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Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

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Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#281

Post by wdmeldon »

dreaminvm wrote: post #267
mrshoe wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That this is currently the top comment reinforces the author's hypothesis that many software engineers underestimate how much they could make at a large company. > 250k a year in 5 years at a big corporation, really? Yes, 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. Nope, not true. > So I think this art…

Firstly, everyone not working in the Bay Area can ignore these figures because they are bloated due to cost of living (3K for 1BR/1BA apartment) and competition for talent (from startups and peers). Secondly, people are ignoring the fact that RSUs at the 3 companies mentioned (and a few others AMZN/MSFT) have grown substantially in the past 5 years (about 125-150% on average) and is the biggest factor in these "surre…

Location is one of the core factors of this article. I'm 3 years into my career and still make less than half the starting rate at BigCorp in SV.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#282

Post by phamilton »

School-Cotton wrote: post #272
rockinghigh wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're talking about total compensation, 250k is on the low end. Base of $140-190k is common. Add to that $10-30k of cash bonus and $100k of stocks.

People get $100k of stocks a year? As in, not RSUs - vested stocks? I suspect you're confusing the two, though I admit I'm not certain

RSUs are stocks. A grant of 1 RSU means that on the date it vests, the company will buy 1 share of its stock and drop it into your account at a major brokerage. It's considered compensation and taxed as income, though it's often withheld as bonus income.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#283

Post by mruniverse »

I work at Big Company and although I grumble, I know it's probably better than going to a Startup. I think the Startup route is like trying to win in Vegas. Some win, most don't. Although it could be fun depending on what you're looking for.

At Big Company if I get bored I can move to a different group fairly easily. And I know my work will be used by millions of people a day. I think that's the part people forget; A lot of people will use your product. At a Startup good luck with that.

And another thing, if you start to have conflicts with someone at a Startup and it's not resolved, it will be a pain to work there. At Big Company, at least you can move to another group or hope they will.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#284

Post by LoSboccacc »

loopbit wrote: post #259
eecks wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just in the states? What about in Europe? FB, Google and others have headquarters in Dublin. I don't think they pay anything like that, do they?

I live in Dublin, don't work for Google but I have many friends that do (as well as in London and Zurich). No, they don't pay anything close to that. Actually, AFAIK, in Dublin the salary that Google pays for developers is on the low side of the scale (they offset that, in part, with all the benefits like free food and the rest).

Dublin is in a weird situation. Loads of immigrant here. I lived there couple years and worked in one of those big corps.

Salaries do go quite up a while but statistics on the corporate ladder are stacked firmly against immigrants, the higher you go the less chance you have to find non local people.

With soft career ceiling and continuous influx of people salaries are driven down. You can still make a fine living, but nothing compared to the colleagues on the other side of the ocean.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#285

Post by mesozoic »

georgefrick wrote: post #50

So I've been at this 9 years and I'm not making six figures. Fuck. I don't even understand where I went wrong. Part of me can't believe the article at all. His comment about cost of living was kind of an outright dismissal, very odd? I don't think Google will let me work from Milwaukee. Where is the information on travel, quality of life (owning a house?), etc?

Pittsburgh

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#286

Post by fredkbloggs »

School-Cotton wrote: post #272
rockinghigh wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're talking about total compensation, 250k is on the low end. Base of $140-190k is common. Add to that $10-30k of cash bonus and $100k of stocks.

People get $100k of stocks a year? As in, not RSUs - vested stocks? I suspect you're confusing the two, though I admit I'm not certain

Obviously, it matters very much what the market price of the stock is. Your grant will be for a certain number of shares on some vesting schedule, not for a certain cash value.

Remember kids, stock prices don't always go up. Some stock prices go down, and sometimes all stock prices go down together. Those RSUs that, if fully vested, would have a market price of $400k at time of hire, may well be worth anything from $0 to $millions at the time they actually vest.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#287

Post by doki_pen »

humanrebar wrote: post #224
vonmoltke wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's really, really doable at a large company within 5 years if you hit senior level and live in a metropolitan area. So Dallas doesn't count as a metropolitan area? I can almost guarantee nobody here is making that kind of money after only five years. In fact, I'm willing to bet that this kind of compensation is extremely rare outside SV, NYC, and possibly Seattle. In fact, based on what I remember of the salary b…

Some cost of living calculators make $150k in Dallas equal about $250 in NYC. It's worth noting that $150k is high for Dallas, but not impossible for people with Principal, Fellow, or Chief in their job titles. It's worth noting that using a flat cost-of-living adjustment both overestimates and underestimates things. The kind of place you'd likely rent in Plano or Addison would cost ridiculous amounts in NYC, given c…

Yes. All other things being equal(and they are, for the most part), if you save 10% of your salary a year, you are going to be a lot wealthier upon retirement living in the higher cost of living place. If you want to maximize your retirement fund, you should be looking to move to the place with the highest cost of living possible.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#288

Post by miles_matthias »

I don't see why this is getting much attention. You can look at the financials all day long, but what really matters is your happiness. Are you going to be happy at a big company doing the same job day in and day out? If so, great!

If you're the type of person that can't stand repetition and predictability and want the emotional roller coaster of creating something new, then join a startup!

We don't have blog posts talking about the payouts between being an artist and a hedge fund manager, and yet people still become artists. Why do we do this in the startup culture? We shouldn't feel apologetic or like we're missing out on something if we decide that what makes us happy is to work at a startup.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#289

Post by gutnor »

eecks wrote: post #230
sbilstein wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can corroborate this. 250k is very, very attainable.

Just in the states? What about in Europe? FB, Google and others have headquarters in Dublin. I don't think they pay anything like that, do they?

Does not appear to be the case in London. I know indirectly people working in Google around here and they are on the low side of banking salaries.

Getting $250K is certainly doable in bank, but it does not follow a specific career plan. I have known senior system tester making 150K GBP and for the same job and responsibilities another was making 50K GBP. Doing it in 5 years out of school is difficult in tech.

It is doable without too much trouble in finance in trading, m&a, ... the trick is that you need to survive which require more luck than skills.

Overall though, in the 4.5 million workers in London, only 120K make between 100K GBP and 200K GBP, and 60K that make more than that.

Re: Big Company vs. Startup Work and Compensation

#290

Post by doki_pen »

peter303 wrote: post #84

I dont think these high salaries will last because we are in the midst of a startup bubble with too much VC money chasing too few good ideas. Echo 1990s. However even if return to the 2004 scenario of 80K/100K that is still comparable to other professional careers and better than most college majors. So I'd recommend staying in CS if you like it.

Where else is the 0.1% going to put their 95% of the worlds wealth?
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