Support NeoGAF

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

€1850 x 12 + 50% christmas bonus = €23,125.

edit - before tax. My actual wages are much lower, fuck you PSRI and USC, paying for welfare and shit.

 

[zewone]

what would you like to know?

What type of specializations would you recommend to study up on?

 

[kaioshade]

what would you like to know?

Exactly what certs are needed.

I murdered myself trying to get certs and get some skills, and im barely scraping by.

 

[Tabris]

And yet I'm part of the extreme left who believes in basic income for everyone. Your life comes down to luck as much as "hard work" in my opinion.

First congratulations on your retirement, that's awesome! I'm a socialist personally as well. I believe in base income, high taxes (except those at base income), universal education, universal internet, universal healthcare, etc, etc.

I also agree that people's lives come down to luck, well not luck in the traditional sense, but favourable situations and opportunities, and then someone's success is based on being opportunistic around your favourable situations that occur. Some people don't get those favourable situations or are in an environment that isn't conducive to them. So it's important that those that have been fortunate to have those situations, need to take care of those that haven't.

Anyways, it's nothing political that people try to invalidate. It's just things like my tastes and wants I post about on GAF.

 

[missfuuchan]

I'm 30 and a teacher in England (Head of Department) and make just under £40k ($60k) a year before tax - I also help my husband to run an Etsy business which brings in around £10k ($15k) (he works part time too)

 

[deadlast]

when I was 19/20 I was making around 24k. That was 20yrs ago. Now I make a lot more but have to support 4 people not counting myself. So, I literally make less than I did when I was 20.

 

[Alcotholic]

38k/year
Manager of a board game social space.
23 years old.

 

[LyleLanley]

Eh, fine. I'll be interested to see how this gets used to invalidate my arguements.

Sales. I live in Vancouver. I'm just over 30. Income is $90k base salary + commission in my role. My commission has ranged from $50k to $100k+ on top of base.

I'm hoping to change this up soon though. I have a startup idea (well multiple ideas into a B2B SaaS solution) that I have been working on over the last 6 months. I had taken a break from work for a while to work on it. Feasibility & market analysis, costing plan, use cases, ui design, prototyping, etc complete. Business plan is pending a lot of things but the initial framework is done. I'm in the coding stage for pre-alpha, which is exhaustingly boring and takes a while (often why you'll see me on GAF up at 2am). I am trying to see if I can go the organic growth route instead of VC investment so it'll be a slow burn over the next 6-12 months before even considering go to market. Right now just side project as I cannot afford anymore to work on the startup idea only, and it's a long one as it's not a simple app.

So we'll see how it is in 12-24 months when I may commit fully to the startup and may be broke.

Man, after all that buildup I thought you were going to say you make half a million or something.

 

[bananafactory]

27 and I work as a desktop/systems analyst managing software packaging and deployment for a large engineering and consulting firm
I make $60 000/year (CAD) which is enough to scrape by on my own

 

[Bisnic]

31, making 40000$ a year(in Canada) doing the usual IT "lvl 2" stuff : managing accounts & access through Active Directory, replacing/imaging computers, contacting compagnies for repairing stuff, supporting the first line of the helpdesk, managing inventory and tickets, helping people with their issues with computers, software, printers, videoconference, phones, network connection, etc. that the first line of the helpdesk couldn't fix.

But i'm contracted... I'm sure I could do more if I wasn't, but it's hard to find proof of that, or to even find a job that isn't contracted.

 

[demosthenes]

65k before bonus. 29 years old.

 

[KingCookie5]

24 living in Alberta Canada, 110,000 working in the oilfield industry. See what happens with everything going on there.

 

[kaioshade]

First congratulations on your retirement, that's awesome! I'm a socialist personally as well. I believe in base income, high taxes (except those at base income), universal education, universal internet, universal healthcare, etc, etc.

