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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#341

Post by tasuki »

lowdose wrote: post #219
rdslw wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disagree. This is top 5. Look at the difference betwen position 1 and 5 (30% (sic!) for entry level). Ask yourself how many companies are in the SV area? Then think where MEDIAN of those numbers is. Looking at top 5 is like looking at best performing stocks in last year (from 5000 of ohers), and thinking "YEAH, thats what I should expect from my future investment portfolio".

Your portfolio should only contain FANG companies. Every single one has outperformed the market by at least 2X and up to 6 X over the last 5 years. The contrarian position now is to double down on a small number of stocks where the business model function as a data aggregator hence FANG. As opposed to index tracking style portfolio investing, even your Uber driver has ETF's.

> Your portfolio should only contain FANG companies. Every single one has outperformed the market by at least 2X and up to 6 X over the last 5 years.

Based on this, your portfolio should have only contained FAANG companies for the last 5 years.

The argument for "Your portfolio should only contain FANG companies" would be "Every single one will outperform the market by at least 2X and up to 6 X over the next 5 years".

Buying FAANG in 2020 is buying assets whose price has just gone up a lot - the very opposite of contrarian.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#342

Post by almost_usual »

abalone wrote: post #338
cletus wrote: post #171

As a FAANG engineer going on 9 years now, let me address the usual rebuttals: - There is a selection bias. Nope, this is pretty much accurate. - These aren't real. Yes, yes they are. - Self-reporters are lying. Maybe some do but these numbers are pretty accurate. If anything, I question Lyft and Airbnb as such outliers. I wonder if this factored in Lyft's post-IPO stock performance and makes unrealistic valuations of…

> The gold standard is probably Kaiser for CA residents. I love your post but I almost shat myself when I read this. Kaiser is convenient but not top ranked in much. The gold standard is a PPO that lets you go anywhere (else) you like incl. top specialists + a membership primary care network like OneMedical for convenience. (By the way, I support Medicare4All. Good healthcare shouldn’t just be for wealthy FAANG engin…

Kaiser is also terrible for mental health.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#343

Post by shrimpx »

Presumably you have to pay income tax on base+rsu so shave off >50% from these figures if you live in California? Then rent can run you 35-50k a year or more in the bay, and then other expenses? So 600k a year can be more like <200k savings at the end of the day? Someone debunk this.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#344

Post by rp1229 »

whiskyant wrote: post #211
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?

I'm a senior engineer at FAANG, work 40hrs/wk, and get paid $400k+/yr. The cost of living is higher, but it's well under the increase in pay for being in the area. My current living situation is actually pretty cheap; I split a 4BR house, live 7 min from work, and pay $1650/mo for my portion of rent/utilities. Most people I know tend to get 2BR apartments and split it with someone, usually paying $2000-2500/mo.

imagine making 400k+ a year and still not having a place of your own.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#345

Post by qqwaabb »

monoideism wrote: post #323
bovermyer wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is fascinating to me since I've never worked (since graduating, anyway) outside of the Upper Midwest. I worked for a startup here once, but that was bar none the worst job I've ever had. Job offers have never been anything but a straight salary and a 401k, sometimes with matching, sometimes not. No bonuses or stock ever. Raises have usually been just below inflation rates. Vacation peaked for me at 3 weeks. For…

> I make $130k right now. If you're in a reasonable COL area, you're probably closer to FAANG salaries than you think. I make about that in a relatively low COL city in the south. After receiving some recruitment emails, I thought about FAANGs but ran the numbers and decided against it. $400000 is not nearly as awesome as it sounds if you're living in the Bay area or similar tech mecca. Note: it's an immense salary,…

The only thing that’s significantly more expensive in the Bay Area is housing. Even with the housing prices, you will still probably come out ahead. Remember that if you own, you are building up equity in a huge asset.

CoL calculators online are not accurate at all.

I personally work remotely for a FAANG from the upper Midwest, but if this arrangement ever runs out I’d move to California or Seattle before I took a 30% pay cut.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#346

Post by _dark_matter_ »

monoideism wrote: post #323
bovermyer wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is fascinating to me since I've never worked (since graduating, anyway) outside of the Upper Midwest. I worked for a startup here once, but that was bar none the worst job I've ever had. Job offers have never been anything but a straight salary and a 401k, sometimes with matching, sometimes not. No bonuses or stock ever. Raises have usually been just below inflation rates. Vacation peaked for me at 3 weeks. For…

> I make $130k right now. If you're in a reasonable COL area, you're probably closer to FAANG salaries than you think. I make about that in a relatively low COL city in the south. After receiving some recruitment emails, I thought about FAANGs but ran the numbers and decided against it. $400000 is not nearly as awesome as it sounds if you're living in the Bay area or similar tech mecca. Note: it's an immense salary,…

I mean, by the numbers:

400k salary - 129k taxes - 72k housing (~1.2M dollar house) = ~200k left over

Just off that alone, the 400k blows the $130k out of the water, no matter where in the country the $130k is living.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#347

Post by j4kp07 »

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.

> Also we don't get free heathcare, we pay for it through taxation

It's funny how the "free" narrative is flipped when it's not convenient anymore.

> so they don't even have to pay for it

Monthly premium and co-pays still exist and it's disingenuous to ignore the fact that benefits should be included in the context of negotiating a salary.

> These well-paid American employees are also probably getting a great healthcare package as part of their contract

Thank you. Now please spread this message to your friends and colleagues.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#348

Post by dublidu »

shrimpx wrote: post #343

Presumably you have to pay income tax on base+rsu so shave off >50% from these figures if you live in California? Then rent can run you 35-50k a year or more in the bay, and then other expenses? So 600k a year can be more like <200k savings at the end of the day? Someone debunk this.

Taxes average 30-40% in CA/NY, lower in WA, which has no state income tax. You are probably thinking about marginal tax rate, not average. Mortgage and property tax in the Bay Area can actually be closer to $100k, but some are paying that on dual income. $600k becomes more like $350k after tax and housing. That's still an insane amount of disposable income, hence everyone buying Teslas.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#349

Post by overcast »

whiskyant wrote: post #211
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?

I'm a senior engineer at FAANG, work 40hrs/wk, and get paid $400k+/yr. The cost of living is higher, but it's well under the increase in pay for being in the area. My current living situation is actually pretty cheap; I split a 4BR house, live 7 min from work, and pay $1650/mo for my portion of rent/utilities. Most people I know tend to get 2BR apartments and split it with someone, usually paying $2000-2500/mo.

You're also stuck renting, with three other people, with a $400k salary. Conversely, I bought an 1800sqft house in upstate New York, alone, and the total per month is roughly $1400(mortgage, property/school tax,utilities).

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#350

Post by dublidu »

senordevnyc wrote: post #322

Reposting from previous comment of mine [1]: I can't speak to the actual work yet as I haven't started, but I just accepted an offer as a senior / staff level engineer in NYC at one of the smaller public tech companies (think Dropbox, Lyft, Pinterest, Snap, etc) after 10+ years of being self-employed. I had two startups offer me $170k plus some (probably worthless) options. When the offer I ultimately accepted came i…

I had a similar experience after my recent job search. The pay gap between startups paying ISOs and larger tech companies paying RSUs was over $100k.
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