
Ask HN: How to make 250K+/yr. What are my career options? - throwaway314
Hi,
I'm in my late 20s. I'm a software engineer and work for one of the biggest software companies in bay area. I make about 115k/yr + maybe 10-20K bonus depending on the year. Its not a bad pay, but not great either.
I like coding and one of the things I enjoy. But, I'm not able to see any growth both in terms of career satisfaction and most importantly to me - money.
What are my career options to make more than 250K/yr in the next say 3-4 years? Why this arbitrary figure? There are no reasons really, but this is just a "target" figure and I know I want to be making more money.  
While there are no reasons, I'm very much motivated by the fact of making money than to live a lifestyle which needs this kind of money. It maybe a wrong approach, but like I said, money is a great motivator for me. I don't have any commitments like mortgage and don't see anything coming up in the next few years.<p>Right now, my options seem to be either:<p>1) Do a MBA and get into investment banking. Probably finance is the only thing I might be interested in (hence Investment Banking). Not sure, how hard it is to get a 250K job these days given the lot of MBAs laid off last year. I've really not researched this option well, but it just seems
"Wall street" is a lucrative option. Don't know how hard it is land a lucrative job.<p>2) Try to do projects/web apps on the side which may bring additional income and/or try to do consulting on the side. However this is not 
a sure thing, unlike MBA.<p>I've gone mostly along #2 so far - tried hacking projects on the side for couple of years, but I've not made any money. Either the projects failed to complete or the ones that I persisted, I wasn't able to achieve any traction.<p>ps: This is a throwaway account for obvious reasons of mentioning my salary etc.
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byoung2
_most importantly to me - money_

I hope this post isn't serious. If money for money's sake is your primary
motivation, you're setting yourself up for a big disappointment. With no
commitments like a mortgage, and none coming up, what can you do with $250k
that you can't do with $115k?

As for #1, an MBA to go work on Wall Street in this financial climate is a
hard way to go, and you have clearly "not researched this option well" as you
say. An MBA is most certainly _not_ a sure thing.

As for #2, this is probably the better bet in the long run, but you are likely
going to have to suffer through some long years of "not great" pay in the
sub-$115k range before the moneybags come rolling in.

~~~
throwaway314
No, this is a very honest question which has been lurking my mind for a while.
Sorry, if I had worded it badly. Its not like money is my only motivation. I
definitely do want to things I enjoy (coding/math/statistics/entrepreneurship)
or at least as close to it as possible. I would never compromise that. But to
answer your question "what can you do with $250k that you can't do with
$115k?" -- I have thought about this for a long time. In fact I use this
argument to suppress my dissatisfaction of not making enough money. I guess
I'm not a content person when it comes to money and I guess I feel it is a
measure of career progress and that I'm moving forward rather than being
stagnant. Of course I would be kidding myself, if I say its the only measure
of progress, there is always the value produced for obtaining that money.

~~~
byoung2
Since $250k is an arbitrary number, when you reach it, what's to stop you from
writing this same post asking how you can make $500k?

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philiphodgen
As someone older than you whose income well exceeds your target, here is the
advice. Deliver value to the universe first. In at least an order of magnitude
larger than your target. In other words, make people really really happy and
they will vote for you with little green pieces of paper.

Job description is not so important, though I probBly would stay away from
poetry. :-) Go find and listen to the Merlin Mann/John Gruber panel at SXSW
where they talk about what made them successful. Obsession plus voice. This
Concept works with my wife's clothing business. It works with my international
tax lawyering. It works for Gruber. It will work for you.

Find an obsession. I backed into mine by a process of elimination - discarding
things I did not like. Then give. Listen to that panel where they talk about
how much they give away. Then reap the harvest.

When the harvest comes you will be a different man. Long ago I was whining to
a wise old man about wanting a big black Benz. He said "When you can afford it
you won't want it."

I drive a Honda.

~~~
carbocation
>I probBly would stay away from poetry ... I drive a Honda.

And, based on the structure of that typo (missed the 'a' key, hit uppercase
key instead, followed by a now-capitalized 'B'), you almost certainly own an
iPhone :-)

~~~
philiphodgen
Bingo! :-)

in my own defense I have not purchased the new one. Yet.

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starkfist
Become a dermatologist.