I also agree that people's lives come down to luck, well not luck in the traditional sense, but favourable situations and opportunities, and then someone's success is based on being opportunistic around your favourable situations that occur. Some people don't get those favourable situations or are in an environment that isn't conducive to them. So it's important that those that have been fortunate to have those situations, need to take care of those that haven't.

Anyways, it's nothing political that people try to invalidate. It's just things like my tastes and wants I post about on GAF.

Its good someone recognizes that hard work can ultimately not mean a damned thing for a lot of people.

 

[Calamari41]

Man, after all that buildup I thought you were going to say you make half a million or something.

I'm wondering if that's in Canadian dollars, as well. If so, multiply it by .76

 

[Alexlf]

$43,000 23 years old

Wow, are you me?

EDIT:
Canadian though, so probably worth less ;_;

 

[pezley]

Considering the average US household income for 2015 was $53,657 (and that's household not individual) it's safe to assume that the only thing more exaggerated on GAF than income is dick size.

I don't agree with this ( although can't back up that GAF people aren't lying ) but predominantly gaming is quite an expensive hobby and the average salary here rather then on other forums is likely to be higher. Remember that whilst the average income is low for familys that is across a whole country where there are extremely poor areas, these people likely aren't posting on gaming enthusiasts forums.

If you asked this question on a Ferarri owners forum, you would see a much higher average salary again just due to the content of the forum and who it attracts.

 

[Epsilon-delta]

First congratulations on your retirement, that's awesome! I'm a socialist personally as well. I believe in base income, high taxes (except those at base income), universal education, universal internet, universal healthcare, etc, etc.

I also agree that people's lives come down to luck, well not luck in the traditional sense, but favourable situations and opportunities, and then someone's success is based on being opportunistic around your favourable situations that occur. Some people don't get those favourable situations or are in an environment that isn't conducive to them. So it's important that those that have been fortunate to have those situations, need to take care of those that haven't.

Thank you and I agree with all of this, especially the last sentence.

Anyways, it's nothing political that people try to invalidate. It's just things like my tastes and wants I post about on GAF.

Ah, ok.

 

[Tabris]

I'm wondering if that's in Canadian dollars, as well. If so, multiply it by .76

Commission is in US dollars, base salary is in Canadian dollars. But doesn't work like that.

It's more like base salary at 1.00 and commission at 1.31 because my costs are in Canadian, not American. If my costs were in American, then your statement would make sense.

Or if you were to base my salary on .76, you would have to base my costs on .76 as well.

 

[Calamari41]

Commission is in US dollars, base salary is in Canadian dollars. But doesn't work like that.

It's more like base salary at 1.00 and commission at 1.31 because my costs are in Canadian, not American. If my costs were in American, then your statement would make sense.

Ok, that makes sense. Sounds like you would hypothetically want to push for a higher commission at the expense of a lower base, right? Why is it split like that?

The costs thing isn't really at issue, since that varies even city by city in the same country. Isn't Vancouver a pretty high cost of living area compared to the rest of Canada, which is what the .76 represents?

 

[Epix]

$150k a year, mobile application development for a fortune 500 company. 33 years old.

 

[thestopsign]

I'm 22, make ~65k before taxes with good room to grow. This does not including my project based bonus that might be a few extra grand. I work as a construction manager outside Memphis. I have a lot of friends that just graduated technically making more than me in the same field, but they live in more expensive cities like New York, Boston, and DC, so I am probably taking more in overall.

The salary is pretty high because the company requires you to move around a lot (sometimes multiple times a year), it means I could be stuck in a cornfield in Oklahoma for a year on a moments notice. The hours are also pretty long, like typically 6:30AM to 5:30PM, with Saturdays required a lot of the time (thankfully not on my current project for me). I am young though and don't really have any commitments or anything so long hours and travel don't bother me.

 

[Tabris]

Ok, that makes sense. Sounds like you would hypothetically want to push for a higher commission at the expense of a lower base, right? Why is it split like that?

