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Compare career levels across companies

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Re: Compare career levels across companies

#231

Post by Jach »

hagope wrote: post #223

Is this an accurate representation of comp? For the equity portion, for example if the value is calculated at 2018 peak stock market levels (RSU are granted in # of shares, not value of shares) then shouldn't all the equity values be discounted by the 10-20% drop in FANG stock values?

I'm also somewhat curious about the "stock $ per year" measurement. If I get 650 RSUs that vest 100% over 5 years (front-loaded), and on year 3 I get another 250 RSUs with the same schedule, how exactly should I calculate that in dollars? One way would be to just take the figure on my tax returns that accounts for proceeds from selling them, which is what I would do. I also wonder if other people are including proceeds they may have received from ESPP arrangements...

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#232

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

domlebo70 wrote: post #140

What is it like working at Google? I work at a startup, and these numbers are insanity to me. I have 10 years experience in mostly Haskell & FP (and that's what I enjoy doing). What would I do with my skills at one of the bigger tech companies?

With ten years under your belt, if you've been spending the time learning and growing your skills, you can do almost anything you want at Google. Except if you insist on doing it in Haskell. There are probably a handful of teams across the company that are using that language, but they might not have headcount to hire you at any given point in time.

Google is most definitely not a polyglot programming environment. There are five and a half blessed languages (C++, Java, Python, JS/TypeScript, and Go), and getting a new one added and approved is a major undertaking, and not guaranteed to succeed no matter how much effort you apply. And you'll still need to do your job. Even if your language of choice does get added, that doesn't mean you can use it on your project of choice. You code in what the rest of the code near you is written in. It's a sacrifice, but one I'm personally willing to make.

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#233

Post by jasondclinton »

gregschlom wrote: post #222
morgante wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 languag…

> you should absolutely be able to interview in the language of your choice. Except the choice is between Java, C++ and Python. They are very clear about that, asking what your preference is during the scheduling phase. I went through the interview process this year, and even tried to ask my interviewers if it was ok to do Kotlin instead of Java. It wasn't.

Google SWE interviewer here. You can absolutely interview in Ruby. I have it listed on my language interviewing skills page. It is harder to schedule for more obscure languages because we have to find 4 people with that language who are available.

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#234

Post by nouseforaname »

seattleeng wrote: post #10

Huge 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…

Also a huge fan. When I got my first full time engineering job at $50k I thought that was amazing. It literally allowed me to leapfrog my entire family and secured what I thought of as a middle class existence.

Then I got a salary adjustment to $70k because my new manager knew (although I didn't) that they'd lose me quickly.

And then I picked up the phone and talked to a recruiter and all the sudden I had a counteroffer for six figures. Can you believe that!? Never in my life thought I'd amount to anything especially after dropping out of college. A 6 figure job made me feel like I had made it.

Stayed close to that number for several years. Then I went remote for a big company with a high base and great RSUs. Now I'm a one percenter. My mom was a drug addicted waitress with an 8th grade education. I will own my beautiful home free and clear in my 30s. I have the means to travel the world limited only by my time. I will be able to retire in my 30s.

It's all so amazing, but I also took nearly a decade to wander into that final band of compensation that many are introduced to right out of the gate at top companies. Open information like this site is very valuable to people like me who come from a non-traditional background and live in a flyover state.

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#235

Post by Bahamut »

gregschlom wrote: post #222
morgante wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 languag…

> you should absolutely be able to interview in the language of your choice. Except the choice is between Java, C++ and Python. They are very clear about that, asking what your preference is during the scheduling phase. I went through the interview process this year, and even tried to ask my interviewers if it was ok to do Kotlin instead of Java. It wasn't.

I have interviewed with Google 7-8 times over the past 3-4 years (Google has mostly rejected me, but last time I cancelled the process with an onsite scheduled due to personal reasons) - every single time, Google has let me interview with JavaScript.

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#236

Post by jogjayr »

gregschlom wrote: post #222
morgante wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 languag…

> you should absolutely be able to interview in the language of your choice. Except the choice is between Java, C++ and Python. They are very clear about that, asking what your preference is during the scheduling phase. I went through the interview process this year, and even tried to ask my interviewers if it was ok to do Kotlin instead of Java. It wasn't.

I interviewed in JavaScript, so that's not strictly true. And if you're interviewing for an iOS role, Objective-C is obviously going to be a hard requirement. But if you say Python then write Ruby in the actual interview, would they really care that much? (any Google interviewers care to answer this?) I gave JS as my primary language but did one of my interviews in Python because I felt like it - the interviewer was fine with it.

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#238

Post by pzh »

sl8r wrote: post #200
rco8786 wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Some of these reported salaries would come close to that, if you include social security and medicare: For a $500k income in CA 29.59% Federal Income Tax + 10.48% CA Income Tax + 1.59% Social Security + 1.99% Medicate ---------------------------- = 43.65% total tax rate. (Source: https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-paycheck-calculator )

You forgot sales taxes, additional health insurance fees, and 401k contributions.

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#239

Post by ccdev »

seattleeng wrote: post #10

Huge 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…

Agreed. This has been an eye opener for me as someone who has worked mainly in smaller companies whose job levels didn't go beyond junior, mid-level, senior/lead in my profession. Granted, the concept of target schools still adds some bias to candidate hiring, but it's better than in many non-technical careers.

Re: Compare career levels across companies

#240

Post by askafriend »

symbolepro wrote: post #134
seattleeng wrote: post #10

Huge 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…

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…

You forget that many of these compensation numbers include a large portion of equity that many people hold for 1yr to get long term capital gains tax of just 15%.

Many of these equity packages include components that can top 6 figures a year. $100k in equity every year for 4 years is not an unreasonable equity package for a mid-senior engineers (5+yrs exp).

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