So You Wanna Get Rich Writing Code? Cool. Here’s the Reality.

Brock can’t hear the haters.

You want to learn to code because you want more money. Let’s just be honest about it.

First off — there are many other ways to make a desirable income without learning a difficult skill like coding.

• You can do sales.
• You could be a product manager.
• Maybe start an illegal gambling den?

If you do decide to create software for money, just realize you may never crack six figures, you’re likely to be laid off at least once and you have to keep up with technology which changes fast AF.

Side effects include impostor syndrome, know-it-all-ism, hair loss and potentially fatal single-ness.

Ok, now that I’ve scared off the get rich quick crowd, let’s talk about coding money.

I’m from the SF Bay Area and have worked in software for the last 10 years. When I started, I had 2 kids and a small condo me and my girlfriend shared with a room mate. I made 60K.

At my highest salary, I took home 280K, including bonuses and stock options. My baby momma and I bought a few properties since then and also started a couple businesses.

That’s 4x increase from where I started and a world of difference between my old life.

I’m certainly not the best coder. I’m definitely not the worst. I take my job seriously and I genuinely enjoy writing code.

Unfortunately, most people who get into software (just) for the money don’t ever make much of it.

Coding is a hobby-profession.

You think doctors diagnose patients outside work?

How many office workers practice their Excel skills on the weekend?

Know any cashiers who like to ring up randos or compete in cashier competitions?

Thought not.

Coders however, are basically expected to work outside of work.

• Most developers code as a hobby and profession
• Developers are judged by the number of commits they make to their public Github profiles (basically how often they code for funsies)
• In order to just stay relevant in tech, you have to learn outside work

Is anyone still here?

Here’s the great news — if you do enjoy coding and are willing to do things that make you uncomfortable, you can have dramatic financial upside.

Step 1: Optimize for learning at first

Here’s a cliche that is lame but true in tech: learning is earning.

Take the first job you can, ideally at a startup with smart people and try to learn as much as possible.

• Deployment process.
• Testing.
• Authentication.
• DevOps.

Ask to shadow other engineers who seem smart or do things you think are interesting. If you do this, you can learn as much as someone who is just coasting and collecting a check, at twice the speed.

Most importantly, learn a skill outside coding.

How does the business get customers? What is their biggest pain point?

Make it your goal to be able to explain the business clearly and articulate how what you do makes them money or saves them money.

Learning to speak business will be your super power. More on this later.

Step 2: Leave that job (or at least be able to)

F*ck your first salary.

Take peanuts or whatever you need to scrape by and then leave at the 12 month mark.

Maybe they pay you really well. Maybe you like these nerds.

Fine, stay. It’s not all about the money. Seriously.

BUT — you MUST be ABLE to leave. This means you need to interview at least 2 times per year.

If you cannot pass these interviews, this is a sign to study more.

I spent 10K learning data structures and algorithms 3 years into my career because I realized how much I stood to gain.

It was simple math:

10K to learn DSA while making 120K meant I could interview at companies like Google and Meta where the salaries start around 200K. An offer from a lower tier company would put me solidly in the 150K range in the SF Bay Area.

It was a no brainer and also necessary insurance because there is no such thing as stability.

You want to avoid a scenario where you are unexpectedly without a job and have no ability to get a job.

This is unfortunately the situation of your average LinkedIn power user. (please don’t hate me)

The best time to look for work is when you’re working, yet most people refuse to do this because it honestly sucks.

No one likes to interview.

Like it or not, interviewing is the highest paying skill you can have. Get good at finding and passing interviews when you don’t have to and you will have the most important thing in the world: options.

I have an anti-bootcamp for career changers who want to become hire-able developers. Join here.

Step 3: Take the big fish in a small pond approach to your career

A glass of water is much more valuable in the desert than in a restaurant.

I write extensively about my big fish/small fish approach to coding careers here: https://brianjenney.medium.com/big-fish-in-a-small-pond-or-small-fish-in-a-big-pond-65cf09d2a799

TLDR; I don’t recommend job hopping excessively. If you stay at one company long enough to make an impact and pick up some valuable skills then you’ve increased your own value… but value is not created equal.

At a massive company like Google, I know I’m not worth much. I don’t bring any particular expertise they don’t already have 10x over.

Now, at a startup where they need a developer who can contribute to their product and help with marketing — I’m a good catch. I’ve learned marketing and sales by running my own business and can bring that knowledge with me to a new company.

I was hired at a big, boring fortune 500 company 5 years ago after working at a couple very fast-paced startups.

I went from being a pretty average senior software engineer to a leader at this new company.

What was normal for start-up engineering was magical to these people:

• I taught the team how to write unit tests
• We went from 2 week release cycles to daily deployments
• Our team led a hackathon to generate new ideas for the roadmap

Honestly, my technical growth stagnated at this place but my salary blew up.

I leveraged my expertise and trust to get into management where I got stocks, bonuses and a much higher base salary than most startups could offer.

Then I was laid off.

I write about that here: https://brianjenney.medium.com/i-got-laid-off-and-hired-in-the-same-month-here-are-4-takeaways-dffc75e49f95

I’m back to being a small fish at a super small startup full of talent from FAANG. I’m back to being the worst engineer which is uncomfortable. I’ve also learned more in 9 months than in the last 4 years.

I’ll let you guess what my next move will be.

Step 4: Understand that coding was NEVER enough

Remember when I told you to learn something outside coding?

I strongly suggest those things be public speaking and writing.

You thought I was gonna say AI didn’t you?

Here’s why learning how to articulate yourself can translate into much larger sums of cash:

1. Leadership positions require strong communication
2. Writing is the simplest way to scale your impact

There are many developers who can write good code. There are fewer who can explain what they do to a non-technical audience. There are even less who can captivate that audience.

• Public speaking is a learnable skill.
• Join Toast Masters.
• Lead a lunch and learn.
• Write for your company’s blog or your own.

If you combine public speaking with software engineering and marketing — you have an incredible set of skills that most developers cannot compete with and will set you up for positions where you are not solely judged on your tech skills (aka any role past senior software engineer).

Step 5: Don’t inflate your lifestyle

I knew this dude who got his first developer job and went from 50k to well over 100k. His first purchase was a Mercedes Benz.

Do I need to tell you why this was a bad idea?

I’ve met software engineers in the SF Bay Area who can “barely get by” on 300K per year.

They probably laugh at my salary.

I can’t stand this narrative.

Some money fax:

• The average salary in California, as of March 2025, is $29.83 an hour or $62,038
• Less than 20% of Americans make over 100K.

I know it’s tempting to buy a fancy car or eat out more or take extravagant vacations or shop at boutique grocery stores.

Hot take: Don’t.

Within reason.

There’s no point in chasing money if you don’t take time to enjoy it. Personally, the biggest change in my life is that I don’t constantly HAVE to think about money. I buy groceries, pay bills and save without too much worry.

I also still shop at bargain grocery stores, don’t take many vacations and cook most of my meals at home. I bought my first new car 4 years ago and probably won’t be buying another.

I know jack sh*t about stocks or investing and I’m learning more.

Bottom line: making lots of money doesn’t mean anything when your life is wildly expensive to maintain.

I’m shocked how many people don’t get this simple truth. At each promotion and pay raise they inflate their life style a tad and as a result, their massive salaries barely keep up.

I’ve written enough.

Money isn’t everything. It’s also not nothing. I’ve been broke and not broke.

I prefer the latter.

I always hope you find what I write useful.

I also run a coding mentorship program for career changers. Don’t you dare call it a bootcamp. Join here.