Because I work for a US-based company (with offices internationally) on both Canadian, US, and some International deals. So they pay my salary in Canadian as well as the rest of their workers in Canada, but they pay commission on the deals based on US currency because that's what those deals are closed in / billed at.

The costs thing isn't really at issue, since that varies even city by city in the same country. Isn't Vancouver a pretty high cost of living area compared to the rest of Canada, which is what the .76 represents?

No it doesn't work like that either. Cost of living isn't associated with currency rate directly, except for things like import products. Like for example, buying a video game in Canada has been adjusted to the currency rate as those video games are based on US dollars because they are imported in by the stores, but my mortgage costs, groceries, restaurants, etc aren't adjusted based on currency rate.

Vancouver was expensive when Canadian dollar was more then US dollar and it's just as expensive when it's less then US dollar. You pay a bit more for things like video games, electronics, etc but generally cost of living isn't directly influenced by currency fluctuations.

 

[many places]

35, freelance tv camera op, $128k so far this year.

Damn! For tv shows or news? This seems cool.

 

[captive]

What type of specializations would you recommend to study up on?

I believe you said you were a network administrator. This is the first problem in IT, are you actually dealing with networking equipment or are you server guy or sort of both? If you can tell me some more information I would be happy to give some more advice for you.

Exactly what certs are needed.

I murdered myself trying to get certs and get some skills, and im barely scraping by.

I have no certs. I need to work on my MCSE for private cloud and data center, my employer wants us to have certs since we are consultants.

My path went like this:
1) helpdesk tier 1 in 2008 for a smaller hospital. I like smaller companies because they let you more or less do just about anything. So I started learning Server Administration, starting with Windows Update Services for our client machines, none of which had been updated in forever. The downside of smaller companies, if people aren't on top of their shit, stuff falls by the wayside.

2) after proving myself for several years we were going to do a windows 7 migration from XP. I specifically told my boss that I wanted to be the lead technical person on that project. Enter Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. I deployed SCCM 2007 with my coworker and we did the migration. This was huge, I had no idea at the time how huge SCCM is.

3) I was summarily fired by an idiot CIO that came in and proceeded to turnover the helpdesk 3 or 4 times. Less than a week later I had a new job, which was supposed to be doing SCCM administration, but that boss was an idiot too. So I left after 6 months.

4) I got another SCCM job and at this job I learned SCOM 2012 (System Center Operations Manager). This was a good learning experience, but I unfortunately I was let go because of budget cuts. This was 2013.

5) I got another job at another smaller company because of my System Center experience. My boss wanted the whole suite deployed. So I deployed the whole suite. I learned System Center Orchestrator, and Virtual Machine Manager in addition to gaining more experience in SCCM, SCOM. After 10 months the another new CIO came in and pushed my boss out, which wasn't cool so I decided to leave and I got my current job as a System Center consultant.


Hot Microsoft technologies are Hyperv, azure, system center, Powershell/Powershell Desired State configuration(this is still very young), Office 365 to name a few.

 

[Lovely Salsa]

There are a lot more posters with lower than average incomes than there are posters listing off incomes which cause people to consider them as being "rich."

Is 105k dollars a year in your early 20s not considered a good salary in US? Thats what, 80k after taxes there? *depending on the state

To earn that much after taxes here in sweden you have to earn like 160k usd a year, and very very few 20 year olds earn that salary here.

 

[Calamari41]

Is 105k dollars a year in your early 20s not considered a good salary in US? Thats what, 80k after taxes there? *depending on the state

To earn that much after taxes here in sweden you have to earn like 160k usd a year, and very very few 20 year olds earn that salary here.

No, it is a very good salary. I'm just saying that there seem to be as many or more people posting salaries below the 50k range. It's not like everyone in the thread is falsely claiming to be a 20 year old 1%er. Nothing so far has seemed outlandish from my perspective. For what it's worth, the standard starting salary in my industry (aerospace in Southern California) for engineering grads and such is around the $85k per year range.

