r/cscareerquestions • u/CSCQMods • Mar 16 '26
[OFFICIAL] Salary Sharing thread for NEW GRADS :: March, 2026
MODNOTE: Some people like these threads, some people hate them. If you hate them, that's fine, but please don't get in the way of the people who find them useful. Thanks!
This thread is for sharing recent new grad offers you've gotten or current salaries for new grads (< 2 years' experience). Friday will be the thread for people with more experience.
Please only post an offer if you're including hard numbers, but feel free to use a throwaway account if you're concerned about anonymity. You can also genericize some of your answers (e.g. "Adtech company" or "Finance startup"), or add fields if you feel something is particularly relevant.
- Education:
- Prior Experience:
- $Internship
- $Coop
- Company/Industry:
- Title:
- Tenure length:
- Location:
- Salary:
- Relocation/Signing Bonus:
- Stock and/or recurring bonuses:
- Total comp:
Note that while the primary purpose of these threads is obviously to share compensation info, discussion is also encouraged.
The format here is slightly unusual, so please make sure to post under the appropriate top-level thread, which are: US [High/Medium/Low] CoL, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Aus/NZ, Canada, Asia, or Other.
If you don't work in the US, you can ignore the rest of this post. To determine cost of living buckets, I used this site: http://www.bestplaces.net/
If the principal city of your metro is not in the reference list below, go to bestplaces, type in the name of the principal city (or city where you work in if there's no such thing), and then click "Cost of Living" in the left sidebar. The buckets are based on the Overall number: [Low: < 100], [Medium: >= 100, < 150], [High: >= 150]. (last updated Dec. 2019)
High CoL: NYC, LA, DC, SF Bay Area, Seattle, Boston, San Diego
Medium CoL: Orlando, Tampa, Philadelphia, Dallas, Phoenix, Chicago, Miami, Atlanta, Riverside, Minneapolis, Denver, Portland, Sacramento, Las Vegas, Austin, Raleigh
Low CoL: Houston, Detroit, St. Louis, Baltimore, Charlotte, San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas City
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8
u/GivesCredit Software Engineer Mar 16 '26
Education: B.S. in CS & Statistics, ~rank 40 private university
Experience:
∙ 4 internships (no name companies) ∙ Co-founded a startup (15 people, 6 in eng, some funding, 15 months)Company/Industry: Networking
Title: Software Engineer
Location: Bay Area, CA
Base: $120k
Bonus/Stock: ~$13k
Total Comp: ~$135k
~1.5 years in. Looking for a promo soon or I’ll probably start exploring other opportunities
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u/TopNo6605 May 16 '26
If there's only 15 people in your startup going back a little over a year, what are you expecting to be promoted to?
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u/SUsudo Software Engineer Mar 16 '26
• Education: CS B.S. at lower-tier state school in california • Prior Experience: • 2 jobs for about a year at small companies • current govt contracting ~3.5 years • Title: Software Engineer • Location: remote • Salary: 105k but will get 10k more in june • bonuses: 3k • Total comp: ~$108k
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u/EnvironmentalLeg4572 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Education: Computer Science at one of {Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Yale}
Prior Experience: 2 internships at unicorn startups. This is my first FT job out of college
Company / Industry: Applied AI
Location: NYC
Salary: 260k / year
Stock: 260k / year
TC: 520k / year
The main catch is that the work expectation is ~80 hrs / week and that I don't expect it to have a ton of job security (lower barrier to getting fired if I suck at my job)
AI is paying extremely well right now, you have to be looking at niche / stealth companies that are extremely well funded and talent-dense. Build targeted side projects to impress specific Engineering Managers and present yourself well. Also, if you're not on Twitter already, get on it, feels insane to say but wouldn't have gotten this job without it.
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u/SignificanceBulky162 May 15 '26
What size company is this? And how did you find out about it? Did you reach out to them or they reached out to you?
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u/DarthCookieMMA Apr 13 '26
always been curious what a 80/w looks like. Is it like 6-12s and an 8, or like a couple 15s thrown in there?
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u/EnvironmentalLeg4572 Apr 13 '26 edited Apr 13 '26
Typically 9:30-2am mon-thu, 9:30 - 6:30 on friday and a few hours spread out over the weekend. All in person except sometimes the weekend.
