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Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#181

Post by hunter2_ »

javier123454321 wrote: post #130
garciasn wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am part of the group that misses unlimited PTO. I was averaging 8-9 weeks of time off under the unlimited model while I am capped at 5 weeks at a company with actual PTO. The only difference is that I get paid out any remaining PTO, should I leave, whereas with unlimited, there was no expectation that it will be paid out on departure.

I also came from a place with unlimited and I loved it. Makes me wonder if the people that regurgitate the notion that it's a trap actually have worked in places with unlimited.

I believe it's not intended to be a trap; it's not to encourage taking more or less than a typical amount. Rather, it's done to avoid paying out on termination in places that require doing so as mentioned earlier.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#182

Post by stuff4ben »

javier123454321 wrote: post #130
garciasn wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am part of the group that misses unlimited PTO. I was averaging 8-9 weeks of time off under the unlimited model while I am capped at 5 weeks at a company with actual PTO. The only difference is that I get paid out any remaining PTO, should I leave, whereas with unlimited, there was no expectation that it will be paid out on departure.

I also came from a place with unlimited and I loved it. Makes me wonder if the people that regurgitate the notion that it's a trap actually have worked in places with unlimited.

FWIW, no I have not worked in a place with unlimited PTO. Heard a lot of negatives though and that's what scares me off it. The peer pressure to not take PTO would make it difficult for me to actually relax. Everyone is different though and I'm sure there are places where it works. But it's hard to determine that during the interview process. So I'd rather have the guarantee of x number of weeks of PTO where x>5.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#183

Post by gigatexal »

Maybe the thing to be focusing on is maximizing savings on the high average salaries that we all can command instead of trying to maximize earnings.

Controlling spending is something one can control to some extent once the necessities are paid for.

And then that’s the way to accrue and stay wealthy or become independently wealthy over time.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#184

Post by toasterlovin »

totallywrong wrote: post #177

There's also the option of making 120k or so working remotely while living in a LCOL country. You end up with about the same purchasing power.

FWIW I think having your descendants live in a HCOL country is underrated.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#187

Post by tracker1 »

sshine wrote: post #50
markus_zhang wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sometimes money is really not the only variable, unless it's a very large amount, say half a million. For people with family, I believe a good insurance plan and flexibility in hours also mean a lot. Especially hours.

> a good insurance plan Can be purchased with money. > flexibility in hours Hard to not get flexibility if remote is on the table, which it usually is for these jobs.

Good luck with that... I don't know what your definition of "good" is, but in looking around when my cobra policy ran out, there were definitely limited options, none of which came close to what most of the worker policies offered, and none covered my retina doctor. The eye injections I get would be more out of pocket than my net income right now... and after 7 months out of work, I was seriously considering jobs paying roughly half of where I'd been the past few years just to maintain a good insurance plan.

I had about 12 months of buffer, but several unplanned home and auto repairs ate into that.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#188

Post by tracker1 »

syntheticnature wrote: post #154
sshine wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a good insurance plan Can be purchased with money. > flexibility in hours Hard to not get flexibility if remote is on the table, which it usually is for these jobs.

When I was a consultant, I could not find a health insurance plan that was even vaguely the equal of my current job's health insurance. Not too expensive, but simply not offered. That's not to say that job insurance is automatically good -- the job I had before being a consultant had worse health insurance that was a little worse than the plans I had as a consultant.

My plan next time I'm doing any kind of c2c type work will be to setup with trinet or another similar company to handle payroll benefits, even if it is just me.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#189

Post by orochimaaru »

unregistereddev wrote: post #176

Anecdote: I'm a Sr. Staff Engineer at a large employer in a LCOL city. Typical middle class houses cost $300k - $500k here, with luxury houses costing roughly $1m and small starter homes costing $200k (just using real estate as a rough proxy for cost of living). My base salary is $150k/yr. My cash bonus maxes out somewhere around $80k/yr, and typically falls in the $50k - 70k range. I also receive equity worth roughl…

[flagged]

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#190

Post by TimPC »

orochimaaru wrote: post #189
unregistereddev wrote: post #176

Anecdote: I'm a Sr. Staff Engineer at a large employer in a LCOL city. Typical middle class houses cost $300k - $500k here, with luxury houses costing roughly $1m and small starter homes costing $200k (just using real estate as a rough proxy for cost of living). My base salary is $150k/yr. My cash bonus maxes out somewhere around $80k/yr, and typically falls in the $50k - 70k range. I also receive equity worth roughl…

[flagged]

You don't understand how tax brackets work. You never make less money by moving up a bracket. The bracket rate only applies to income within the bracket.
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