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.
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Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
411–420 of 547 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#412Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And generally the money will be locked up for less time than the 4 year vesting that these companies often follow. Err...4-year vesting doesn't mean the money is literally locked away until you hit 4 years' tenure. A $1m stock grant vesting over 4 years might pay $250-350k every year, depending on the vesting schedule and stock performance. If a hedge fund pays $1m every 2 years then they're just paying more period…
> Err...4-year vesting doesn't mean the money is literally locked away until you hit 4 years' tenure No one said it did:) My point was that a typical bonus is about 2/3's employees at the moment its granted and 1/3 held back for a year sometimes two, so you get money faster than a typical 4 year vesting schedule. Does that clear things up?
See my second sentence. That means the hedge fund flat out pays much more than FAANG. It's got nothing to do with vesting schedules.
(BTW FAANG pays bonuses too. They're 100% the employee's when they're paid)
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#413I made $1.5 million last year selling online data engineering courses.
Would you be willing to teach me how to do this. Develop a course from my expertise (programming/python/whatever) for like 20% of the profits?
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#414Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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
I don't think there are many places in tech where an employee can leave at 5 and expect to keep their job.
Not true at all.
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#415It'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…
> will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business.
Being an employee is still running a business. The separation you are trying to draw isn't meaningful.
That particular line of business is one of the few businesses out there with a near-guaranteed customer base, though. That's a highly attractive trait for someone operating a business. With small risk comes small reward, of course, but it is no surprise that most businesses venture in that direction.
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#416Earlier 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…
> You get better at handling the stress as you get more comfortable with Some people, but not many people... > Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig Why? > Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite of your company Why? Why take time out of your day to tiger parent strangers on HN when you can just have your own children and damage them instead?
I agree with your first 3 sentences. But let's try to keep the guidelines in mind:
>Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#417Earlier quoted context omitted.
[Edited to remove snark/barbs as per HN guidelines]. I am genuinely curious though - you seem like you've had a successful career and life. I typically assume people in your position are rather familiar with the basic math behind personal taxes, 401k's, HSA's, child tax credits, standard deductions vs. large charitable deductions, etc. I think I may have been grossly mischaracterizing a potentially large group of peo…
Well, there is a grain of truth to his words. Over certain income, you are no longer qualified for food stamps, medicaid and section 8, so you are better off earning less.
this line of discussion is amusingly charitable for a person replying to a conversation about earning $150k - $300k/yr
they're not eligible for any welfare and are above the best phaseouts
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#418Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I mean a SAAS that solves a boring problem for other businesses with money to spend. Profitable software-based ideas are increasingly difficult to find. Thousands of people are exploring every niche and trying to start startups in them, which is great, but competition is fierce and unexplored niches are shrinking. And of course, it's still not straightforward even if you find a relatively unexplored niche. Most peo…
One word. Hardware. There is limitless opportunity outside of the webtech/adtech bullshit bubble. Go create a hardware startup, it's never been easier. It's still harder than adtech bullshit was 10 years ago, but the turnkey manufacturing industry is faaaar better than all the "hardware is hard" weekly blogspam would lead you to believe.
Any hints on how to even begin looking into this? There's a plethora of content on starting SaaS projects but can't say I've ever come across any for hardware.
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#419It'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…
> It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur
I like coding. I don't want to run a business, and these are very separate skills. This is like asking why an IC doesn't want to become a people manager.
Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?
#420I just wrapped up a long job search process, where I got offers from a handful of companies. I currently work at FAANG, so I was looking for a pay bump. The only companies that could beat my current comp are other big tech and finance, but there were a couple of surprises along the way. For example, a Tier 3 (i.e. you never heard about them) company offered me 450k TC for a Staff level position. This compares to the…
Another data point from a couple months ago -- I have about 15 years of experience including FAANG, went on the job market (fully remote only; I'm not in SF) and ended up with two offers. Senior SWE at a small but public tech company everyone has heard of, and Staff at a late-stage startup on track to IPO ~next year. Both offers were about $500k (the startup a little more but paper money); I took the former one.
I've also spent large parts of my career as an independent consultant -- similar compensation most years.