Good friend of mine is on the job hunt, but has come to the realization that he doesn't want to be a VP/engineering manager, he just wants to code. His concern is getting stuck at lower salary ceilings. Any advice I can share back?
One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from the Dilbert cartoonist. His advice that you can either be in the top 5% at one thing or the top 25% at two things.
Most engineers I mentor make the "mistake" of only focusing on being good at "programming". There is nothing wrong with it, but I'd argue that there is a much lower ceiling than if you were an expert at both programming in general and some niche topic.
In my case I'd say math is the other leg I specialize in, with market micro structure being a close third.
In the general case it could be something like SEO, visual design, or a particular industry like logistics.
The other way to make more is to be closer to the money. If you are developing a product then you are considered a cost center, ie a negative on cash flow not a positive. Sales on the other hand is often the canonical example of a boundless upper limit on compensation as they can directly draw a line from incoming revenue to themselves.
Don't be a programmer, be an engineer who can solve real world business problems. Even better be able to draw a straight line from your work to incoming revenue!
I manage a small team, with people in the valley. Every year I talk to people I know at places like Netflix, Google, etc, to make sure I'm compensating my people well.
Last year the .01% of engineers, the best of the best, people that Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix seek out and recruit, topped out at $325K for their total comp (salary, health plan, 401K match, bonuses, everything).
Bear in mind that these are the best people, people that can code, can communicate, can ship. Most people don't make this because they are not this good, which is fine. I'm just letting you know how high you can go if you are very, very good at engineering. It's kinda cool, when I was an IC, there was a pretty hard ceiling at about $150K, if you wanted more than that you had to manage.
Also bear in mind that I'm a single source and may have gotten the wrong info (though if that's the case I'd love to be corrected, I use this info for how I comp my people).
As a full-time employee in the purely technical track, greater responsibility and pay would come through architectural and design roles.
If he really just wants to code, the best way to maximize income would just be develop a career as a consultant rather than a staff engineer. The biggest opportunities for writing code for a ton of money are in a few intense roles, usually associated with R&D on a core product. It's not easy to stumble into those opportunities, and if your friend had the skills to go down that path, he'd already know.
It depends how good he is... At a top company, a top "coding" engineer can make a lot of money. But, many people who are not even close to "top" think they are in fact, "top".
There's room between "he just wants to code" and management. Primary skills I'd focus on are learning strong communication skills and understanding the business, and dev-ops.
This. Some actual things we all do to improve our value but not become people persons:
Mentoring and training employees with less technical skill.
Reviewing workflow and looking for ways to "work smarter not harder".
Developing tools which help us internally.
Prototyping ideas which could become customer-facing value-adds.
Finding ways separate parts of the business can help each other. One group will do something another group doesn't, how could having that insight help the second group and vice versa?
It can be done but you still have to work hard to achieve this. For example you will have to make a name for yourself outside of your regular work. For example become a Microsoft MVP or similar. Contribute or create projects that are recognised by people in your industry.
Effectively you have to become like a well known actor. So that when someone is starting a project ('movie') they want to hire you for it no matter the cost.
In 99% of software engineering positions, the ability to code, above a certain threshold, matters less than your ability to communicate, your domain knowledge, your professionalism, and your ability to ship.
If he "just wants to code," he's going to get stuck. If he wants to be a software professional, the sky is the limit for skilled individuals.
Most engineers I mentor make the "mistake" of only focusing on being good at "programming". There is nothing wrong with it, but I'd argue that there is a much lower ceiling than if you were an expert at both programming in general and some niche topic.
In my case I'd say math is the other leg I specialize in, with market micro structure being a close third.
In the general case it could be something like SEO, visual design, or a particular industry like logistics.
The other way to make more is to be closer to the money. If you are developing a product then you are considered a cost center, ie a negative on cash flow not a positive. Sales on the other hand is often the canonical example of a boundless upper limit on compensation as they can directly draw a line from incoming revenue to themselves.
Don't be a programmer, be an engineer who can solve real world business problems. Even better be able to draw a straight line from your work to incoming revenue!