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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#261

Post by marvin »

slavapestov wrote: post #128
HenryKissinger wrote: post #52

$175,000 at Oracle for an entry-level engineer? I mean... just... wow. You could retire at 35 and not have to work for the rest of your life. How hard is it to get these jobs?

> You could retire at 35 and not have to work for the rest of your life. Why does everyone on this site want to “retire by 35”? I don’t know anyone who retired (or plans to retire) at 35. Besides, hand-waving about “basic financial literacy” aside, doing so would require living like a broke college student from age 22 to 35, and then moving to an RV in Nebraska to live out the rest of your natural life in “retirement…

It's not about wanting to, it's about having the option. Then you can do whatever you want. There's no downsides, and it gives you much more leverage in negotiations even if you continue working exactly as before.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#262

Post by Craighead »

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…

You make that much at FANG but can't work remotely?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#263

Post by marvin »

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?

Well, even at my Norwegian small-ish finance company, company profit is on average >$100k per employee, and that includes the janitor and after all salaries, taxes and expenses are paid. The FAANG companies are at least 10X this. At those profit levels, paying $300k to get the best available person in each role almost doesn't matter to the bottom line.

And it does answer your question, yes, the work we do is worth so much. We have the ability to command an army of robots, and that greatly amplifies the reach of our abilities.

But of course, the pay is because the market is able to, not because our abilities are magical. They are correlated, but there isn't direct causation.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#264

Post by digaozao »

kqr wrote: post #201
slg wrote: post #11

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 ex…

> Does that mean over half of engineers are relatively new to the industry? Jackpot! All it takes for this to happen is that the number of software engineers in the world grows by 10--20% every year. (Because this means it doubles every 5 years, which means half the workforce has less than or equal to five years of experience. I recall reading somewhere that the actual growth of the workforce is even greater than tha…

There is a vídeo by uncle Bob stating this.

Around minute 13

https://youtu.be/QHnLmvDxGTY

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#265

Post by asjw »

philjohn wrote: post #260
naikrovek wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah because nothing is more important than the acquisition of wealth.

It's worth mentioning that retiring early is an important goal in and of itself. You can either spend the bulk of your healthy years working towards a far off goal in your 60's, or you can work hard in your 20s and 30s and then spend your only time on this earth doing things that interest you, with your spouse.

> It's worth mentioning that retiring early is an important goal in and of itself

Is it really?

I'm not sure retiring early is such an important goal per se.

There are many categories where it isn't true: researchers, scientists in general, doctors, writers, journalists, politicians, teachers, artists (some arts more than others) etc.

The more they age, the more their reputation goes up.

I think many of those people having retiring at young age as a goal are going to change their mind when the time comes

Retiring at (really) young age is a goal when you are in your 20s, not so much anymore when you are in your middle 40s and have a good stable job, where you are respected

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#266

Post by jw_mc »

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…

It's harder, but not impossible to get this sort of compensation in a remote gig. I recently went through a similar process, needing to move from Seattle to central MD for family reasons, and not wanting a lifestyle-altering commute. E.g. Stripe is high on this list and is very remote friendly.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#267

Post by TrackerFF »

marvin wrote: post #247
TrackerFF wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Northern Norway, but there's a ton of variance in prices here. You can easily move tens to hundreds of thousands in one city, so to find the cheapest you really need to look hard. I found a relatively old and run-down place, but which was easy to fix. With that said, I have a very nice salary - relatively speaking - but as mentioned, it's around half of what jr. Engineers make in SW. I'm lucky because my background f…

Software in Norway and saving $80k per year? In government , no less? That means post tax you're making in the ballpark of $150k, or maybe a bit less if your expenses are very low? Very good number for the location regardless. I'm able to save $20k per year in Norway (south) and consider that great, relatively speaking. Remote work? I didn't think the public sector jobs paid this well.

Not quite software (scripting at most), but in a senior engineering position with leadership role, and with a ton of travel - had almost 100 days last year. OT pays well, too. (So the salary varies a bit from year to year)

But the largest portion of savings boils down extremely low COL - I have a grand total of $800 / 7000 NOK in expenses pr. month, that includes everything. Pre-tax anywhere between $120k-$130k, depends on OT and travel.

State / gov. (directly or owned) jobs can pay pretty well, if you find the right positions - but they tend to lean towards engineering or medicine.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#268

Post by chinesempire »

philjohn wrote: post #260
naikrovek wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah because nothing is more important than the acquisition of wealth.

It's worth mentioning that retiring early is an important goal in and of itself. You can either spend the bulk of your healthy years working towards a far off goal in your 60's, or you can work hard in your 20s and 30s and then spend your only time on this earth doing things that interest you, with your spouse.

> or you can work hard in your 20s and 30s and then spend your only time on this earth doing things that interest you, with your spouse

What if your spouse wanna spend her 20s and 30s with you, in a place that has a normal cost of living, doing a job that doesn't require you to be on 60hours a week?

What if she doesn't wanna wait for you to retire or she doesn't want to retire early (or can't)?

What if you spend your 20s and 30s to do the things you like and interest you and then spend the rest of your life working a steady job enjoying your family?

It is possible to work hard in your 20s and still have a lot of time to do what you like.

It is not possible to do what you like in your 60s with the same energy you had in your 20s.

It's not binary, you either work or stay with the people you love doing interesting stuff, you can do both if you realise that retiring at 38 is not that important as a goal.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#269

Post by sokoloff »

skybrian wrote: post #139
solveit wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Under/overpaying has nothing to do with how much any particular firm has and everything to do with what other companies are willing to pay. If there's a bidding war, then whatever that produces is the fair market rate.

Yes, it's the market rate but no, that doesn't mean it's necessarily a good buy; it's set by the most optimistic buyer. Buyer's remorse is sometimes a thing in auctions too.

I think of open (non-sealed bid) auctions as effectively discovering the price by the second most willing buyer, not the most willing buyer.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#270

Post by eru »

marvin wrote: post #253
eru wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A strategy that has worked for me is to interview in batches. Companies interview multiple candidates, too. That gives you extra leverage and extra information.

I tried this in West Norway recently, being as firm in the negotiation tactics as possible. Didn't yield higher offers at all ! So that tells me the market here is actually not nearly as competitive as all the consulting companies try to make people believe. In other words, the success of this strategy is market-dependent, but it certainly seems to have a huge effect in SV.

I never worked in SV, but I did mostly work in global cities.

It's important to be aware of 'BATNA's, ie the best alternative to negotiated agreement. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_alternative_to_a_negotiat...

For the employer that means hiring the next best candidate, or not hiring anyone for that position. For you it means taking the next best offer, or staying at your old place etc.

The concept is closely linked to opportunity costs.

In general, you can negotiate an agreement only between your BATNA and their BATNA.

(Part of interviewing in batches is that you can credibly present that your BATNA is very high. So you can be tough in negotiations.)

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