How much money do you earn? And how do you spend it?

[cerebus]

If I may ask, what do you do?

I'm at tech writer in IT

 

[christmas2018]

Throw away account:

Software Engineer, 35.

Gross: R103,040
Nett: R68,879

No benefits so from pocket.

Ok, so I've also created a temp account to discuss this.

I'm 35. I currently consult at a big corporate.

My rate is 500ph. So depending on the billable days in a month, I average about R80k ish gross. About R50k - R55k nett. No benefits. Everything is out of pocket.

Web developer. Front end mostly. 10 years in the industry.

Angular, Javascript, etc.

Starting a permanent role in the new year. Total ctc is 900k pa. Full benefits. Medical, pension, life, disability, cellphone, bonuses, increases, generous leave. Nett after deductions around R45k.

AMA?

 

[Pyro]

You are the reason I feel underpaid .

Is this in some financial industry?
No backend work?

 

[christmas2018]

You are the reason I feel underpaid .

Is this in some financial industry?
No backend work?

Current and future role are both in finance, yeah.

I know backend, .NET, but I don't do any back end as part of the job description. Other than the obvious integration.

 

[walterl]

Got a new job in the Netherlands, starting 1 Feb. They're just matching my base salary but there are a lot of advantages: 30% highly skilled tax ruling, medical/insurance, retirement+social security, and other things whereas my current job has none of that as I'm an hourly contractor.

So I guess I'll be emigrating next month.

My sister and brother in law will be there 2 years in May, they live and work in Amsterdam and are loving every minute of it, every time we speak they are trying to convince me to also GTFOOH

 

[xrapidx]

Also considering Netherlands...

 

[Pyro]

Current and future role are both in finance, yeah.

I know backend, .NET, but I don't do any back end as part of the job description. Other than the obvious integration.

I guess things are changing with React/Angular adding more complexity to what can be done, but I didn't expect it to pay that well.

Anything specific that they value?
Heavy bandwidth optimization (load times maybe)?
Great mobile support? (PWA and the likes? Offline support?)
Some other magic wizardry on the UI itself?

 

[krycor]

Got a new job in the Netherlands, starting 1 Feb. They're just matching my base salary but there are a lot of advantages: 30% highly skilled tax ruling, medical/insurance, retirement+social security, and other things whereas my current job has none of that as I'm an hourly contractor.

So I guess I'll be emigrating next month.

Guess I will bump into you haha

 

[Messugga]

I guess things are changing with React/Angular adding more complexity to what can be done, but I didn't expect it to pay that well.

Anything specific that they value?
Heavy bandwidth optimization (load times maybe)?
Great mobile support? (PWA and the likes? Offline support?)
Some other magic wizardry on the UI itself?

Quick response times to users, is a number one priority where I am currently at. This is specifically for online banking.

 

[christmas2018]

I guess things are changing with React/Angular adding more complexity to what can be done, but I didn't expect it to pay that well.

Anything specific that they value?
Heavy bandwidth optimization (load times maybe)?
Great mobile support? (PWA and the likes? Offline support?)
Some other magic wizardry on the UI itself?

The front end frameworks like React & Angular basically allow for very quick front end development with the data that's already available via the back end. The front end is also built & compiled separately from the back, so iterating is quite efficient.

Then you mix in the ability to use variables and functions in CSS via LESS or SASS, and then utilize Angular & React's ability to switch and add or remove classes and add or remove elements on a page, basically removing jQuery etc, and you're able to make significant changes to how your app behaves and looks without actually touching any backend code or functionality.

With modern compilers like webpack, yarn or the angular cli, styles and javascript are all bundled and minified during the build / deployment process which reduces actual calls to fetch the controller code, also allowing you to lazy load most of the dependencies only when required. So the javascript required is a bit smaller, and it's also significantly obfuscated (especially using typescript), so it's somewhat harder to inspect code etc.

Both the institutions I reference have dedicated mobile apps, so mobile isn't a concern, but UI frameworks are being used to ensure responsiveness down to a mobile level. Such as Bootstrap or Foundation.

 

[Pyro]

The front end frameworks like React & Angular basically allow for very quick front end development with the data that's already available via the back end. The front end is also built & compiled separately from the back, so iterating is quite efficient.

Then you mix in the ability to use variables and functions in CSS via LESS or SASS, and then utilize Angular & React's ability to switch and add or remove classes and add or remove elements on a page, basically removing jQuery etc, and you're able to make significant changes to how your app behaves and looks without actually touching any backend code or functionality.

With modern compilers like webpack, yarn or the angular cli, styles and javascript are all bundled and minified during the build / deployment process which reduces actual calls to fetch the controller code, also allowing you to lazy load most of the dependencies only when required. So the javascript required is a bit smaller, and it's also significantly obfuscated (especially using typescript), so it's somewhat harder to inspect code etc.

Both the institutions I reference have dedicated mobile apps, so mobile isn't a concern, but UI frameworks are being used to ensure responsiveness down to a mobile level. Such as Bootstrap or Foundation.

All of that is pretty much what we leverage, but they aren't nearly as eager to pay those kinds of salaries

You must be smiling with Edge going all chromium though. In a fairly short time your compatibility requirements could get way simpler.