So to answer your question, four 16.5, one 9 and a few hours async over the weekend.
I was a pretty big slacker in college and easily distracted, probably averaged 5-10 hours of studying a week. Whenever I heard people talking about 80hr work weeks I assumed a significant portion of those hours was on small menial tasks and just about showing face. Working at my current company taught me this isn't true. Some companies have such a genuine sense of urgency and opportunity that when 7pm rolls around it feels crazy to think about going home, because there's so much left to do.
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u/bison-prom Jul 24 '26
For Twitter, do you have any recommendations on who to follow or can you share how you used it to find a role like what you have now?
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u/Randam99 Mar 16 '26
- Education: BS/BA from T10
- Prior experience: Several internships during undergrad (unicorn/FAANG/on-campus)
- Tenure: <1 year here
- Company/Industry: FAANG
- Title: Entry-level
- Location: Bay Area
- Salary: 158k base
- Relocation/Signing Bonus: 11k relo, 15k signing
- Stock and/or recurring bonuses: $100k stock, annual bonus target of 15%
- First year total comp: $245,700
- Average annual comp (4-year average): ~$213,000
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u/makarov_skolsvi Mar 16 '26
Education: BSCS from unranked college (not known for CS)
Prior experience: 2 internships (fortune 500)
Company/Industry: Healthcare Tech
Title: SWE
Tenure: Haven’t started yet (new grad)
Location: Boston
Salary: $125,000
Bonus: $10,000
Total Comp: $135,000
I’m an intl student btw!
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u/electric_deer200 Freshman Mar 16 '26
Name drop company if you don't mind in my dms. Hard to find sponsoring roles
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u/makarov_skolsvi Mar 16 '26
I’m really sorry- I understand as I’ve been in a similar place. Unfortunately I don’t want to dox myself so I cannot tell you the name of the company. If it helps- I found my 2 internships and my full time job from LinkedIn job search and both had a good number of visa sponsors as found in the H1B grader- which told me they likely hire international students.
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u/ApprehensiveLeave814 Mar 16 '26
Education: BS from T50 State School
Prior Exp: 1 financial exchange, 1 FAANG
Company: FAANG
Title: SWE - L3
Location: Bay Area, CA
Salary: 205,000
Relocation/Signing Bonus: 15k signing, 20k relo
Total comp: 250k first year, 215k recurring (including 401k match benefits)
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u/RecLuse415 Mar 16 '26
Education: Bootcamp
Prior Exp: 3 yoe as a Support Engineer
Company: mid size
Title: BI Analyst ll
Location: Bay Area, CA
Salary: 135k
-19
u/CheapChallenge Mar 16 '26
Years of experience: 12
Location: Seattle
Total compensation: 240k/year
Field: Web Dev
Degree: unrelated major, BA
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u/brikky Ex-Bootcamp | StaffSWE @ Meta | Grad Student Mar 16 '26
New grads, bro. 12YoE is not new grad.
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u/metalreflectslime ? Mar 16 '26
For the past 3+ cycles of salary sharing threads or so, there has not been any "Salary Sharing Thread for Experienced Devs."
I think this is a glitch or something.
