading people. Those seem to be mostly staffed internally.

Because at most places lead/lower management is another word for yes men that have proven their blind loyalty to the CTO, usually for 2 or 3 years. They don't wanna hire a manager who may question the status quo, especially when it comes to architecture and best practices.

> The market value for a profile like mine in a big German city seems to be around 100k € including some small bonus.

That sounds low to me and attainable in Europe if you have 5+ YoE at the right places. It sounds to me like you are being lowballed. I'm getting similar offers with way less experience.

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> That sounds low to me and attainable in Europe if you have 5+ YoE at the right places. It sounds to me like you are being lowballed. I'm getting similar offers with way less experience.

Where you at?

In the Netherlands getting anything over €70k is incredibly hard. There are very few companies offering close to that and those are often for architecture roles. Lead dev is usually €60-70k, with some €70-80k exceptions, but those usually require ~10 years focused experience.

Interestingly, over here the freelance market is much better. Those will easily get you €100-150k gross and are often quite long term. And even with €100k, combined with all the tax benefits it's very much worth it.

My country is lower income than the Netherlands and Germany. 70k is upper management money here and a bit more than what I make.

I have talked to some companies in Ireland and the UK in the last few months, and their ranges usually start at 80/90k. The most famous example is probably Google. Entry level (L3) is 100k-ish and L4 starts at ~120k. Even if OP was placed at a below average level for someone with 15 YoE, they should be getting 150k+ offers.

>In the Netherlands getting anything over €70k is incredibly hard.

Well, it's definitely possible in Poland.

Certainly not. You are just underpaid and speak from your experience.

Specially in Germany middle management is all about contacts (they call it "B-Vitamin" because of the german word for "relationship" starts with "B") who do you know and who knows you is the most important thing... Technical background is relegated to a second plane (to say the least) because you are "not supposed to solve the problems, but to manage the people who actually solve the problems".

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