 

[NotThatGuy]

Using a throwaway account for the obvious reasons...

Software Developer: (29)
Gross Salary: R72k
Nett Salary: R44k
Expenses: R21k
Pension: 15% with company contribution
Disposable income is around 23k

A large part of the disposable in moved offshore.

Update on this:

Got full bonus this month. Salary increased to 82k as of Jan.
The rest is still the same - disposable obviously more now.

 

[MagusKAN]

Mechanical Engineer, 28. Mining.

CTC: ~R98000 pm (excl. Bonuses)
Nett (after tax, medical, pension, group life and disability insurance): ~R57000 pm + ~R5000-R9000 pm from production bonuses + yearly incentives
Wife's salary covers her savings + shortfall

Savings and Investments: ~R42000 min
Charity, Gifting: ~R3000
Home Loan: ~R5500
Levies + Rates&Taxes: ~R1700
Insurance (Car, Household and Professional): R900
Transport, Fuel and Toll Fees: R3000
Groceries: R3000
Eating Out; Entertainment: R1000
Internet Connection: R549
Internet Subs (Netflix, Dropbox, Hosting, etc.): R380
Cellphones: R770
Electricity: R300 (Solar Geyser; frugal household)
Domestic Worker: R800
Bank Fees: R550
Cash for Miscellaneous: R500

 

[cguy]

Mechanical Engineer, 28. Mining.

CTC: ~R98000 pm (excl. Bonuses)
Nett (after tax, medical, pension, group life and disability insurance): ~R57000 pm + ~R5000-R9000 pm from production bonuses + yearly incentives
Wife's salary covers her savings + shortfall

Savings and Investments: ~R42000 min
Charity, Gifting: ~R3000
Home Loan: ~R5500
Levies + Rates&Taxes: ~R1700
Insurance (Car, Household and Professional): R900
Transport, Fuel and Toll Fees: R3000
Groceries: R3000
Eating Out; Entertainment: R1000
Internet Connection: R549
Internet Subs (Netflix, Dropbox, Hosting, etc.): R380
Cellphones: R770
Electricity: R300 (Solar Geyser; frugal household)
Domestic Worker: R800
Bank Fees: R550
Cash for Miscellaneous: R500

Very responsible. Most would be tempted to blow that kind of money on nonsense.

 

[akescpt]

Spend all of it. MSP. Thank you taxi and drunk drivers. Naaiers.

 

[Dianysis]

Mechanical Engineer, 28. Mining.

CTC: ~R98000 pm (excl. Bonuses)
Nett (after tax, medical, pension, group life and disability insurance): ~R57000 pm + ~R5000-R9000 pm from production bonuses + yearly incentives
Wife's salary covers her savings + shortfall

Savings and Investments: ~R42000 min
Charity, Gifting: ~R3000
Home Loan: ~R5500
Levies + Rates&Taxes: ~R1700
Insurance (Car, Household and Professional): R900
Transport, Fuel and Toll Fees: R3000
Groceries: R3000
Eating Out; Entertainment: R1000
Internet Connection: R549
Internet Subs (Netflix, Dropbox, Hosting, etc.): R380
Cellphones: R770
Electricity: R300 (Solar Geyser; frugal household)
Domestic Worker: R800
Bank Fees: R550
Cash for Miscellaneous: R500

Winning at life.

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Spend all of it. MSP. Thank you taxi and drunk drivers. Naaiers.

Huh, what happened?

 

[akescpt]

Huh, what happened?

Taxi took out my paid off vehicle. Drunk took out my other paid off vehicle.

Laaitie got robbed at taxi rank. Bought him one also. He was using public transport to get to college until then.

So a bit of consolidation for now. 2018 wasn’t the best. A lot to be thankful for but there were some challenges.

 

[unobeat]

How

Mechanical Engineer, 28. Mining.

CTC: ~R98000 pm (excl. Bonuses)
Nett (after tax, medical, pension, group life and disability insurance): ~R57000 pm + ~R5000-R9000 pm from production bonuses + yearly incentives
Wife's salary covers her savings + shortfall

Savings and Investments: ~R42000 min
Charity, Gifting: ~R3000
Home Loan: ~R5500
Levies + Rates&Taxes: ~R1700
Insurance (Car, Household and Professional): R900
Transport, Fuel and Toll Fees: R3000
Groceries: R3000
Eating Out; Entertainment: R1000
Internet Connection: R549
Internet Subs (Netflix, Dropbox, Hosting, etc.): R380
Cellphones: R770
Electricity: R300 (Solar Geyser; frugal household)
Domestic Worker: R800
Bank Fees: R550
Cash for Miscellaneous: R500

Talk about responsible living and saving.

 

[Alton Turner Blackwood]

Taxi took out my paid off vehicle. Drunk took out my other paid off vehicle.

Laaitie got robbed at taxi rank. Bought him one also. He was using public transport to get to college until then.

So a bit of consolidation for now. 2018 wasn’t the best. A lot to be thankful for but there were some challenges.

That's pretty fscked up! Sorry to hear, at least you still have your positive outlook about you. That will keep you going