Here’s what I earned from my tech career

A history of not quite making bank

Talking about money is still a taboo, particularly here in the tech industry. But, inspired by Hunter Walk’s post from a few years ago about exactly this, I thought it might be interesting to talk about my experiences.

By not going with the flow, I’ve had a lot of really great experiences in tech, but I haven’t made the kind of money that others claim to. To be clear, none of it is bad! I’m not complaining in this post; I’m grateful for the opportunities and experiences that I’ve had. The point is to provide a point of reference that’s far away from being startup hustle porn.

Here’s how my proceeds broke down over the major startups I’ve been a part of.

Elgg. I earned about $1,000 a month while I was bootstrapping my first startup — but I was in the UK, and my cost of living was significantly lower than in the US. A few years in, investors approached us and we raised a half a million dollar seed round, which allowed me to bump my salary up to the equivalent $50,000.

On paper, because of the valuation of the company after the investment and my holdings in it, I was a millionaire. But it wasn’t liquid, and although I could live, I was living paycheck to paycheck. Elgg won awards and became the intranet for at least one…