It seems equivalent levels at Microsoft are severely underpaid by the factor of 2 and sometimes even 3. How the levels considered equivalent across different companies on this website?
Compare career levels across companies
201–210 of 428 posts
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#202I left Amazon just 5 months after being employed there as an SDE, it was terrible. It's not all about the money. The levels have nothing to do with tech or experience. It's the ability of person to navigate his career through corporate bureaucracy and politics.
no offense but when i hear leaving after 5 months it just sounds like serious underperformance.
They didn't say they were fired after 5 months. I left Amazon after 10 months. It had nothing to do with underperformance, it had to do with the working conditions within the team I was on. My manager was very happy with how I worked, and since leaving has emailed me to come and work for him on a different team.
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook has a few Haskell hackers. I imagine they need a few more to combat not only spam but fake accounts, fake news and fake viral posts. Huge opportunity right there. I don't work at Facebook but follow their tech blog. https://code.fb.com/security/fighting-spam-with-haskell/
Yeah I know of this team, and I'd love to work with them. The problems they are solving sound really interesting. I guess I am afraid of joining under the understanding I'd join that particular team, but then find I'm shuffled onto some boring Java CRUD app, with no escape. I've nothing against those apps, but I've been there done that, and I'm not interested in it.
Reach out to them? I’m sure they can work something out..
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#204Huge fan of this site, for two reasons: - It lets “outsiders” to the tech scene understand salary and levels at big companies. If you went to MIT you probably already have frat brothers/sorority sisters or an alumni network that consists of senior engineers at these big companies that know the promotion and compensation schemes well. But if you were an equally smart student who went to a non target school, many of th…
There are two problems with these: 1) If you aren't at one of these companies, it's not a fair comparison. It's really difficult to find a pre-IPO company who is going to compensate you like these, if for no other reason than that options are just not something you can easily stick a dollar value on. 2) It's kind of depressing. It's very easy to find people at similar experience levels as you making FAR more money (p…
> For instance, a Google recruiter once told me to spend a few months becoming a Python expert, and then they'd interview me (in Python);
Most SWE hires are generalists at Google, not tied to a specific language.
Unless you're being hired for a specialist role, you should absolutely be able to interview in the language of your choice. It's sometimes harder to put together an interview slate for a less popular language, but that definitely shouldn't make your recruiter force Python.
> Also, I imagine it's that much worse for people outside the Bay Area.
Actually, FAANG companies are some of the only ones with strong compensation in offices all over the country and globe.
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#205The IBM ranks are inaccurate. Fellows are not above DEs. Both are the highest ranks indeed, but of two different tracks. DE is the highest rank of the engineering track, while Fellow is the highest rank of the research track. Fellowship have also be granted to non-research people over the past 20 years, diluting the merit of the title IMHO. Examples of fellows are: John Backus, Gene Amdahl, Ken Iverson, Benoit Mandel…
I was at the IBM LTC from 2001--2009 as an STSM, and my understanding was that DE's could absolutely get promoted to Fellows. So assuming that Fellows are "just" the highest rank of the research rank is not really accurate. Perhaps that's what you mean by "diluting the merit of the title", but that sounds like you're coming from the Research side of IBM. :-)
Yes, it's rare for a DE to get promoted to be a Fellow, but that's because there are very few Fellows at IBM. And there's no reason why a Fellow would want to become a DE, since that would mean taking a pay cut. (See below)
From a salary band perspective, STSM is actually the highest rank of the engineering track (aka Band 10). A DE is paid on the bottom rung of the executive track (Band D), while a Fellow is paid as an Executive Band C. Which means a Fellow may be the highest rank of the "research track" but a Fellow is still going to rank below an SVP or GM from a salary perspective. :-)
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#206BUG: Level 66 salary for Microsoft is more than level 67!
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#207Either I was: 1) seriously underpaid at Google, 2) things have changed a lot in the past half year or 3) the stats do not reflect real averages.
I'm inclined to think a combination of 3) and 1). For example the jump in base salary for Google from T5 (171k) to T6 (260k) seemed suspiciously high. So I looked at the page for T6, and it has 15 entries, most around 200k-220k, but one 550k. That's probably wrong. I think the reporter switched salary and stock (which shows 200k).
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#208Either I was: 1) seriously underpaid at Google, 2) things have changed a lot in the past half year or 3) the stats do not reflect real averages.
Keep in mind that new hire salaries at the same level are typically higher than folks internally who have been at that level for some time. The market rate has actually gone up significantly in last 1-2 years.
That's true, but it's also counterbalanced by strong equity growth over the past few years. A $100k/yr GOOG grant from 2014 is now almost $200k/yr (even ignoring refresh and raises).
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#209Earlier quoted context omitted.
And to the "outsiders" from outside US, it should be written that 40-45 percent is taken away as taxes. So, if someone is making a total comp of 200k, it is basically 120k. This should be written in bold on this website. Actually i would say, instead of having these charts which compare total comp, its better to have a survey on how much people save after rent, taxes, and basic living expenses (not including loans et…
Where do you live that doesn’t have taxes? Also 40-45% is extremely high for the US. Perhaps you’re misunderstanding how marginal tax rates work?
40-45% is not extremely high for California for someone unmarried with a mid-6-figures income.
For lower income levels than that, or if you're married, or live in a state with lower state taxes, the numbers look much better.
Re: Compare career levels across companies
#210Earlier quoted context omitted.
Finance pays similar rates as this in lots of places (Chicago, New York, Austin, Houston, Dallas). These are just jobs I know of in my network. I’ve heard that these pay band exists in other industries as well (consulting, specialist niche, etc).
Most finance roles don't anymore. There's a large supply of candidates looking for roles across finance in e.g. NYC, but the industry is also shrinking in many areas, leading to compensation compression. I'm particularly thinking of sell-side roles.
This is true, I’ve recieved a number of offers in finance that were good but underwhelming.