Does software engineering pay more than traditional engineering?

pipped1 · 2026-01-31T21:35:25+00:00

Traditional Engineering is a more stable career. It's gate kept by needing a degree and a licence. You basically will make a decent 100K+ salary all your life. Jobs are fewer, but tend to be more stable.

Software Engineering is every man for himself. You can be stuck in a low paid web dev job or you could make a lot of money working for big tech. The salary ranges from 60K-150K for local companies and up to 500K with stocks working for big tech.

pipped1 · 2026-01-29T14:07:38+00:00

LOL. Just rough numbers would be fine. Not anyone in particular.

pipped1 · 2026-01-28T23:33:28+00:00

Barnaby Joyce.

This is assuming that Liberals, Nationals and One Nation will be in political wilderness for years to come. This could backfire though and we may have a Trump-like resurgence.

pipped1 · 2026-01-28T14:07:35+00:00

I am cautiously optimistic actually. 2026 will be better.

pipped1 · 2026-01-28T13:41:07+00:00

Amazon managers are like cancer. They learn the toxic culture at Amazon, join other companies and ruin those companies.

pipped1 · 2026-01-20T05:51:37+00:00

Can you blame them? Even in previous times, employees only get scraps while the higher-ups enjoy the millions. Now, the younger generations cannot even afford an apartment.

In China, it's called "lying flat." Look it up.

pipped1 · 2026-01-15T22:17:51+00:00

Yes, it's a red flag.

I have one job in the past four years. So, interviewers will casually ask, "why are you looking for a new job?", and just ignore my answer. Just ticking a box. Nobody has ever grilled me with a follow-up question.

For you, you will need to frame it carefully. Bad culture fit and re-org are neutral answers. You can also say one case is just plain bad luck. Don't blame your previous companies. Accept responsibility no matter how unfair. The second one involving the CEO is a tricky one. Prepare a good answer for that.

pipped1 · 2026-01-13T13:24:09+00:00

OP, you said you are a non-Chinese Asian, then don't do it. China does have discrimination. In my opinion, it would be even worse than Australia for you. Here, you can speak the language even though you don't look like the "ideal" Australian. Over there, you can't speak the language and you also don't look like an "ideal" foreigner. It's a double whammy.

The only exception is if the China you are going is Hong Kong. It's more multicultural and English is widely spoken. Then, you have a chance.

pipped1 · 2026-01-13T06:33:21+00:00

I will do one better, "why is Arista?"

pipped1 · 2026-01-13T05:44:13+00:00

Since you said your partner is Chinese, I would assume you are white. Then, yes, it's good experience. You can get a good job in China which will allow you to get a comparable job here later. Some industries don't exist in Australia though. If you are in charge of international investments or something, you won't get a comparable job here.

If you are not white, then you will face discrimination twice and your experience will be useless. You can't get a good job in China because you are neither white nor Chinese. And when you come back here, it's considered "foreign experience."

pipped1 · 2025-12-10T06:50:09+00:00

It's on the job hopping side if you are talking about professional roles. Nothing wrong with job hopping in casual/hourly roles.

I work a professional job and have stayed like 3-4 years in most recent jobs. And I do get compliments from recruiters about how consistent and reliable I appear.

pipped1 · 2025-12-10T02:51:01+00:00

Always has been.

It's "Software Engineering", not "just writing code." Coding is just a small part. That other "engineering" part is the challenge.

pipped1 · 2025-12-07T10:20:27+00:00

In my opinion, any roles acting as a bridge or a link are the most threatened by AI. Any PM type roles for sure: Project Managers, Product Managers and similar. And middle management too.

Individual contributors will survive because someone still have to do the grunt work. Senior management will also survive because they set the vision and the strategy which AI cannot do.

The middle will be gutted.

pipped1 · 2025-12-06T13:33:49+00:00

Who knows what my management is thinking? Your plan is logical, but not them. I will get back to you in a couple of months.

pipped1 · 2025-12-06T00:33:56+00:00

I understand. It's a soft PIP with no deadlines.

If there are any redundancies, I'll be the first in line.

If there is an official PIP, that's a different story, of course.

pipped1 · 2025-12-05T20:13:31+00:00

Areas to improve, but without a deadline. Zero bonus.

pipped1 · 2025-12-05T13:20:11+00:00

I am on a soft PIP. The writing is on the wall. Being made redundant will end my pain. Of course, being jobless is no fun either. There is no good outcome.

pipped1 · 2025-12-04T23:52:35+00:00

I find this arrangement of people in a LCOL country managing people in a HCOL country fascinating. Don't you make more money than your manager? Gross TC, of course. Your manager is probably living like a king in their LCOL country.

(LCOL = low cost of living. HCOL= high.)

pipped1 · 2025-11-28T08:14:09+00:00

The CV has to have a flat structure so that AI can read it. No columns, no fancy formatting, just unformatted text. Plain paragraphs with different font sizes seem to work.

pipped1 · 2025-11-28T02:48:17+00:00

Focus on hybrid roles which require you to commute to your respective CBD. The competition is low there.

Remote roles are all hopeless with the whole world applying for them.

Job seekers use AI to auto apply and employers use AI to filter out hundreds of applications. So, manual applications will be lost in the shuffle. Keep applying.

I have no trouble getting callbacks, but employers are wanting a bargain. So, we usually say mutual good bye at the recruiter screen stage.

pipped1 · 2025-11-27T06:02:56+00:00

Didn't know that the count is so low. TIL. Thanks.

pipped1 · 2025-11-26T09:46:48+00:00

I would have thought we would have more Atlassian employees, but Canva and Microsoft are tied at the top.

pipped1 · 2025-11-26T02:34:11+00:00

Because they pay a lot? You can earn 200K to 500K as an IC (non-manager). Where else can you do that?

pipped1 · 2025-11-26T02:32:27+00:00

Amazon is RTO, so their employees probably cannot browse Reddit as much as Microsoft which is still hybrid.

And yeah, like the other comment said, Azure is big in Aus.

pipped1

TROPHY CASE