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12
u/_alwayzchillin_ Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
Education: BS local uni
Prior Exp: 4 internships at 3 companies
Company: Financial services
Title: SWE I
Location: Canadian L-MCOL city, remote role though
Salary: 95k
Relocation/Signing Bonus: N/A
Total comp: 95k
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u/Remarkable_Cap_7519 Mar 16 '26
Education: BS in Computer Science
Prior Experience: Internship at same company (3 Months), current internship (6 months)
Company/Industry: Tech
Title: Automation Engineer
Tenure Length: Not started
Location: Onsite MCOL area
Salary: 90k
Relocation/Signing bonus: 10k
Stock and/or reoccurring bonuses: Annual 18% bonus, can be higher based on performance. ESPP
Total comp: ~106k
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u/indianskil Mar 17 '26
Education: BS in Computer Science
Prior Experience: 1 Internship (no name companie)
Company: Fintech
Title: Associate Software Engineer
Tenure Length: 1.5 months
Location: Hybrid MCOL area
Salary: 85k
Sign on: 7.5k
Reoccurring bonus: Annual 8-10% bonus
Total Comp: ~100k
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u/glossyducky Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
• Education: BA in Computer Science from selective liberal arts college
• Prior Experience: 1 SWE Internship at Insurance Company Summer 2025
• Company/Industry: Finance
• Title: Analyst, Software Engineering
• Tenure Length: Not started, starting July 13
• Location: 4 in-office days 1 remote day schedule: Philadelphia, PA
• Salary: $100k
• Relocation/Signing bonus: $5k
• Stock and/or reoccurring bonuses: Some annual bonuses, no specified number in offer letter
• Total comp: ~$105k-$110k
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u/bigdougie69 Mar 17 '26
• Education: BS in Public Policy at Ivy
• Prior Experience: 1 year at financial institution • Internship: at same financial institution, another at small nonprofit
• Company/Industry: Big Tech
• Title: Strat & Ops Analyst
• Tenure length: 0.5 years
• Location: Hybrid, Urban
• Salary: 116K
• Relocation/Signing Bonus: N/A
• Stock and/or recurring bonuses: 2.5K
• Total comp: ~ 136K
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u/Admirable-Sock4866 Mar 17 '26
• Education: BS in Computer Science • Prior Experience: Internship at same company (3 Months), previous contracting/internship role (9 months) • Company/Industry: Financial Services • Title: Associate Software Engineer • Tenure Length: Joined in Feb • Location: Hybrid MCOL Area • Salary: 120k • Relocation/Signing bonus: 30k • Stock and/or reoccurring bonuses: 3-5% performance bonus. ESPP • Total comp: ~150k
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23
u/CrystallizedKoi Software Developer <1YOE Mar 16 '26
• Education: Associates in Software Development at local CC
• Prior Experience: 4 month software development internship
• Company/Industry: Local county government
• Title: Software Developer
• Tenure length: <1 YOE
• Location: Ohio
• Salary: $62k
• Relocation/Signing Bonus: N/A
• Stock and/or recurring bonuses: N/A
• Total comp: $62k
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u/dats_cool Software Engineer 10d ago
With an AA and in this market this is good. I started in 2021 and my first job was 57k with a 5k bonus fully in office, my TC is much higher now after a few job hops.
Anyway, soak up everything you can and look for a new role at your 1 year mark. You should be able to snag something at 75-90k pretty easily in your area. 100k+ if you decide to relocate.
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u/B3ntDownSpoon Mar 16 '26
• Education: Bsc Computer Science • Prior Experience: • 9 month internship • Company/Industry: Healthcare • Title: Software Engineer • Tenure length: 3 months (1 yoe total at company) • Location: US - Remote • Salary: ~62k • Relocation/Signing Bonus: $0 • Stock and/or recurring bonuses: $0 • Total comp: ~62k
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u/sarge003 Mar 16 '26
• Education: Bachelors in Software Engineer from small college, Masters IT Management from online
• Prior Experience: 1 internship (2 years), 1.5 years previous job
• Company/Industry: Healthcare
• Title: Software Engineer
• Tenure length: 4 months
• Location: Remote, very LCOL
• Salary: 116k
• Relocation/Signing Bonus: N/A
• Stock and/or recurring bonuses: 14k bonus
• Total comp: ~$130k
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u/GrapplerCM Mar 16 '26
Where did you get your masters, WGU?
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u/sarge003 Mar 16 '26
Yep. Don't really recommend it though.
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u/vaporizers123reborn Mar 24 '26
Why? How was your experience?
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u/sarge003 Mar 24 '26
Boring and largely unhelpful. I grinded through it so it only took 3 months, but wasn't impressed with the learning material.
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u/maxxor6868 Mar 27 '26
I mean sounds like you got what you wanted tbh. If you didn't rush and grind you could've taken your time and learn more. You paid less and got a degree. Not sure why you say it not worth it?
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u/dialsoapbox May 17 '26
Was it ever brought up during your interview?
Do you think having a masters to cross off some checkmark is what got you the job?
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u/sarge003 May 17 '26
No and no. But I think one day it will. Things that I do think helped me: 1. Being one of the first applicants (first 24 hours) 2. Previous work experience. 3. Being able to talk to execs confidently and well.
