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How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

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Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#21
I recently finished reading the book Never Split the Difference and I would highly recommend it. It's a slightly different take on the traditional negotiation tropes we've all heard.

I've managed to employ many of the techniques in my day to day as a PM with success, but his discussions on salary negotiation resonated with me. I'm sure you can find some notes on the book to derive 50% of the value, but the author's stories and explanations drove it home for me.

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have 5 years experience and make >200k in total comp at Google at their Mountain View campus. Google was also not the highest number offer when I was interviewing 2 years ago either (but it was the more interesting role + benefits). You should interview :)

Well, google is different right? They hire the cream of the crop. They don't only hire for experience. They also hire for innate, inborn intelligence. I might get in, but I have to work hard to pass that interview. I'm talking about 200k on average.

Idk where you got the idea that being a Google engineer is innate haha, man the marketing and hype around the role is incredible.

The “secret” is Google tries to hire smart hardworking people, not divinely ordained superhumans. My advice would be to study hard for the interview and let them figure out whether or not you pass the bar. At the very least it will be good practice for othe interviews and you might be accepted and find a role you really like!

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#23
post #5

200k+ for 2 years experience in the valley? That is crazy. This guy is overpaid. How realistic is this? I work in the valley I have roughly a decade of experience and I am definitely under 200k. Am I getting shafted?

I have 8yr experience and saw offer for total comp of 225k/yr in bay area. No concurrent offers, non-faang company, publicly traded. Salary is extremely variable is my takeaway.

How good are you in algorithms? At the end interview performance is what really matters, not programming experience. You may day it's not fair, but it's at least a transparent process.

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#24

200k+ for 2 years experience in the valley? That is crazy. This guy is overpaid. How realistic is this? I work in the valley I have roughly a decade of experience and I am definitely under 200k. Am I getting shafted?

Is there a way to take a poll how many people are actually getting 200k+ with just 2 years of experience? I truly find this unbelievable.

I'm one of those people at least. Coming up on 2 years, and last year and this year both, I'll see >200k in total compensation.

Many of my co-workers are in the same boat.

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#25
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is your position? 200k isn’t that much these days when you take inflation into account.

There must be some pockets with insane salaires but for most people 200K is pretty high. How many non-execs really make these high salaries?

"Median Facebook Salary" on Google returns ~$240K/year and I think they're up to 34,000 employees and still making more profit per employee than most companies.

Do you think that a $200K/year salary is pretty high for tech in the Bay Area? At a global level $200K/year is very high, but regionally, between tech employees in the and their incumbent landlords, it is not that high.

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#26
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

what is your position? 200k isn’t that much these days when you take inflation into account.

There must be some pockets with insane salaires but for most people 200K is pretty high. How many non-execs really make these high salaries?

Note that salary isn't the number being quoted, but Total Compensation. Base salary, Equity, and Bonus. Equity grants -- RSUs -- tend to be quoted as a big allocation vesting over a 4 year period. So roughly, divide by four and hope the stock only goes up to factor it into annual income. Critically, companies offer 'refresher RSUs' to employees on an annual basis to replace expiring equity grants. Which means at year 4, you've reached a steady state of RSU vesting. Because of this, people often tend to just add RSU grant to base without dividing, figuring they'll get a stream of refreshers. Bonus is more discretionary, but basically works like salary.

Engineers with TC over 200k is not rare in the bay area. More tricky is people who's equity is pre-IPO; startups often pay low base salary in exchange for equity / lottery tix.

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#27
post #21

I recently finished reading the book Never Split the Difference and I would highly recommend it. It's a slightly different take on the traditional negotiation tropes we've all heard. I've managed to employ many of the techniques in my day to day as a PM with success, but his discussions on salary negotiation resonated with me. I'm sure you can find some notes on the book to derive 50% of the value, but the author's s…

TLDR please?

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#28
To put this in bay area perspective, that $300K per year gets broken down as:

  42% Tax bracket. Net $180K per year
  $6K per month in rent/mortgage. Net $108K
  $3K per month in living expenses. $72K
  $1K student loans (maybe). Net $60K
  $1K in insurance (health / renters / home). Net $48K
  $1K disposable income. Net $36K
  $8K vacation. Net $28K ( or about $2.3K per month for savings)
Not bad. But you can see how bay area cost of living can quickly erode income.

Add kids, dependents, cars, transportation, day care, private schools... and it's a net wash (or possibly even net negative with more debt).

[EDIT: If we're getting precise here, the effective tax is 38.18% before deductions. The point being that $150K yr is near the poverty line in bay area. $200K is barely enough to survive. $300K is what a FAANG will pay 90 percentile Engineers to ensure they're comfortable]

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#29
post #27
post #21

I recently finished reading the book Never Split the Difference and I would highly recommend it. It's a slightly different take on the traditional negotiation tropes we've all heard. I've managed to employ many of the techniques in my day to day as a PM with success, but his discussions on salary negotiation resonated with me. I'm sure you can find some notes on the book to derive 50% of the value, but the author's s…

TLDR please?

Its in the title of the book :)

Re: How I negotiated a software-engineering job offer in Silicon Valley

#30
post #27
post #21

I recently finished reading the book Never Split the Difference and I would highly recommend it. It's a slightly different take on the traditional negotiation tropes we've all heard. I've managed to employ many of the techniques in my day to day as a PM with success, but his discussions on salary negotiation resonated with me. I'm sure you can find some notes on the book to derive 50% of the value, but the author's s…

TLDR please?

I don't know if this really qualifies as TL;DR, but they seem to have captured the high-level points: https://www.freshworks.com/freshsales-crm/sdr-sales-developm...
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