Quickest Route to €80 / 100k a year?

Career Advice
#1

At the risk of annoying the people that do this for the love - I’m now working to complete some life goals and take care of my family so money is the top priority at the moment - hence the question.

What is the quickest way to go from ground zero beginner to 100k developer in Europe?

I know you make more in the states but I prefer to stay in Europe.

Example 1:
Complete FCC, apply for a basic job as an underpaid, underskilled noob just to get experience (which is what I’m planning to do) for a year and job hop as much as possible to various pay scales as quickly as you can?

Example 2:
Learn a certain stack inside and out and become a master of that hoping that you’ll become a niche expert?

Basically I have been studying every spare minute I have for 3 months around a full time job, gym, responsibilities etc and I’m concerned that I don’t have a concrete plan of action.

Right now I’m just learning with the hope that one day i’ll be useful enough, somewhere to get an ok paying job.

I got a degree in Graphic Design about 12/13 years ago and never had a plan of how to get into the industry, then just kind of wandered in and out of shitty jobs until I fell out of love with it and went into sales - I was young and clueless.

I don’t want to make the same mistake as an early 30’s man when it comes to coding.

thanks.

#2

If your goal is to make 100k a year as a developer in Europe I’d say go seek out a 100k job and apply this moment. When you do this, odds are you will get rejected, go find out why. Whatever response you get back (if you get a response at all) is probably what you need to work on.

So if you lack experience, then gain experience. If you lack knowledge, then get that knowledge. If you are applying to job that uses tech X, and you only know tech Y, then either learn X or apply for more jobs using Y.

I personally believe the quickest way to get better pay is to become a project manager of some sort, how ever not everything can or should be able to handle this position, or any management position for that matter. If you plan on making 100K+ (which is rather high, even in the states for entry level) then you need to be good at what you do. Good enough to be considered above the average entry level person to be safe.

Now if at this point you don’t know what “entry level” actually is, go apply for jobs at entry level and find out using the same method as the original one I proposed, except focus on what you need to learn rather than how to get to 100k the fastest. There isn’t some magical way to get paid that much that fits everyone, nor is there are guarenteed approach to doing it, as everyone’s goals, backgrounds, and skills are different. The main thing is being able to find out what you need to get to your goals and then setting out to achieve them. Its easy to “flail” around and trying to learn everything under the sun, but you gotta ask yourself if what your focusing on is actually important in achieving your goals.

Good luck :smile:

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#3

Thanks for the reply.

I think I messed up with my explanation.

Not hoping to have entry level at 100k.

I was trying to plan a quick path from junior to senior and beyond.

How long should someone call themselves junior, before being middle weight and hen senior etc.

I’ve read some people being a bit cheeky and leaving behind the junior label after 1 year then taking 100k

#4

I don’t think time is the most important factor when it comes to determining when you can go from entry level to a more senior role. I’d say it depends more on the organization, skills, experience, and capabilities which “gets you to the next level”. It could be 1 year, or it could be never, it all depends on lots of stuff beyond just plain time.

If you want to get to that 100k no matter one, I suggest finding out what sort of steps you should end up taking to get into a “senior” role. You could be a mentor, or advanced developer or similar and your pay should be updated accordingly :slight_smile:

#5

Salaries range is incredibly huge here in Europe. Even being a senior dev in Switzerland and Norway (where the salaries are the highest) doesn’t guarantee 100k/year according to the statistics.
Finally, there’s no quick path to becoming a senior, you’re gonna disappoint shortly after getting a first job with this mindset. There’s too much factors when discussing seniority, and time is definitely not a decisive one. You could argue that with time you get better at your job but that’s like saying you get better at walking with time - eventually you’ll need more actions to learn how to jump high and far. I’d rather focus on developing confidence in your knowledge and apply it effectively. You develop it by constantly learning and reflecting on your past mistakes, career choices and paths, improve code you write, learn well established practices and coding etiquette. Coding itself with time is not enough, I think.
When you mention a concrete plan of action, what do you mean? What should you learn? Well, it boils down to what you want. This camp is a good place to start, though.

Edit: one also has to remember that the more you earn, the more deductible taxes will increase in most of the European countries and it may very well be that you’d get taxed between 40% - 50%+ of your 100k income, leaving your net salary well bellow 100k/year and then you have to consider the cost of living, which in the highest paying countries is rather high. You get social benefits of course, which become more relevant if you have a family and especially children.

#6

“Europe” covers a pretty wide gamut, like @vytautas-pilk says. And even where salaries are highest, that has to be balanced against cost of living. Your point 2 generally comes from point 1. Becoming a consultant is probably the fastest route but that implies specialist/expert knowledge of a certain area, which tends to take a great deal of time.

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#7

Seems everyone’s looking for the “quick path”, so here it is: the truly quick path is to either be such a natural wizard at what you’re doing such that you rise to the top like a rocket, or to become such an excellent bullshitter that you sucker someone into hiring you without qualifications (see also: consultancy).

The medium-quick path is to study your ass off. FCC’s a great place to learn the ropes, then get started on more than the basics by asking around here, but there isn’t a forum in the world that will give you the secret to fast riches. Plenty that will make the claim, none that will (or can) back it up.

“Make 100K/year in Europe within one year from ground zero” is not a realistic goal. Even unrealistic goals are achievable, sure, but it usually takes luck, and it’s usually done by people who already have some idea how to achieve it, and no offence meant, but they aren’t asking around on internet forums for a plan. So start studying. That’s my Career Advice.

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#8

I was trying to be…emm…polite in my description, I think I could have substituted other words for “expert”