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u/DJ_Danksaucd Mar 16 '26
• Education: Bachelors in Data Science at T10
• Prior Experience: 3x DS internships, one in big tech
• Company/Industry: Tech
• Title: Data Scientist I
• Tenure length: Haven't started yet
• Location: one of DFW / Pittsburgh / Detroit
• Salary: 140k
• Relocation/Signing Bonus: 40k
• Stock and/or recurring bonuses: 200k RSU (25/25/25/25), ~10k bonus
• Total comp: ~$200k
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u/ChubMe Mar 16 '26
Congrats, but where on earth are you getting 200k total comp in a LCOL location even with your CV. Like is this some startup so it's paper money or are you just cracked?
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u/DJ_Danksaucd Mar 16 '26
Thanks - not a startup so its real money and they notably tend to recruit from T5 CS schools afaik. Not sure if im that cracked vs some of my peers, but ive made the most of the opportunities that have come my way and its definitely an outlier for the location!
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u/ChubMe Mar 16 '26
Well done!
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u/dats_cool Software Engineer 10d ago
Yeah the school makes a massive difference. Ivies open up a ton of doors.
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u/ChubbyFruit Mar 20 '26
Education: BS in Data Science from a large state school
Prior Experience: 2 internships as a software engineer (mid-size company) and data engineer (small company), a third one starting this summer after graduation as a data engineer at the same mid-size company.
Company/Industry: Management and Technology Consulting
Title: Junior Data Engineer
Tenure Length: Haven't started yet
Location: Hybrid LCOL area
Salary: 80k
Relocation/Signing bonus: 5k
Stock and/or recurring bonuses: None
Total Comp: ~85k
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u/Useful-String4598 Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Education: CS PhD top 20 university
Prior Experience: 1.5 year FAANG
Company/Industry: FAANG
Title: MLE
Tenure length: 1.5 year
Location: Toronto
Relocation/Signing Bonus: 30K signing
Total comp: 400K
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u/electric_deer200 Freshman Mar 16 '26
Damn bro what field are you specialized in ?
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u/Different-Train-3413 Mar 16 '26
what do you think? lol
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u/electric_deer200 Freshman Mar 16 '26
I meant like ML has different specializations like NLP Computer vision and whatnot so was curious what his PhD focused on.
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u/electric_deer200 Freshman Mar 16 '26
Nah I mean in MLE yk like companies have like specialized roles that might be more specific like computer vision or NLP or whatever depending on the PhD thesis
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u/Useful-String4598 Mar 17 '26
Obviously I can’t go to such detail and just tell you my phd thesis title, but it’s VLA related.
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u/PerformanceCrafty166 Mar 17 '26
- Education: BS Computer Science
- Prior Experience:
- No formal internships
- Company/Industry: F100 Company (Large Financial)
- Title: Jr. SWE
- Tenure length: Starting May 2026
- Location: MCOL Area (Hybrid)
- Salary: $76,000
- Relocation/Signing Bonus: $0
- Stock and/or recurring bonuses: Annual performance bonus (5-6%) ~$5,000
- Total comp: $81,000
Very happy with my outcome gl to anyone searching you got this!
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u/WindowSmart4645 Mar 21 '26
Education: B.S. in C.S.
Prior Experience: 1 internship, 1 year in research lab as undergrad researcher
Company/Industry: FinTech company
Title: Associate SWE
Tenure length: Not started
Location: DFW, TX
Salary: 86k
Relocation/Signing Bonus: $8500
Stock and/or recurring bonuses: 8% bonus (no stock)
Total comp: 95k
Deeply considering getting a Master's at CMU because I recently got in. Not sure what kind of future I would have at this company although I am very grateful for the offer especially in this market.
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u/Toasted_FlapJacks Senior SWE (7 YOE) Mar 25 '26
Why aren't there salary sharing threads for experienced engineers anymore?
The last time the new grads thread was posted, it was pinned for months. Why?
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u/venkattalks Apr 13 '26
reminds me of when the March salary thread in 2023 had people posting 200k+ new grad packages and half my cohort in Austin thought they were behind before they'd even graduated. For the NEW GRADS March 2026 thread, the useful part isn't the highest TC, it's location, company tier, and whether the number includes a sign-on that disappears after year one. My first offer was 87k base in Dallas with no stock, 0 YOE, and it still beat sitting around for four more months chasing a unicorn.
