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Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

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Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#121

Post by mcguire »

rdtsc wrote: post #100
jarjoura wrote: post #96

250k a year in 5 years at a big corporation, really? Yea if you're lucky to work on a project/team higher-ups care about and are also willing to bust your ass working long hours to meet insane deadlines. Also, you better be someone who is excellent at communication and charismatic if you want to get invited to the table of interesting work. There are a lot of brilliant hyper-competitive people who work at these big c…

Yeah I saw that and thought, ok maybe if you are on of the known or maintain a popular open source package, a conference speaker. But 250k in year 5 is not a number that rings true. Or, maybe I am doing something wrong here and am underpaid...

You and me, both, brother.

I'm not sure why your comment is grey; it's spot on, although it's not likely a sentiment that HN folks are fond of.

On the other hand, your second paragraph is exactly true in my case. But still...

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#123

Post by colbyaley »

pil4rin wrote: post #104
thomaslangston wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you're not legally able to do so unless you're an accredited investor?

Is this true? if so, how can sites like angel.co exist? I believe I can invest in most of the startups right now on there..

You must be an accredited investor to invest on angel.co. see: https://angel.co/help/general-solicitation/accredited

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#124

Post by dsacco »

jarjoura wrote: post #96

250k a year in 5 years at a big corporation, really? Yea if you're lucky to work on a project/team higher-ups care about and are also willing to bust your ass working long hours to meet insane deadlines. Also, you better be someone who is excellent at communication and charismatic if you want to get invited to the table of interesting work. There are a lot of brilliant hyper-competitive people who work at these big c…

This doesn't undermine the author's point. As another commenter said, people are really underestimating the likelihood of earning a $250k salary at a large company. It's really, really doable at a large company within 5 years if you hit senior level and live in a metropolitan area.

The author's core point is that you are much more likely to become a senior engineer at a large company (and thus earn ~$250k in salary) than you are to hit the jackpot at a startup.

If you were to take the set of people who achieve senior tier (or comparable) at large tech companies and the set of people who earn at least $250k as a lump sum payout for working at a successful startup, you'd find that the former group is vastly larger than the latter.

If you were to do the same exercise and replace the second group with folks who actually got "rich" (for any reasonable definition) working for a startup, you'd find that it would not even be visible as a pixel next to the former group.

Statistically, you are simply better off trying to hit senior at large tech company if you want to optimize your career for wealth. This is so doable within five years that at large companies like Google and Microsoft you are expected to hit senior level, and if you don't it begins to reflect badly on your record. More explicitly, "senior" is the last level that everyone is expected to hit, and at which you are "allowed" to not seek further promotions.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#125

Post by benmarten »

arborday wrote: post #119
jarjoura wrote: post #96

250k a year in 5 years at a big corporation, really? Yea if you're lucky to work on a project/team higher-ups care about and are also willing to bust your ass working long hours to meet insane deadlines. Also, you better be someone who is excellent at communication and charismatic if you want to get invited to the table of interesting work. There are a lot of brilliant hyper-competitive people who work at these big c…

I think the median after 5 years is closer to ~225k. (source I've worked at Google 5 years after joining right out of school).

Damn! I did not know that salaries where that high here. I just came to SF on an H1-B and can only look up to that... But way to go - i guess...

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#126

Post by googthrowaway8 »

jarjoura wrote: post #96

250k a year in 5 years at a big corporation, really? Yea if you're lucky to work on a project/team higher-ups care about and are also willing to bust your ass working long hours to meet insane deadlines. Also, you better be someone who is excellent at communication and charismatic if you want to get invited to the table of interesting work. There are a lot of brilliant hyper-competitive people who work at these big c…

This is not true, although I thought it was before joining Google from a startup. I'm now two years in (after joining at entry level) and my compensation is ~220k. 250k for senior is pretty conservative, if the Googlers I've talked to at that level are representative (and we don't work in the Bay Area).

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#127

Post by oblio »

thomaslangston wrote: post #87
bri3d wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think you're that good at picking financially successful startups, why not invest just money rather than time AND money?

Because you're not legally able to do so unless you're an accredited investor?

Hmmmm... I'm guessing this law exists to prohibit speculation by people who would use their children's tuition for it?

I remember reading something about the Great Depression and it involved ordinary people investing in stocks and losing everything.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#128

Post by taurath »

wahsd wrote: post #33
matwood wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually the number is total comp, salary + stock. So maybe $150k/year salary and $100k in stock that vests over X years with more possibly added. At that point, ~%10 raise/year would get someone close to $250k. I assume someone would have to bust their butt for a 10%, but it is not an unheard of number.

10% salary increases through internal pay increases? That sounds quite unheard of. Maybe if you constantly gun for internal promotions that everyone else is gunning for, but that still leaves everyone else behind that is going to get marginal increases at best.

Offers in hand help a lot. If they don't want to keep you at or near what other people are offering, they don't care enough to keep you.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#129

Post by balls187 »

jarjoura wrote: post #96

250k a year in 5 years at a big corporation, really? Yea if you're lucky to work on a project/team higher-ups care about and are also willing to bust your ass working long hours to meet insane deadlines. Also, you better be someone who is excellent at communication and charismatic if you want to get invited to the table of interesting work. There are a lot of brilliant hyper-competitive people who work at these big c…

$250k Total comp. That's salary, bonus, equity, and benefits.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#130

Post by balls187 »

benmarten wrote: post #125
arborday wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the median after 5 years is closer to ~225k. (source I've worked at Google 5 years after joining right out of school).

Damn! I did not know that salaries where that high here. I just came to SF on an H1-B and can only look up to that... But way to go - i guess...

total comp.

Not salary.

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