My comment came in response to someone who seemed to be suggesting that a lot of posters in here were exaggerating their salaries as they would do with their dick size.

 

[SirJackDaniels]

I also agree that people's lives come down to luck, well not luck in the traditional sense, but favourable situations and opportunities, and then someone's success is based on being opportunistic around your favourable situations that occur. Some people don't get those favourable situations or are in an environment that isn't conducive to them. So it's important that those that have been fortunate to have those situations, need to take care of those that haven't.

I completely agree. I used my childhood as a driving force. It was quite terrible to see my single mom having to steal mars bars from the supermarket just to give us some treats. My mother still doesn't know that i saw her stealing.

I only finished high school, dropped out of college. Me & My brother started a new business, which almost went bankrupt in 2011-2012. Now we support other businesses as "consultants". We even acquired each 6% shares in a company from whom we each receive 12K monthly as management fee. 6% of these shares alone are worth 500K.

We donate to a school in Asia. Support several children to go through school.
I have some of their photo's in my office. I'll never forget my childhood.

 

[Ray Wonder]

Bout to be like 2 mil a year after my mixtape drop

 

[anarckitty]

~22k a year, part time.
... It's not gonna last. It's a killing for Italy.


There's multiple biases at work:
- People comfortable with posting their income are likely very satisfied with it
- Basically half of those who're posting there are into IT, which pays fairly above average, andor in a tech metropolis
- Everything gets rounded up when you're bragging
and so on.

I actually rounded down for mine.... Of course I only make 35k and some change. My husband makes 43k, so we're doing alright.

 

[electricshake]

29, research scientist, ~£20k ($30k). Pretty shit but I don't have rent/mortgage to lay which helps. Still could do with more though!

 

[Slayer-33]

30, $75,000 / year , network administrator.

I'm intrigued.

In 30s, corporate lawyer, NYC, and let's just say enough money to buy all the emotes in Destiny.

IT folks need to teach me the ways! I should have been doing IT a long time ago already.. It has always been my thing but I've been doing campus security lol... 32K a year in NYC...

Jesus Christ this thread man.. We got some baller bro NYC'ers in here.

 

[entremet]

Want my SSN, DOB, and blood type too lol.

If people are curious about salaries go to Glassdoor.com.

 

[TheGrue]

42 years old and made about $150K last year. Am a sales engineer in the data networking field.

Edit to add that I worked my way up from a $10 an hour tech support job to where I am today back when I was 25 (not with the same company or anything, but was able to start there and get promotions to take on the role I have today at my last couple of companies). I have a Bachelors and Masters, but neither actually contributed to my career in the end.

 

[Fug Slanderson]

I'm 36 and make about 16k after taxes. It's pretty amazing that I can live on that, but I live frugally. Of course I'd like to make more, but I honestly don't know how without going back to school and getting further in debt.

 

[rugioh]

Just turned 26 a few weeks ago, currently at 125k in programming. Don't hurt me!

 

[thestopsign]

No, it is a very good salary. I'm just saying that there seem to be as many or more people posting salaries below the 50k range. It's not like everyone in the thread is falsely claiming to be a 20 year old 1%er. Nothing so far has seemed outlandish from my perspective. For what it's worth, the standard starting salary in my industry (aerospace in Southern California) for engineering grads and such is around the $85k per year range.

My comment came in response to someone who seemed to be suggesting that a lot of posters in here were exaggerating their salaries as they would do with their dick size.

Yea engineering and software development degrees right now have pretty high base salaries, if you are even remotely interested in those fields going into college I highly recommend them. As an engineering student at my school, I can't really think of anyone who didn't get a job in the field if they were trying to. Average starting salary was typically north of 50-60k.

I think GAF has a reasonable bit of economic diversity, in fact I am surprised no one has come in here boasting a salary more than 200k or so (though I think if there are people making that much they might be less inclined to share it).

