About salary. I earned $12k/year on my first dev job in a big startup in Brazil (it was a decent salary in 2017 for a junior dev in Brazil). Then I moved to the US and earned $67k/year working onsite on a small startup in LA as a junior with 1.5 year of experience. Then, still a junior position, but now with 2.5 yoe, I earned $115k/year working remote for a medium-sized company (but with a small engineering team). I was still living in the US, and I know being there and having work permit helped get the job. During that job I moved back to Brazil. Then, they started planning for IPO and fired me because they didn’t want international contractors working fulltime anymore. Then, living in Brazil, I got a job at an American startup, but fully globally remote from the start (team in US, Netherlands, Russia) as a mid-level software engineer earning $120k/year. All of this total compensation without any benefits (as I am a contractor).
$120k a year without any benefits is stellar salary in Brazil. I am top 1% income here. But I think those FAANG jobs paying $200k+ are out of reach for me.
About first job. First job as a junior I would actually recommend getting a local, ideally onsite, job on a company with several senior engineers and a culture of good mentoring for junior people. Well worth the investment of two years for the knowledge. Then go remote and global. If you can find such a company that’s remote and paying in a strong currency from the start, great too.
About stacks. If frontend, definitely React (but strong fundamentals in CSS and JavaScript are more important than React). Backend I would say Rails, Python or Node.
For being more marketable, create a portfolio of projects that you 1) created yourself, not just copied from a tutorial; you thought yourself and built it and 2) deployed. Websites or webapps that are actually deployed in a domain and are functional. It could be anything, but go all the way with them.
Then apply to A LOT of positions and learn along the way how to improve yourself, your portfolio, your communication, your interview skills, etc. I applied to ~250 positions to get my first dev job (keep in mind that all of them were for junior frontend developers, which I was).
$120k a year without any benefits is stellar salary in Brazil. I am top 1% income here. But I think those FAANG jobs paying $200k+ are out of reach for me.
About first job. First job as a junior I would actually recommend getting a local, ideally onsite, job on a company with several senior engineers and a culture of good mentoring for junior people. Well worth the investment of two years for the knowledge. Then go remote and global. If you can find such a company that’s remote and paying in a strong currency from the start, great too.
About stacks. If frontend, definitely React (but strong fundamentals in CSS and JavaScript are more important than React). Backend I would say Rails, Python or Node.
For being more marketable, create a portfolio of projects that you 1) created yourself, not just copied from a tutorial; you thought yourself and built it and 2) deployed. Websites or webapps that are actually deployed in a domain and are functional. It could be anything, but go all the way with them.
Then apply to A LOT of positions and learn along the way how to improve yourself, your portfolio, your communication, your interview skills, etc. I applied to ~250 positions to get my first dev job (keep in mind that all of them were for junior frontend developers, which I was).