Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 184 posts

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#61

Post by cbanek »

a1pulley wrote: post #39
bradlys wrote: post #29

Facebook and Google are only setting the pay standard among other well paying public companies. The rest of the valley isn't keeping up. Startups in particular feel like slowly ramped up in pay but capped out. They're not offering enough stock to make up for it either. Usually only enough to make it such that your TC at startup would be equal to that of a big company IF the company IPO's/sells. (A big IF!) I don't se…

I've actually had the opposite experience with Google. I'm currently negotiating a job offer at Google; my initial offer was significantly lower than my four other ones. It's TBD whether they'll end up matching, but my recruiter has been trying to systematically deconstruct the argument for working at a local competitor to make the case that 0.67 * other offer = Google offer. I'm not sure if they'll end up matching -…

I know it's just anecdata but Google also lowballed me very hard. They even offered me less than I was currently making at Microsoft, and when I told them that, they basically said, "well, that's how it is." I walked away, and now get an email every year asking me if I'd reconsider. Maybe it was the wrong decision, but it really left a bad taste in my mouth. As a woman in engineering, I now totally believe in the Google pay gap, especially if they are lowballing people coming in.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#62

Post by twblalock »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #25
svachalek wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you working in Silicon Valley for a large tech company? If so you may be negotiating poorly. Otherwise, you may be getting typical or even good pay for where you are.

You don't have to be in Silicon Valley. Some companies have a premium for working there, but not always, especially at the high end. The more important detail is working for a large company that has stock/RSUs, a bonus program, a robust technical job ladder, and a regular review process. If your company doesn't do stock/RSUs, you're missing out on that aspect (though a small number of companies make up for that with…

A regular review process is key. A lot of startups don't do regular, systematic performance reviews and people think that is a good thing, but it's actually a bad thing.

A good performance review gives you the opportunity to demonstrate how well you are doing and back that up with feedback from your peers. It gives your manager documentation that proves you deserve more compensation. And you get this opportunity on a regular basis.

Even if you don't get a big compensation increase every time, annual reviews are generally when the company, as a matter of policy, gives out cost-of-living raises and stock grant refreshers. At companies without review processes this doesn't always happen every year.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#63

Post by bradlys »

taurath wrote: post #54
bradlys wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's $230k after tax. > Anyone can live even in the bay area on half of that, extremely comfortably. You really might want to expand on "extremely comfortably". We all have very different definitions. I'd like a home with AC, good transportation, close enough to SF to actually make it up on weeknights (30-40 min drive), a retirement plan that works with the assumption I live in this area indefinitely, and a <=20 minu…

$115k/yr is $9600/mo. You can spend $5k/mo on a rental with all of those properties, and have $4600/mo for food, utilities, bi-annual trips to europe, the payment for your porsche, and a housekeeper, all whilst saving half of your income to buy a house in the most expensive region of the US in 2-3 years. You can literally have all of those things.

Where is this $5k/month house with AC within 40 minutes drive of SF and 20 minutes drive of work? (Menlo Park to Mountain View generally being work area) It basically limits you to San Mateo to Mountain View. I haven't seen anything for $5k/month with AC there. If you find it, let me know. I'm in the market - lol.

I have seen one show up here and there but it's almost unequivocally in a terrible neighborhood and/or near the train tracks. Both are dealbreakers. I ain't listening to trains go by at midnight or blast horns at every intersection. Lived that life - done with it.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#64

Post by MuffinFlavored »

powvans wrote: post #50
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am in South Florida (somewhere in between Miami + Fort Lauderdale cost of living) levels.fyi shows people making $300k in Austin, TX (which as far as I know, is not a high cost of living area) What are some areas that are comparable to South Florida that are listed on levels.fyi?

Google has an engineering office in Austin. Could be someone who took their Bay Area salary with them. Same with Pittsburg. Uber has a presence there and SFBA transplants take their SFBA salaries with them when they move.

How is that allowed?...

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#65

Post by borski »

bradlys wrote: post #63
taurath wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$115k/yr is $9600/mo. You can spend $5k/mo on a rental with all of those properties, and have $4600/mo for food, utilities, bi-annual trips to europe, the payment for your porsche, and a housekeeper, all whilst saving half of your income to buy a house in the most expensive region of the US in 2-3 years. You can literally have all of those things.

