Can I get a reality check on my career?

Summary

Data engineering career check: when to be satisfied with your position

A senior data engineer with 4.5 years of experience and a 150,000 dollar salary questions whether to be content with the current position or aim higher.

The situation

The engineer works fully remote, earns 150k dollars with limited bonus, has 4 weeks PTO and no on-call obligations. Without a CS degree but with 7 years total experience, the position is comfortable but raises the question of untapped potential.

Why this matters for data professionals

This question resonates with many data engineers and BI professionals: when is your package good enough and when are you leaving opportunities on the table? The balance between salary, workload, remote options, and growth differs for everyone, but the benchmarks are instructive.

Takeaway

Compare your own package with market data, not social media outliers. Weigh salary, PTO, remote work, and workload as a whole. A missing CS degree is increasingly less of a barrier in data engineering.