Ask HN: How much are full stack developers worth?

The best metric is to determine the high water mark for being considered "well paid" given the cost of living where you live, and then adjusting your expectations around that.

Software developers in most US metros are usually paid well above the median income in their area. If you aren't making that much, you have two options:

1) Move to a different area where average developers salaries exceed median income levels.

2) Work remotely for a company in such areas, where even a discounted salary for their market puts you above the median where you currently live.

My take on the salary that you've stated is that it feels low if it's in Nashville or Chattanooga, but it might be high if you're living in Johnson City. This is totally subjective based on TN developers that I've worked with in the past.

Do you like your current job? If it's a nice environment, you might regret finding another job where you get paid 30% more but it's a lot more unpleasant.

Even if you interview and get a good vibe, bad things can happen. Your boss can quit or be fired 3 months after you start (happened to me). Your actual boss might not be who you thought it was when you were interviewing (also happened to me). But the same bad things could also happen in your current job.

Assuming the answer to #1 is "meh" or "sort of" or "I want to leave":

Question #2: Are you able to interview and get an offer for more somewhere else?

If you can't get more somewhere else, then you aren't underpaid.

If you can get more somewhere else, and you think it's time to move on, then go.

Also, don't compare TN salaries to California or NY or Boston salaries. As other people said, you need to adjust for cost of living.

Also, if you do get an offer you want to take, go, don't take a counter-offer. If your employer wants to pay you more, then they should do it now.

The only way to know how much more you could make is to find out -- salary markets vary substantially between regions, so a developer making 140k in the bay area may struggle to find a job paying more than 80k in TN.

Salaries are a result of a negotiation with the organization at hand, and one of the key elements to a successful negotiation is to be both providing more value than you cost to that organization, and to have the ability to walk away from the table. Your best alternative, which gives you that power, is the most important element of a negotiation. Read up on BATNA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiate...

Also keep _their_ BATNA in mind -- if they don't have anyone who can replace you, and it's making a bunch of money, then they have a poor position to negotiate from, and you can get more from them.

That's about what I was making with less than two years experience at an extremely small non-profit with a very limited budget as their full stack developer - so yeah I think it's safe to say you should/could be getting more.

[N.B. this is in Boston which probably has a higher cost of living / average wage...but still nuts someone with your background/experience is making what I was at the non-profit]

For Nashville, I only one job (Android dev) with range 50-90k. But for Chattanooga, I see several jobs that range 60-100k.

With 15 years of experience, you should be able to qualify for the high-end of those ranges. Based on this data, it appears that 80k is not hugely underpaid. You could make a bit more.

In Texas, which is pretty comparable to Tennessee COL wise, you would likely fetch around 110-120, if not more.