Where is this $5k/month house with AC within 40 minutes drive of SF and 20 minutes drive of work? (Menlo Park to Mountain View generally being work area) It basically limits you to San Mateo to Mountain View. I haven't seen anything for $5k/month with AC there. If you find it, let me know. I'm in the market - lol. I have seen one show up here and there but it's almost unequivocally in a terrible neighborhood and/or n…

I spent 3 minutes searching:

https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/36746960/3-bedroom-2-ba...

https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/13951431/3-bedroom-2-ba...

Point is: the trope of “nobody can live in the Bay Area on 125k net” is total bullshit, tired, and flat-out untrue. Is it harder than living on 125k elsewhere? Absolutely. Are you “poor” and unable to afford a great house? No, not at all.

There are plenty of great places.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#66

Post by borski »

cdkee wrote: post #59
taurath wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$115k/yr is $9600/mo. You can spend $5k/mo on a rental with all of those properties, and have $4600/mo for food, utilities, bi-annual trips to europe, the payment for your porsche, and a housekeeper, all whilst saving half of your income to buy a house in the most expensive region of the US in 2-3 years. You can literally have all of those things.

After taxes 115k is more like 5-6k a month, depending on how much you’re putting into retirement accounts, healthcare, etc.

Parent was already talking about net, after taxes.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#67

Post by bradlys »

borski wrote: post #65
bradlys wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where is this $5k/month house with AC within 40 minutes drive of SF and 20 minutes drive of work? (Menlo Park to Mountain View generally being work area) It basically limits you to San Mateo to Mountain View. I haven't seen anything for $5k/month with AC there. If you find it, let me know. I'm in the market - lol. I have seen one show up here and there but it's almost unequivocally in a terrible neighborhood and/or n…

I spent 3 minutes searching: https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/36746960/3-bedroom-2-ba... https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/13951431/3-bedroom-2-ba... Point is: the trope of “nobody can live in the Bay Area on 125k net” is total bullshit, tired, and flat-out untrue. Is it harder than living on 125k elsewhere? Absolutely. Are you “poor” and unable to afford a great house? No, not at all. There are plenty of grea…

> https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/36746960/3-bedroom-2-ba....

> https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/13951431/3-bedroom-2-ba....

These are apartments - not single family homes.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#68

Post by jldugger »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #34
clintonb wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Location matters. $140K in a low cost of living area is not the same as $140 in the Bay Area.

I am in South Florida (somewhere in between Miami + Fort Lauderdale cost of living) levels.fyi shows people making $300k in Austin, TX (which as far as I know, is not a high cost of living area) What are some areas that are comparable to South Florida that are listed on levels.fyi?

Austin is not SV, but rents there have jumped in the last decade. Try pricing out a 2br apt, near one of the major tech offices. First place I clicked on was $2,300 a month! Average is closer to $1,500. This is unusual for Texas =)

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#69

Post by jldugger »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #64
powvans wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has an engineering office in Austin. Could be someone who took their Bay Area salary with them. Same with Pittsburg. Uber has a presence there and SFBA transplants take their SFBA salaries with them when they move.

How is that allowed?...

It's usually not, but there's a certain logic to it: they valued your work high enough to pay you in SV, why would the same work be less valuable just because you moved offices?

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#70

Post by borski »

bradlys wrote: post #67
borski wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I spent 3 minutes searching: https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/36746960/3-bedroom-2-ba... https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/13951431/3-bedroom-2-ba... Point is: the trope of “nobody can live in the Bay Area on 125k net” is total bullshit, tired, and flat-out untrue. Is it harder than living on 125k elsewhere? Absolutely. Are you “poor” and unable to afford a great house? No, not at all. There are plenty of grea…

> https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/36746960/3-bedroom-2-ba... . > https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/13951431/3-bedroom-2-ba... . These are apartments - not single family homes.

I mean, I’m not actually a realtor, but here’s a home for you:

https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/35506914/3-bedroom-2-ba...

My search space was Mountain View, so expand and you’ll find more. Point is there are plenty of options, you just have to look for them.

And, to be fair, I only searched PadMapper, which is an apartment rental website, so my results weren’t even focused on SFH.

Post reply on HN