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Comment by koralatov | Hacker News Reader

How good a salary is $60k? In the UK, £60k is a really good salary, and about three times the earnings average. (I know that £60k is more like $96k, once you convert it, but I'm not sure how good a salary that is in US terms.)

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It depends on the area. In Seattle, it'd probably be seen as junior-mid-level compensation. In the Midwest, it is more solid-mid-level. Generally speaking, $60k income is solidly middle class, perhaps with a hint of "upper middle class", again dependent on the region.

Salaries for web programmers in the US usually cap out around $100k for the most senior guys, +-20k, depending on the region (the Bay Area being the exception, where senior-level guys will get closer to 200). Programmers who do lower level stuff (OSes, etc.) can usually expect to cap out at something like 140, +-20k. In most cases, you're not going to get more than that unless you either a) become a manager or b) have unusual circumstances around your employment (like name recognition).

If you're in some sort of "web developer" ghetto, maybe that's possible. If you have a software engineering job title, you can get over $100k entry level in Seattle, even if your actual job duties involve web development. This is total comp, not base.

Microsoft offers $72k (or used to) for entry-level SDE.

Over $100k for entry-level around Seattle seems too much unless that company is printing good money every milliseconds.

I don't think that MSFT figure is accurate at all anymore. From what I understand from some of my peers, they start somewhere around $85-90k now, base salary. Glassdoor more or less agrees, for whatever they are worth.

"Used to" are the key words. Check Glassdoor. It's gone up in the past few years.

Also note that "Middle class" doesn't translate well between British and American English.

$60k as a developer in Seattle is pretty crappy, but I guess if you need a class like this to break into the profession...you gotta start somewhere. You would need to double that salary to enter the range where you could afford to buy a house in the city limits. Between the $60k salary and the 6 months to land a job they have a pretty good hedge.

It is a great teaser and certainly is the most initially intriguing thing about this program, so from a marketing perspective it is brilliant!

It's far far above median for jobs in the US, but on the lower end for web development jobs in general. I'd say it's quite normal for a starter position nowadays.

Entirely depends on the area of the US. In rural areas that is a fantastic salary. In any major urban area that is below average.

We're in Seattle, where the average Rails salary is more like $80-100k [1]. Our guarantee is at least a $60k job offer.

[1] http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-ruby+on+rails/l...

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