Software Engineer Carlos Santana Roldán Reaches $200,000 Salary After 20-Year Career

Carlos Santana Roldán, a 38-year-old software engineer in California, currently earns just over $200,000 per year as a lead full stack engineer contractor with a large music corporation. Business Insider reported that he has held the position for about one year. Roldán began his U.S.

Career in October 2013 when he moved from Mexico on a TN visa to work as a contractor for Globant at Disney in Seattle at $90,000 annually. He remained at that salary after relocating to California in 2015. In 2016 he joined Beachbody at $120,000 per year, where he learned the React framework and later wrote five books on the topic.

By 2017 he returned to Globant as a tech lead at Disney within ABC News for $127,000. He lost that position in 2018 shortly before his visa expired and returned to Mexico. After securing a role with a startup later acquired by MindBody, he received a $10,000 relocation payment and $145,000 salary in San Francisco.

In 2020 Roldán accepted a senior software engineer position at Snap for a $140,000 base salary plus restricted stock units valued at $225,000 over four years. His total compensation reached approximately $420,000 in 2021 due to stock appreciation before he was laid off after two years and three months.

He then joined APM Music as a principal engineer at $175,000 base plus bonus, later rising to $190,000 base and a 12 percent bonus for roughly $213,000 total.

He worked there three years until the project ended. While unemployed, Roldán survived on about $900 per month from a cabin rental business he operates in Mexico. Business Insider reported he has invested all earnings in Mexico because of his non-permanent visa status.