I'm a Staff engineer are a small company with about 15 years of experience in Denver. As a full time employee I've never made over $160K base. As a contractor I've made over $250k (but with about $40k of that going to taxes and benefits virtually paid by an employer.)
I have a feeling I'm underpaid but I'm also very happy with where I work and the team I work with and I'm not currently willing to sacrifice that for a higher paying but probably much less enjoyable experience somewhere else. I also making about $30k more than I was when I started 3 years ago.
I have enough to pay my bills, raise a family, and still have some hobbies. Happiness should always be a factor when it comes to compensation.
Happiness should always be a factor, but I will argue that sanity permitting you should always test out new waters. Perhaps you might be satisfied at retirement with what you’ve got, but if you can forge new paths without sacrificing the clearly important parts of your life (sanity and family) then I believe that you owe it to yourself to do so. Not every half a mill job is fun but there are fun ones from what I hear.
I have a feeling I'm underpaid but I'm also very happy with where I work and the team I work with and I'm not currently willing to sacrifice that for a higher paying but probably much less enjoyable experience somewhere else. I also making about $30k more than I was when I started 3 years ago.
I have enough to pay my bills, raise a family, and still have some hobbies. Happiness should always be a factor when it comes to compensation.