 

[Pagusas]

This thread kinda reminds me no matter how disappointed I am with my own fiscal goals, I'm still really lucky and have done well. There is a huge disparity in here between people and I'm honestly very surprised by it. I figured Gaf would be mostly late 20/30 year olds in the arts or IT field, so I presumed the vast majority of us would be middle/upper middle class (we all have an expensive hobby after all) but what I'm seeing here is far more eye opening.

I wish there was a way we could all see every moment of each others lives and identify those key points that either propelled us forward or pushed us back.

For those trying hard to make more, my biggest advice is to be super observant to the needs of your employer, develop a speciality you know your employer needs than leverage that skill as much as you can to become a force in the company with it. Its hard but worth it to hit that breakthrough point where you realize system depend on you.

I live in Dallas (well a subburb of). Our income goes a very long way here. We have people move here from NY that are amazing how much further their income goes, though that is changing as the city turns more into a major player in the world. Our house value in 6 months has already went up 8%, and 14% in the last 12 months! We could arleady sell it for a major profit and have only owned it sense March!

 

[The Lamp]

I make a good salary but I have six figure debt from college so my net usable income is not so good.

 

[Grakl]

20 and in college.

Gonna be $20/hour at my upcoming internship for 6 months where I'm doing data analytics, when not on that I'm doing a work-study for a little less than $10 an hour.

 

[jet1911]

Between 45k and 50k CND. I'm a cook, 31 years old.

 

[BIGWORM]

Between me and my girl, ~$65k

 

[mcz117chief]

$3,5 an hour. Pretty decent salary for a student in my country.

 

[Lovely Salsa]

No, it is a very good salary. I'm just saying that there seem to be as many or more people posting salaries below the 50k range. It's not like everyone in the thread is falsely claiming to be a 20 year old 1%er. Nothing so far has seemed outlandish from my perspective. For what it's worth, the standard starting salary in my industry (aerospace in Southern California) for engineering grads and such is around the $85k per year range.

My comment came in response to someone who seemed to be suggesting that a lot of posters in here were exaggerating their salaries as they would do with their dick size.

yea you guys earn good in america. There's quite a few posters in here that earn 100k+

Over here the average working joe earns between 30-40k euro. At 50k you'd be considered upper middleclass (outside Stockholm)

 

[Patryn]

$120k + bonuses, software engineer. 35 years old.

 

[kaioshade]

This thread kinda reminds me no matter how disappointed I am with my own fiscal goals, I'm still really lucky and have done well. There is a huge disparity in here between people and I'm honestly very surprised by it. I figured Gaf would be mostly late 20/30 year olds in the arts or IT field, so I presumed the vast majority of us would be middle/upper middle class (we all have an expensive hobby after all) but what I'm seeing here is far more eye opening.

I wish there was a way we could all see every moment of each others lives and identify those key points that either propelled us forward or pushed us back.

As far as hobbies go, you can enjoy something without being able to completely indulge on it. i love my gaming, but nowhere near the status of some other posters here that i can even get some of the gaming gear i want.

This thread is depressing.

I have no certs. I need to work on my MCSE for private cloud and data center, my employer wants us to have certs since we are consultants.

My path went like this:
1) helpdesk tier 1 in 2008 for a smaller hospital. I like smaller companies because they let you more or less do just about anything. So I started learning Server Administration, starting with Windows Update Services for our client machines, none of which had been updated in forever. The downside of smaller companies, if people aren't on top of their shit, stuff falls by the wayside.

2) after proving myself for several years we were going to do a windows 7 migration from XP. I specifically told my boss that I wanted to be the lead technical person on that project. Enter Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. I deployed SCCM 2007 with my coworker and we did the migration. This was huge, I had no idea at the time how huge SCCM is.

3) I was summarily fired by an idiot CIO that came in and proceeded to turnover the helpdesk 3 or 4 times. Less than a week later I had a new job, which was supposed to be doing SCCM administration, but that boss was an idiot too. So I left after 6 months.

