Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level • Hacker News Board

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#11

Post by slg » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:56 AM UTC

I have never worked in the valley, so the answer to this question might be obvious to the people working there. What happens to all the experienced engineers?

According to this, the Senior, Staff, or Principal titles are generally for people with 5+ year experience? Those roles make up 30%, 10%, and 3% of companies respectively. That leaves 57% of engineers in positions listed are usually for people with 0-5 years experience. Does that mean over half of engineers are relatively new to the industry? Are there large numbers of engineers that go their entire career without getting a Senior title? Are there large numbers that end up changing industries? I know some people transition from hands on engineering to management, but there can't possibly be that many management jobs to make up that difference, right?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#12

Post by vosper » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:56 AM UTC

I get Airbnb and Stripe being up there for entry-level engineers, those companies are almost printing money.

But Lyft, haemorrhaging money, is top of the list, and Oracle - the company no-one in the Bay Area or on HN seems to work for, and everyone seems to hate - is 5th? Are there legions of quietly-well-paid Oracle engineers out there just keeping their heads down and getting on with the job? Why isn't Oracle in the more senior lists - they make complex and expensive databases, isn't that something you need to pay a lot of money to get really smart people to work on?

And Netflix, which I thought famously paid very well, only pops up in one tier?

It's more likely I'm misinformed than this list is wrong, but I find this pretty surprising.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#13

Post by avalys » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:56 AM UTC

tempire wrote: post #5

If this is for real, _everyone_ I know is getting completely screwed. I have a hard time believing any of these numbers. If I earned any of these amounts for 2-3 years, I could live off the interest for the rest of my life.

Absolutely real.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#14

Post by draw_down » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:57 AM UTC

Waterluvian wrote: post #3

I do the job of a senior engineer and yet am paid a bit less than what's listed for an entry level engineer. And I live an incredibly comfy life. What's the catch? Are these for more than 40 hours a week? Is silicon valley really that expensive? Or are they literally giving college grads enough money to retire by 35?

My company is shown here; the number for my level seems roughly correct. There have certainly been times when I had to work harder than I would have liked, but it's not crazy.

The way I see it, every job has downsides, and I could certainly leave to go somewhere a bit more relaxed. But the problem I always run into justifying that is, say I go somewhere where the total compensation is 50% of what I get now- am I really going to like that job twice as much? Tech industry is tech industry, at the end of the day. So, probably not.

We do a job to get paid. So, getting paid is nice.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#15

Post by cbanek » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:57 AM UTC

I'm not sure about the salaries, but I'm more sure Amazon isn't in Seattle, CA. (Staff engineer slide).

I'm also wondering how much of the salary (which certainly contains a lot of stock) is due to stock appreciation. If someone joined Amazon in late 2016, the value of their stock awards has more than tripled.

Do offers for these companies go this high, or is this only after a few years? This seems it's more "what I'm getting paid now" rather than what the offer was.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#16

Post by Waterluvian » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:57 AM UTC

typest wrote: post #6

Waterluvian wrote: post #3

I do the job of a senior engineer and yet am paid a bit less than what's listed for an entry level engineer. And I live an incredibly comfy life. What's the catch? Are these for more than 40 hours a week? Is silicon valley really that expensive? Or are they literally giving college grads enough money to retire by 35?

There is not necessarily a catch. Pay is not based on cost of living -- it's set by market rates, and the market rate for software engineers in these areas who can do the jobs required at these companies is high. All these companies operate at an immense scale where an engineer, through what is often a simple change, can add significant value to the company. So, yes. For now, these companies are giving college grads…

Interesting, thanks.

Now I wonder how many of these jobs are 100% work from home. I'm not sure a salary doubling could take me away from my family and into commuting an hour a day. But I mean, if they're going to pay me to engineer in my pyjamas, sure! =)

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#17

Post by rexarex » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:57 AM UTC

tempire wrote: post #5

If this is for real, _everyone_ I know is getting completely screwed. I have a hard time believing any of these numbers. If I earned any of these amounts for 2-3 years, I could live off the interest for the rest of my life.

It’s for real

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#18

Post by synaesthesisx » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:58 AM UTC

glglwty wrote: post #10

typest wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is not necessarily a catch. Pay is not based on cost of living -- it's set by market rates, and the market rate for software engineers in these areas who can do the jobs required at these companies is high. All these companies operate at an immense scale where an engineer, through what is often a simple change, can add significant value to the company. So, yes. For now, these companies are giving college grads…

A senior position in the doc will probably get you ~2M in savings by 35. How do you retire with that?

Agreed - that’s not enough to retire on that young unless one relocates to a very LCOL area.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#19

Post by Swizec » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:58 AM UTC

glglwty wrote: post #10

typest wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is not necessarily a catch. Pay is not based on cost of living -- it's set by market rates, and the market rate for software engineers in these areas who can do the jobs required at these companies is high. All these companies operate at an immense scale where an engineer, through what is often a simple change, can add significant value to the company. So, yes. For now, these companies are giving college grads…

A senior position in the doc will probably get you ~2M in savings by 35. How do you retire with that?

Using the 5% drawdown rule, 2M in savings is enough to have a 100k/year income in perpetuity without adding to savings.

Idea being that average market returns are 7%. So if you use 5% per year, you will never run out.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#20

Post by i0exception » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 4:59 AM UTC

Salary negotiation is pretty one sided today with companies holding all the cards. Better visibility into numbers will definitely help level the playing field.

Collecting offer letters is an interesting way to build trust in data. What's the incentive for someone to upload their offer letter though?