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Taking a Look At High-End Programmer Salaries

Posted by timothy on from the today-let's-take-the-gold-robot dept.

msmoriarty writes "Our reporter decided to try to document the high end of programmer salaries (at least in the US). It seems that $300,000 to $400,000 and up is not unheard of in the financial industry, but the highest salary we could document was apx. $1.2 million, earned by Sergey Aleynikov, who was later convicted of stealing proprietary source code from a previous employer, Goldman Sachs."

6 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Ah, but by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But programming was a minor part of Aleynikov's job.

    His primary duty was keeping his mouth shut.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Ah, but by chord.wav · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Same as any well-payed job.

      "Every organization rests upon a mountain of secrets" - Julian Assange

    2. Re:Ah, but by NNKK · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Whether he keeps his mouth shut about how the algos work or other dodgy goings-on is irrelevant. Non-disclosure is non-disclosure.

      Not in the US. You cannot contractually forbid someone from reporting illegal activity.

  2. Financial Industry by ThomasFlip · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From my understanding, programmers making 300 - 400 thousand in the financial industry are typically quantitative analysts or financial engineers with masters degrees or Phds in these fields. Their primary duties are things like modeling complicated financial scenarios or finding statistical anomalies to exploit in high frequency trading. Yes they code their strategies but I don't know if I'd put them in the same category as your typical programmer.

    --
    If the dollar is an "I owe you nothing", then the Euro is a "Who owes you nothing." - Doug Casey
    1. Re:Financial Industry by cptdondo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I owned a consulting company. There's a reason why you make so much. You work that much harder, and you put your entire financial future on the line every time you sign a big contract or fire an employee.

      I now work for a public utility. Regular hours, no worries, and a regular paycheck. Yes it's half of what I used to make, but I have half the hours and a quarter of the stress.

  3. bonuses and stock options by OutputLogic · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The article doesn't differentiate between base salary and "extras", such as bonuses, stock options, and other forms of compensations. Stock option grants can easily amount to a yearly base compensation in large Silicon Valley shops. And bonuses at Goldman Sachs is even more.