Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

361–370 of 547 posts

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

#361

Post by xeromal »

Maxatar wrote: post #355
xeromal wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems strange that ridicule should be your instinct rather than simple education

I hate to agree with the ridicule point, but honestly ridicule also deters other people from making a similar mistake. I agree ridicule should be used cautiously, but in a case like this where someone speaks so confidently and boldly gives advice on a topic they clearly do not understand, I think ridicule is a good way not only to inform them, but also indicate to others that it's not okay to give people this kind of…

I have nothing to back this up but the reason I'm sensitive to ridicule as an initial reaction is that I believe it causes people to shy away and there's potential that they surround themselves with other ridiculed people and now you have a group that is intentionally dense and now powerful. Education should always be the first step.

I grew up in rural appalachia and the amount of grief than the uneducated get there for being uneducated causes them to become even more hostile and I really think that the Mr Rogers approach of education would eventually neuter any hostility they had towards the educated.

* edit: changed education to educated

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

#362

Post by Bjorkbat »

keiferski wrote: post #221

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business. These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, w…

I mean, that's what I'm trying to do (the business, not the monetary milestone), but something to be mindful of is that on Indie Hackers only 12 people out of 17,000 in the community got to $10k MRR.

https://www.indiehackers.com/post/holy-heck-this-is-hard-8eb...

Granted, this is Indie Hackers, so take this with a grain of salt, but I think the general idea still applies. Getting to $10k a month, let alone making $250k a year (so ~$20k/month) is really hard, probably about as hard as making $250k a year as an employee, maybe even harder.

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

#364

Post by dontlikeyoueith »

The_Colonel wrote: post #348
keiferski wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I get that. But are the people trying to maximize income as an employee really looking for the low stress route in the first place? I suppose I should have qualified my comment by saying it's if your primary aim is to maximize income.

Stress level has very unclear correlation with compensation. My very personal experience was that higher the compensation, less stressful the job was.

At my compensation my only stress is what happens if I get laid off and can't find new work in this market.

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

#365

Post by johann8384 »

keiferski wrote: post #221

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business. These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, w…

Because I am happier as a great employee. I have a large family and have chosen base salary over stock when it comes up for example. I make a great salary and we can afford to have a lot of fun. We took four months and traveled in an RV. I have 7 lids and they all have a sport so we do lots of Soccer, Field Hockey, Softball, Baseball, etc. That is expensive and time consuming but I am at 99% of their games.

I can't do that as well while starting and running a company.

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

#366

Post by [deleted] »

wepple wrote: post #287
stonethrowaway wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Because the stress and risks of running a small business as a solo inexperienced first time business owner are insane compared to a regular 9-5. Believe it or not you get over this. It’s kind of like the fear of going up on stage to give a presentation. Some people get an addictive rush, these are usually serial entrepreneurs who just love to be in charge because they have no problems with risk/stress tolerance (mo…

> Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite Utter horse shit. I want to earn enough to live without too many worries, and spend time with friends and family. Being able to leave at 5 is irreplaceable

[deleted]

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

#367

Post by medvezhenok »

reaperman wrote: post #292
brodouevencode wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in the lowest tax bracket making just above the poverty line, as I was then (as well as most people around me), it was what we all understood to be.

I was in that tax bracket for half my adult life (often did not have enough money to eat chicken and rice at home and just went hungry). I had to do my own taxes because I couldn’t afford an accountant and TurboTax starting taking the piss on their dark pattern pricing schemes. All of my friends at the time were also very poor, it was a giant recession and we worked in restaurants that weren’t getting customers. We g…

When you're in that tax bracket, there are plenty of tax break/benefit cliffs that are more impactful than tax rates. And they can certainly make your take-home pay go down if you accept a raise. See:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41048205

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

#368

Post by rco8786 »

keiferski wrote: post #221

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business. These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, w…

> so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee

It seems like you are vastly underestimating the effort (and risk) it takes to start a successful SaaS that brings its founder $500k+ annually.

You're right about everything if you can actually start and grow that business, but you're glossing over how difficult that actually is to do, and the fact that you have to start from $0 income.

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

#369

Post by medvezhenok »

jtbayly wrote: post #358
redblacktree wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not how tax brackets work, but it is a common misconception. If you salary goes up, your take-home goes up, full stop. If you are making $191,950/year (the very top end of the 24% bracket for 2024) you will pay $39,110.50 in federal income tax, (before any deductions) for a net of $152,839.50. (You may notice that this is less than 24%) If you make an additional $1,000/year: $192,950, only the additional $1,00…

There are cases where if your salary goes up, your take-home goes down, especially for lower income levels. It’s just not on the basis of tax brackets. There are means-tested benefits that you can lose if you cross certain income levels where an increase in income of $5 can cost you thousands of dollars.

Yup. Most are for lower income levels but some affect middle class & up as well

(electric vehicle credits, financial aid for university, first time homeowner credits, or affordable homeownership breaks... etc)

Post reply on HN