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Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

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Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#101

Post by [deleted] »

bradlys wrote: post #45
taurath wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay though, if you joined Big Co now and made $400k/yr, you'd be taking home $260k post-tax. Anyone can live even in the bay area on half of that, extremely comfortably. In 2-3 years you'd have your $300-400k for a down payment - thats 30% of a $1.2mm house. 2-3 years to buy a median priced place. Thats not bad. Also, prices in say, Santa Clara CA have gone -5.5% YoY, and are forecasted by zillow to go another -8% i…

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…

[deleted]

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#102

Post by davidjnelson »

borski wrote: post #76
bradlys wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/35506914/3-bedroom-2-ba... . Doesn't have AC. Looks like a pretty depressing home - tbh. HDR'd to hell but a brick yard and a BYO washer/dryer that's literally underneath the sun and skies isn't exactly where I'd like to put my expensive appliances. You can check Craigslist and you won't have much better results. Adding AC | Air Conditioning to your search criteria makes it narr…

I think your standards may be too high. That looks like a gorgeous home to me. To be fair, I will agree with you that most places in the Bay Area don't seem to have A/C, but that's also because it's not generally needed here except for a couple weeks a year. You could do what we did in NYC all the time: window A/C's.

It’s 90 degrees plus 4 months of the year in many parts of the Bay Area, such as San Jose. So yes, you need air conditioning.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#103

Post by xenihn »

bradlys wrote: post #71
borski wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/35506914/3-bedroom-2-ba... . Doesn't have AC. Looks like a pretty depressing home - tbh. HDR'd to hell but a brick yard and a BYO washer/dryer that's literally underneath the sun and skies isn't exactly where I'd like to put my expensive appliances. You can check Craigslist and you won't have much better results. Adding AC | Air Conditioning to your search criteria makes it narr…

I know people living in $2 million+ homes in SF without AC...

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#104

Post by joshuamorton »

esoterica wrote: post #60
ryandrake wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people forget that. They see a few people at a FAANG company making $400k and conclude that everyone at that level makes about that much. People also disregard the infamous “4 year cliff”: At most of these companies, your initial stock offer fully vests in 4 years, so your 5th year, your take-home comp nose-dives. Even if you get modest raises and “refresh” stock grants (which not all companies do), you’re l…

No company is stupid enough to make their employees take a >50% paycut in year 5, unless they are intentionally signaling that the employee is not desired and should leave. If they did everyone would quit on their 4th anniversary. Refreshers typically exceed or match the initial grant. Even if they DID make you take a paycut you could jump ship every four years anyway, so why would you care about comp past year 4?

There are no companies where refreshers exceed or match the initial grant.

At Google, they're between 25 and 50%, depending on a lot of stuff. My initial grant was ~150k, my first refresher was ~40k, and it's a wash if my 4th year refresh will match my first year, that will likely come down to if I make L5 or not.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#105

Post by throwaway98121 »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #21

What's the bottom line with the super high compensation numbers? I've been a senior software engineer for a few years now and I make about half of what is reported at levels.fyi (I've been making about $120k-$140k/yr salary and receive little to no bonus/stocks, which seems to be the norm at two publicly traded companies for hundreds if not thousands of employees I've worked for so far), yet levels.fyi pretty much ad…

What company are you at? I’m at a company who people consider 2nd tier among the FANGs in a senior developer role and my salary + stocks are > $300K this year in Seattle.

Also be careful what you wish for. I’m not sure if the stress and personal impact are worth it. I have constant anxiety. Some of the people I work with are really smart but manipulative and generally not great human beings.

It’s not for everyone. I’m just trying to get to $1MM in my after tax account before I leave this company for something more sustainable.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#106

Post by ehsankia »

taurath wrote: post #40
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…

Okay though, if you joined Big Co now and made $400k/yr, you'd be taking home $260k post-tax. Anyone can live even in the bay area on half of that, extremely comfortably. In 2-3 years you'd have your $300-400k for a down payment - thats 30% of a $1.2mm house. 2-3 years to buy a median priced place. Thats not bad. Also, prices in say, Santa Clara CA have gone -5.5% YoY, and are forecasted by zillow to go another -8% i…

I honestly never understood all my peers constantly complaining about not being able to afford $2M house, as if that's what happiness is all about. You can still rent a very fancy apartment, max out your 401k, have a top car and live a great life, but just because they don't own a house they are always unhappy.

I guess it's true that money != happiness. There's always more you could have.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#108

Post by ehsankia »

nodesocket wrote: post #7

I've never worked for a public company (such as Facebook, Netflix, Google), when it says $120,000 in stock is that essentially free shares at a given price? I.E. you are open to sell them whenever? I worked at a small series B level startup, and when I left I had the option to buy my shares at the last valuation price, but at just over $20,000 total I declined. I decided I could use that capital better than waiting a…

As pointed out by others, they vest slowly over 4-5 years, to get you to stay. If you leave you lose your stocks. Also, they are taxed quite heavily so realistically imagine half of that. At the end of all that, $120,000 stocks would look like an extra 1000$ per month, which is still pretty good.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#109

Post by paxys »

Terretta wrote: post #74
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a top talent there really is no upside of joining a startup anymore - even as a founder. It's terribly depressing. FAANG pays orders of magnitudes better, has better benefits, has flexible work locations and schedules, is working on the most leading edge stuff (autonomous everything, AR, VR, GreenTech etc...) contributes to FOSS, gives leadership opportunities etc... I'm not sure when this shift happened,…

> FAANG pays orders of magnitude better That would be two more zeros. You sure they’re paying two more zeros for a dev job? PhD or no, if your skills are good enough for FAANG, I would love to offer you competitive comp in New York, LA, or three lower cost of living university + fintech towns in SE, S, and SW. The FAANGS are sure not paying an extra zero over what we can offer.

"orders of magnitude" is obviously an exaggeration, but I do agree with everything else. Plus Google or equivalent is going to be a relatively stable low-stress 9-5 job, whereas a smaller company is going to expect you to work longer and wear multiple hats.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#110

Post by pm90 »

ehsankia wrote: post #106
taurath wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay though, if you joined Big Co now and made $400k/yr, you'd be taking home $260k post-tax. Anyone can live even in the bay area on half of that, extremely comfortably. In 2-3 years you'd have your $300-400k for a down payment - thats 30% of a $1.2mm house. 2-3 years to buy a median priced place. Thats not bad. Also, prices in say, Santa Clara CA have gone -5.5% YoY, and are forecasted by zillow to go another -8% i…

I honestly never understood all my peers constantly complaining about not being able to afford $2M house, as if that's what happiness is all about. You can still rent a very fancy apartment, max out your 401k, have a top car and live a great life, but just because they don't own a house they are always unhappy. I guess it's true that money != happiness. There's always more you could have.

It might be hard to understand if you've not grown up in America, but homeownership is considered a part of adult life, of demonstrating you're seriousness and a gateway to adult life. This is sort of changing recently, but only because many millennials are straddled with student debt and jobs that won't pay enough to afford the down payment.

But every single American friend I have either has a home, or dreams of home ownership in the suburbs. And it makes sense, if I grew up in a home with a yard, I would probably want something similar for my children too. That kind of emotional connection is hard to overcome.

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