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

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531–540 of 547 posts

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

#531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I like making hardware and SW that goes with it... I'm just not sure how you validate the market need for something like that and what hw more exactly to build. I feel there is already so much stuff...

> I feel there is already so much stuff...

I haven't read this elsewhere so it may be non-validated but you shouldn't imagine customers of a product as entirely captured nor cohesive. Inside of the customer pool are going to be people who are displeased with the product for sometimes disparate reasons but not enough to find a different product because this one is "good enough".

To make this example very simple, a product may produce orange widgets. It's good enough for most people but one group wishes it made a more yellow widget while another group wishes it made a more red widget. The orange widget isn't the ideal case, it's a compromise to serve the most people.

If someone came in and made a product that produces very yellow widgets and focuses on the yellow widget market, you could serve those people very well despite being having a smaller pool.

In other words, your product doesn't need to go toe-to-toe with the orange widget product that has a revenue of $1B, you only need to pick off the yellow widget people to get a revenue of, lets say, $10M and you are eating very well.

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

#532

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…

> instead of learning how to start and run a business 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. Especially if you start hiring other people, your liability then increases 10 fold as now anything can happen with them (sick leave, absenteism, low performance, sabotage, etc) but you're still bound to the same deadlines…

> 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.

Precisely.

Add to that that as a regular 9-5 worker you have one role.

As a solo business owner you have several roles (engineer, marketer, customer service, designer, etc...).

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

#533

Those salaries are inflated by RSUs

yes, that is true. My target comp is around $370k. My actual comp this year will be ~470k due to stock increase of my initial grant.

Eventually it will normalize closer to the lower end as my large initial grant is replaced by refreshers, unless the stock continues to go up dramatically, which is unlikely.

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

#535

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 d…

That's a lot of lids.

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

#536

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…

There is an opportunity cost to starting a new business. Depending on market and your experience it can take several years before you get anywhere close to earning the same level of income as a mid to senior level FAANG employee. There is also the time commitment to dealing with everything outside of being an IC (taxes, healthcare, finance, marketing, disputes, legal).

To anyone exploring starting a new business I would keep the day job and suffer until you get to a point where the business is on a good clip and you can dedicate all your time to it. Otherwise spending 20 years at FAANG and enjoying your life is really not a bad way to live, in fact its a dream to 99% of the planets population.

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

#537

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…

What type of SaaS? Any ideas?

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

#538

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 want to rest and vest. I've gotten to final stage interviews with FAANG. I want the get the job, put in my 9-5 and go home.

Plus running a business takes a lot of money and luck...

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

#539

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im doing both and yes its very different. The stress at the big companies is nothing.

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.

  > I get that...
  > Sure, I get that...
Doesn't sound like you get it. You ask why people have an aversion to starting their own business and people are giving you reasons that you don't want to accept.

I've done both. Working FAANG is way easier than running your own business. Orders of magnitude less stress. That's why some people can "rest and vest" at FAANG.

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

#540

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…

These threads always surprise me. I'm a director of software engineering in a medium sized company (~3k employees) not located in a big metro but with plenty of people working from competitive areas (I am in the Seattle area myself). My base is a bit over $200k with a 20% bonus and some stock options. I know I'm on the higher end compared to my peers, and I know what my direct and indirect reports make. My wife works…

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