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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#351
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See if you can negotiate a remote work position. I work for one of the companies in this report in a fairly senior position and even though they don't advertise it, they do allow some folks to go remote after a lengthy HR process. If not your current company, figure out which companies will allow it and get a different job, then work there for a year or two to establish a great reputation and then ask for a transfer.…

> See if you can negotiate a remote work position If you're lucky and they DO offer a remote position, it will be for 1/4th of your current salary. Bet on it.

that's not my experience, is it your experience?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#352

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

Just join a FAANG company that has a branch office in Europe. They'll pay a bit less, but a senior engineer should still be able to get 250k+/yr.

It's not a "bit less". A senior engineer in sunnyvale is making 400k+ a year. That's nearly 70% more pay. Assuming 250k is correct, which I'm doubtful of.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#353

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…

Damn I really need a new job...

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#354
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> See if you can negotiate a remote work position If you're lucky and they DO offer a remote position, it will be for 1/4th of your current salary. Bet on it.

Do you have any evidence for that claim? I don't have anything broad-based, but I work remotely for one of these companies and make exactly what I would if I worked at HQ. And it's not because I'm some super-awesome negotiator.

Gitlab famously publishes a bizarrely micromanaged & comprehensive policy on how they will reduce your salary based on where you choose to move, and they are a fully remote company.

It never ceases to amaze me how companies try to argue they shouldn’t pay their top wage everywhere, and how workers are willing to accept this. Especially for a remote-only company where your salary should literally not be based on costs in your home region (since the company is not based there, not paying taxes there, etc.).

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#355
post #303

What I'm taking away from this is that many (most) companies are grossly underpaying their engineers. I've been through the SF/NYC Senior SWE interviewing gauntlet twice in the past three years, and received 10+ offers at half this rate. Levels claims to be checking offer letters, which is great IMO. It's really hard for people to know they're being undervalued when the employers are low-balling and the self-reporter…

I've been in this industry in NYC for about 20 years of progressive levels of responsibility where I'm now directing multiple project teams and doing company strategy and am somehow earning as much as a college grad in SF.

CEOs make 80 bazillion dollars to run a company in the ground. There are no rules to this, or what rules there are don’t look like they “should”.

Play the game, or get paid less than those who do.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#356
post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> See if you can negotiate a remote work position If you're lucky and they DO offer a remote position, it will be for 1/4th of your current salary. Bet on it.

that's not my experience, is it your experience?

Yes, that has been my experience. Remote offers have been for the local area market, not the company physical presence market.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#358
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…

[deleted]

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#359

Another point of reference: here are some offers recently aggregated on Blind. In 2019, I got an offer almost identical to one of those listed below, and a friend got an offer a little higher than listed below. So I believe the reports are legit. While the raw salary data on levels.fyi is useful, other context about the candidate & team is pretty important. For example, my friend has no college degree but matched to…

Does “1M for 4 years stock” mean a 1M grant per year that each vest over 4 years or 4 years worth of grants that total 1M?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

https://smartasset.com/taxes/paycheck-calculator#ZI0BD3ambd

Still more money, but your number are off by about 25%

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