4) I got another SCCM job and at this job I learned SCOM 2012 (System Center Operations Manager). This was a good learning experience, but I unfortunately I was let go because of budget cuts. This was 2013.

5) I got another job at another smaller company because of my System Center experience. My boss wanted the whole suite deployed. So I deployed the whole suite. I learned System Center Orchestrator, and Virtual Machine Manager in addition to gaining more experience in SCCM, SCOM. After 10 months the another new CIO came in and pushed my boss out, which wasn't cool so I decided to leave and I got my current job as a System Center consultant.


Hot Microsoft technologies are Hyperv, azure, system center, Powershell/Powershell Desired State configuration(this is still very young), Office 365 to name a few.

THIS is why this thread is depressing, and how much luck plays into it. Someone worked hard with no certs and is doing well (which is awesome), i murdered myself in shit jobs WITH certs, and im making literally HALF of some other posters here.

 

[LucidMomentum]

23, Electrical Engineer doing Instrumentation, Controls and Electrical (ICE) engineering work for the Oil & Gas industry. We also have some alternative energy projects as well.

I currently keep 6 cogeneration facilities in the state of California running. Each plant generates from 75 to 300 MW of power on demand, which is enough to power from 75000 to 300000 homes.

The energy is sold dirt cheap to power grids in the local area in order to help offset peak demand, and the steam generated is sold to the oil fields in order to help them get the crude oil out of the ground.

We pride ourselves on efficiency, low emissions, and rapid response to energy demands.

I make 91,000 a year before taxes. After taxes, insurance, etc. I probably see around 45% of that.

I have little living expenses beyond a modest rent (still at home with parents), car, student loans, and bills like phone, storage space, etc.

I'm pretty content, the work is challenging but the work/life balance is good, and I feel the pay is great for where I live.

I just hate when I'm asked because my friends and some of my family don't all make nearly as much so it becomes awkward. I'd just rather pay for meals and stuff when we're all out to show my appreciation for having me spend my time off with them.

THIS is why this thread is depressing, and how much luck plays into it. Someone worked hard with no certs and is doing well (which is awesome), i murdered myself in shit jobs WITH certs, and im making literally HALF of some other posters here.

Luck definitely has a play in these things, which is why I always chuckle when people say all they had to do is "work hard." I mean granted, I've worked really hard to be here, but I was fortunate to get one of the few temp work positions right out of high school with this company that led to my two summer internships that led to the position I'm in now. Hard work only gets you so far, you have to know when to make that lucky break work.

Good grief, please go work in the private sector. You don't solve Navier-Stokes transport phenomena problems to make $50k a year with 15 years of experience.

Yeah I'd agree with that. If you have any certifications, you'd be valuable basically anywhere with that kind of credentials.

I need to work on my credentials, but my job has had me training so much I've been lazy about anything else.

 

[The Lamp]

Just over 50k

I'm 39. Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering, 15 years experience.

Yep, you read that right. Because state employees don't deserve to be paid what they are worth, despite court rulings that pay shall be commensurate with education and experience.

Good grief, please go work in the private sector. You don't solve Navier-Stokes transport phenomena problems to make $50k a year with 15 years of experience.

 

[Sami+]

19, student, work part time for the state. $10 an hour.

 

[knicks]

Do you own a business? are you a consultant? software developer? come on you can't just throw that number and not say anything.

especially at his/her age

I'm 23, and three of my friends who are also my age are software developers and get paid around that. It's fucking crazy. And they work at very laid back places. They don't even have to get into their office until 10-10:30 and it's not like they are there until 8 PM either.

That field is crazy.

 

[kevo_huevo]

29 years old, business systems analyst.
90k base annual salary with 2 bonuses paid out at typically 12% and 4% during the year.

I recently changed jobs; I was doing the same thing but only at 53k base, no bonuses. It's been a life-changing opportunity for my fiancee and I.