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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#411

Post by tristor »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #319
philjohn wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm gonna die before be I can retire (cuz shit happened). I decided to deal with this by getting a remote job and traveling. My cost of living is lower than when I lived in SF, and every weekend can be a mini vacation with a little planning. It's a new development, just since December. I'm planning to do it thru end of year to see how I like it.

I did this for 18 months, figured out that stable personal relationships were critical to me (read: met someone I loved) and settled down again. It was completely worth it though as it really changed my outlook on the world and I'm a much happier person. I also feel more grounded in where I'm at in my life. I wish you all the best, if you ever want to chat with someone who has been a digital nomad and knows a few spots, feel free to reach out to me directly.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#413

Post by shawabawa3 »

rb808 wrote: post #402
shawabawa3 wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is it just the most SV jobs are not in FANG companies. Yes. Even in SF the majority of jobs will not be tech based at all let alone FANG

That $227k median must be SV tech jobs, the median wage for whole of USA is $32k

I think those are median pay of the areas overall, not just tech

So SV has $227k median, but that includes all jobs

May be misunderstanding the slide though, it isn't clear

edit: Median salary for SF is more like $95k, so this must be tech only

I suppose that means that >50% of the responses at L3, hence the median being ~L3 salary

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#414

Post by thorwasdfasdf »

When you look at top pay by region I'm really surpised to see such a small difference between SF and Pitsburgh. Considering the insance COL here in the bay area, I would expect bay area to pay at least 3 times more than pistburgh. as far I can tell SF and Palo alto are vastly vastly underpaid and the likes of Pitsburgh are extremely overpaid.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#415

Post by crispyambulance »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #379
opportune wrote: post #76

It makes me feel bad how many people see these figures and immediately start trying to find ways to rationalize why they must be overstated. Aside from some of these companies not being public (so those RSUs are not very liquid) or backloading vesting, they’re pretty accurate IME. The main thing I would point out is that the years of experience guideline is a bit optimistic. Many engineers get downleveled moving into…

>It makes me feel bad how many people see these figures and immediately start trying to find ways to rationalize why they must be overstated. Some of the numbers can be hard to comprehend... for example, tech salaries weren't great until about the last decade. And, it used to be that the eye-popping numbers were not for everybody, and certainly not for entry-level / new-grads. Heck, just the amount of transparency in…

> for someone not working at a FAANG and not in specific geographic locations, these numbers are other-worldly.

Yes. other-worldly is a good word for it. It's not so much that people don't believe these numbers, I think. It's more of a sense of disappointment and feeling left out.

So many experienced professionals work their whole adult lives and end up maxing out at only a 1/10th of the compensation of a "principal" at a FAANG in Silicon Valley.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#416

Post by gberger »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #394
crispyporkbites wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are FAANG in Europe salaries like? Is there also a perception of core product/business work taking place in SV and therefore European teams aren't as important?

I can pitch in to say in London I make ~$150k + $50k/y options (not sure how to value these, strike price is only slightly discounted) for L4 (should be ~$300k according to levels) From what i've heard London has by far the highest tech salaries in Europe

Is that at Google?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#417

Post by thorwasdfasdf »

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…

Yes, but you still need to be a really really good engineer in the top X% of your field for a FAANG whereas the startup will higher anyone whose qualified to do the job.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#418

Post by overcast »

esoterica wrote: post #408
overcast wrote: post #396

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So he's still renting then?

So? Not everyone is brainwashed by their banal suburban upbringing into thinking that home ownership is the highest state of enlightenment a human can achieve. I can afford to buy a place outright in cash but I still rent because I like the flexibility and have no interest in betting a large fraction of my net worth on the direction of real estate prices.

Thanks for the response, I appreciate the feedback. With that type of capital, wouldn't it be best to invest in real estate, and rent them yourself?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#419

Post by thorwasdfasdf »

_dark_matter_ wrote: post #346
monoideism wrote: post #323

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.

1.2M house on the penninsula is going to be extremely crappy and definitely in a very bad neighborhood, maybe previously was a crack house.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#420

Post by RickS »

auiya wrote: post #304
jerkstate wrote: post #297

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.

Harsh remote pay disparity was much more common ~5 years ago, but in my experience it's significantly better these days.

There's definitely a large swath of companies that try to use remote workers to lower costs, and there's usually some hit to package size, but the serious companies make extremely worthwhile offers.

Two anecdotal data points:

I work semi-remote for a non-FAANG enterprise company and my comp is bay area level. I'm in Seattle, which helps negotiation, but my colleagues in rural areas have a quality of life that suggests competitive compensation even in middle america.

A friend in rural NY got a remote job that was within 10k of his bay area salary. ~120K for a non-engineer at a company with ~13M series A.

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