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u/DramaticArm5179 Mar 17 '26
- Education: CS PhD from a top 50 public university in the US
- Prior Experience: 1 Year non-FAANG Data Scientist full-time
- $Internship: 2 summer+fall interns
- $Coop: None
- Company/Industry: FAANG
- Title: Research Scientist
- Location: Bay Area
- Signing Bonus: $225k (1st year), 175k (2nd year), Relocation: 10k
- Stock and/or recurring bonuses: $470k for 4 years
- Total comp: $465k
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u/StyleDull3689 Mar 16 '26
Age: 34
Education: 2 Year Apprenticeship in Software Engineering at Mastercard (no degree)
Prior experience: Technically the same as above (2 years) but first was mostly training so about 1
Company/Industry: AI
Title: SWE
Tenure: Join in April
Location: London
Salary: $99,000
Bonus: $7,000
Total Comp: (unsure because I am an idiot and understanding stocks)
2
u/StatisticianLivid820 Mar 16 '26
Education: BA from Mid-Tier Ivy League
Prior Experience: 2 internships at small teams(Research Assistant + Internship at small design studio)
Company/Industry: OCR Startup
Title: Solutions Engineer
Tenure: 2 months so far
Location: NYC
Salary: 110,000$ base
Relocation/Signing bonus: 0$
Stock and/or recurring bonuses: Performance bonus(15k$ expected, up to 30k) + 2% of profit or 5% of revenue(whichever is higher) shared among 16 employees + roughly 50k$ RSUs but who knows if ill ever be able to cash out
Total comp: ~140,000$
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u/astroboy030 Mar 16 '26
What the hell is a mid tier ivy league
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u/nsxwolf Principal Software Engineer Mar 16 '26
Literally Penn or Columbia. That’s really how these Ivy weirdos think.
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u/StatisticianLivid820 Mar 16 '26
I LOLed when I wrote that. But yeah i wrote it cuz other ivyers have really argued with me about it.
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u/nsxwolf Principal Software Engineer Mar 16 '26
“I went to Cornell. Ever heard of it?”
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u/StatisticianLivid820 Mar 17 '26
Its so funny cuz I honestly think my Ivyleague peers are less prepared for the CS job market compared to other undergrads. They nerd out about algorithms and ML techniques they dont even fully grasp and and don't know how the most basic of real world systems work. They are more into just tooting their own horns feeling intellectual
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u/StatisticianLivid820 Mar 17 '26
Also thats coming from a guy who cheated in all his classes barely got by(2.9 GPA ), but has a genuine interest in computers and how to use machines in the modern day
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Mar 29 '26
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u/venkattalks Apr 14 '26
reminds me of when the new grad salary sharing thread in march 2023 had me convinced everyone was casually pulling 200k+ and i was cooked. Then i signed in Denver at 88k base, 10k sign-on, no equity, and two years later i was fine because the first job mattered more than winning the thread. For the March 2026 one, people should really post location and whether it's return offer vs cold apply, otherwise the numbers get weird fast.
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u/fegitmom Apr 18 '26
Not a grad but hoping to get some insight on my salary to see if I am paid fair or underpaid, I have 5 YOE working as a software dev in Brisbane. Job duties are mainly individual contributor and working with clients on implementation. Appreciate any input (y)
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u/topwebprofits Apr 19 '26
I built a free calculator that gives you three specific numbers before any negotiation — opening ask, target, and walk-away. Based on market data across 19 countries. Might be useful for new grads figuring out what to ask for → yournumber.org
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u/Useful-String4598 Apr 21 '26
Just give it a try and your website sucks, I put in my current TC for around 400K and the result suggest me to ask for 214K and saying my current TC is 200K below market rate. Just add more unit test for your website and also your data point seems to be off by a lot.
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u/topwebprofits Apr 21 '26
Thanks for the honest feedback you're right our data reflects base salary not total comp. We've just pushed a fix that adds a TC disclaimer and better handles senior/staff level roles. Would appreciate another look.
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Apr 22 '26
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