Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level • Hacker News Board

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#231

Post by whiskyant » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 9:57 AM UTC

dvt wrote: post #35

It's important to compare apples to apples. Lists like these are incredibly misleading, as they include non-cash bonuses. First off, these bonuses (say, RSUs) take a while to vest (incurring opportunity cost), can go down (there's risk), and so on. For example, being an early junior engineer at the next unicorn can make you orders of magnitude richer than working for FB or GOOG as a distinguished engineer (basically…

The data points are incredibly non-misleading. Most of the companies reported are public, and the compensation is already cold hard cash or publicly tradable RSUs (usually without even a 1-year cliff).

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#232

Post by lotsofpulp » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:01 AM UTC

perl4ever wrote: post #96

HenryKissinger wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Canada entry level SWEs are getting paid 60k-70k CAD (45k-55k USD). It's worse in Europe. These numbers are absolutely mind boggling. Even with a higher cost of living and California income taxes, you still have at least 100k of free money to invest. It's no wonder so many people apply for jobs at FAANGs. A job at a FAANG is practically a ticket to early retirement.

NY state pays all IT people (with a 4-year degree) $56K to start currently. Of course, you get a pension(!) and good health insurance. Private sector companies often don't pay much higher, and have much worse benefits.

IT is not comparable to SWE.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#233

Post by whiskyant » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:04 AM UTC

winter_blue wrote: post #170

Wow, these numbers are so insane. How is that the work we do is worth so much? And is prepping for algorithm interviews the core to getting to numbers like these?

Prepping for algorithms is somewhat mandatory if you've never encountered those types of questions before, as you'll most likely fail without some familiarity/practice. However once you're able to do well enough on them, they're actually the least important for senior engineers. Algorithm questions are mostly just treated as a weeder/low tech bar for senior engineers.

Doing well on the behavioral, architecture, and practical interviews is usually much more important for senior candidates.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#234

Post by TulliusCicero » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:04 AM UTC

jypepin wrote: post #214

gnrlst wrote: post #190

What I find completely demotivating is working for a FAANG in Europe, and seeing the massive disparity between US colleagues. You can argue cost of living is different, healthcare is public blablabla, but recruiters have told me straight out: we dont adjust for cost of living, we adjust for market rate. Therefore they dont give a rats ass about how much it costs to live in a specific country, they just pay based on t…

For what it's worth I moved from SF to AMS a few years ago for my employer (FAANG-ish) and they cut my salary by 30%. I was pissed and fought hard, but they didn't bulge. My quality of life (including buying power) was still more in AMS.

Depends on what you're buying. I made a similar move from SV to Munich, some things got cheaper, like rent, transportation, childcare, and groceries. "Stuff" (anything that comes out of a factory) was generally more expensive, as was media/digital subscriptions. Definitely feel poorer in Munich, though part of that was just an unfortunate school situation.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#235

Post by TulliusCicero » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:06 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 real. I mod r/cscareerquestions and work at Google. You can search the subreddit for "salary sharing" and find our threads where people are sharing various offers.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#236

Post by throwaway713 » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:06 AM UTC

Now imagine having one of these incomes but having a spouse who is hellbent on moving back to the southeastern U.S. in a year. It’s driving me nuts; I can’t find any company in the south that pays anywhere near my current compensation, and a rough calculation indicates that leaving FANG will bump my retirement age from 38 to 65 (never mind the amazing health insurance I’ll be giving up too). It’s like throwing a winning lottery ticket on the ground and walking away. I’m seriously considering commuting by plane in the future, because even with a $200 per day flight, I would still retire a decade earlier than taking a local job.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#237

Post by TulliusCicero » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:08 AM UTC

varjag wrote: post #227

gamesbrainiac wrote: post #100

Looks like us over here in Europe are getting shafted. Even if you adjust for living expenses, European engineers are grossly underpaid.

Income equality is double edged sword.

Exactly. We talk about income inequality being bad, but obviously if you're on the higher side of the average, it has a direct financial benefit (though other aspects, like a higher crime rate, are still bad for you).

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#238

Post by cletus » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:11 AM UTC

throwaway713 wrote: post #236

Now imagine having one of these incomes but having a spouse who is hellbent on moving back to the southeastern U.S. in a year. It’s driving me nuts; I can’t find any company in the south that pays anywhere near my current compensation, and a rough calculation indicates that leaving FANG will bump my retirement age from 38 to 65 (never mind the amazing health insurance I’ll be giving up too). It’s like throwing a winn…

Surely cheaper housing, education and other costs would compensate for a locally lower income? I don’t know where in the southeast you’re talking snot but I imagine it’s 50-80% cheaper for housing?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#239

Post by TulliusCicero » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:15 AM UTC

SirHound wrote: post #215

gnrlst wrote: post #190

What I find completely demotivating is working for a FAANG in Europe, and seeing the massive disparity between US colleagues. You can argue cost of living is different, healthcare is public blablabla, but recruiters have told me straight out: we dont adjust for cost of living, we adjust for market rate. Therefore they dont give a rats ass about how much it costs to live in a specific country, they just pay based on t…

Also we don't get free heathcare, we pay for it through taxation. I believe this is morally right, but that's beside the point: These well-paid American employees are also probably getting a great healthcare package as part of their contract, so they don't even have to pay for it.

Oh, healthcare still costs money in the US, when I was at Google in the bay area I still had monthly premiums and out of pocket costs. It wasn't super expensive though...as long as nothing went wrong.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#240

Post by TulliusCicero » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 10:17 AM UTC

burfog wrote: post #126

destitude wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many companies hope that engineers don't know their value or that they simply aren't willing to relocate near one of the tech hubs. A trick of startups is to woo you with stock options which almost never amount to any value. You also have to watch out for REMOTE work where many companies seem to place an excessive $ on the "privilege" of working from home.

I'm willing to relocate for better pay so that I can afford nice things. I want to have a place where I have room for a chicken coop (30 chickens) and a 1-acre fish pond. I'm willing to commute by car for a maximum of 15 minutes. A slightly longer commute might be OK if I can afford to commute by horse and the employer doesn't mind. Which tech hub should I move to?

None of the major tech hubs fit this. Hell, I'm not sure any medium-sized tech hubs fit this. 1 acre is a hell of a lot of land for a real city, and 15 minutes doesn't get you very far by car most of the time at rush hour.