Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level • Hacker News Board

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#451

Post by RickS » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 5:58 PM UTC

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?

> Are these for more than 40 hours a week?

No

> Is silicon valley really that expensive?

Yes yes yes oh my god yes. Rent eats most of the difference. 300$/mo for a parking space, etc. However, non-local things (like amazon purchases) are the same price everywhere, so you still have lots of purchasing power for those things.

> Or are they literally giving college grads enough money to retire by 35?

Only if you play it right. If you have a high-earning spouse or are willing to live with multiple roommates into your thirties, have no kids, rent an apartment, and live modestly + save diligently. Want to live alone and get food and drinks with your friends every day? That will seriously handicap any strides towards financial independence until you're nearing the 300k range, and even then it takes you from "rocketship bank account" down to "really great life". Very much a first world problem, but if the goal is "retire at 35", the distinction matters.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#452

Post by nostrademons » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 5:59 PM UTC

throwawaymath wrote: post #381

monoideism wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting. Thank you for that analysis. Again, I wasn't arguing that they were exactly equivalent. They're just not as different as they appear at first glance. It is true that you have a good chance of increasing your savings rate if you can get a job with a FAANG, which is a big deal. It's also true that it's much easier to change jobs there. That's IMHO the biggest asset and what I used to argue for movin…

You mean like downleveling? Sure, that happens a lot. The top paying companies mostly only consider engineers from similarly high paying companies to be known quantities. So if you are a staff engineer at a smaller tech company or a startup, you'll probably end up being "only" senior at Google or Facebook.

Does up-leveling happen too? If you were senior or staff at Google, can you get a Principal job at a smaller growth company?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#453

Post by throwawaymath » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:01 PM UTC

monoideism wrote: post #385

throwawaymath wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like downleveling? Sure, that happens a lot. The top paying companies mostly only consider engineers from similarly high paying companies to be known quantities. So if you are a staff engineer at a smaller tech company or a startup, you'll probably end up being "only" senior at Google or Facebook.

> You mean like downleveling? Sure, that happens a lot Yeah, so that's a major factor here to consider, right? We're talking about moving to a FAANG from a non-FAANG in another region. If most non-FAANG people lose a level, then it really does make the salaries less when you consider cost-of-living.

Well, not really. Look back at the salary levels from the levels.fyi PDF. Most people downleveled from senior will end up one or two levels up from new grad. That puts you below the numbers from my comment, but not by a whole lot! And after one promotion you'll be at or exceeding my present situation.

I am much closer to the floor (new grad) than I am to the ceiling, as far as FAANG salaries are concerned.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#454

Post by jpetso » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:02 PM UTC

asjw wrote: post #265

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.

> 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…

It's amazing what you can do with life if you don't care much about your reputation. I'm not in my middle 40s yet (still ~10 years off from that), but have a good stable job, feel respected, and still totally want to go for early retirement in 5-7 years.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#455

Post by alistairSH » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:03 PM UTC

alexhutcheson wrote: post #435

alistairSH wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does $1.2M put you within walking distance of any of the FAANG headquarters? I'm looking at Mountain View, and it appears it's more like $3M to live close to Google. There isn't anything listed (Zillow) close to Infinite Loop, Cupertino. What is listed is $1.8M+. Just curious, as I currently walk to work and that's a massive QOL issue for me. Sitting in traffic even 60 minutes/day would be awful.

Almost nobody walks to work at the Silicon Valley tech company campuses - they are mostly suburban office parks surrounded by parking, so you'd have to walk pretty far. Lots of people bike though. There are plenty of people that walk to work in SF itself, and walking to work in San Jose will probably become more popular as the various new office buildings around Diridon start to open. If you highly value walking to w…

I'm in Reston, VA (outside DC) currently. $500k for a decent townhouse and 1 mile to the town center. I can walk to Google's Reston office spaces, Walmart Labs is around the corner, and AWS (Herndon) is a short bike ride.

Interestingly, the suburban office campuses in this area are beginning to go away. Companies are moving to locations that are at least Metro accessible (Google's new office), or into urban areas (Amazon HQ2). Local zoning has changed to make that more palatable - just interesting to see the change in preferences since I started work in 1999.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#456

Post by TomVDB » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:07 PM UTC

esoterica wrote: post #424

TomVDB wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it hard to believe that you're reading HN while still being surprised about the cost of living here? By the time you're 35, you'll probably have a family with kids. You don't want a long commute to spend more time with said family so your 2000 sq.ft. house on a 7000 sq.ft lot will cost between $1.5M to $2.5M. You won't get any needs-based financial compensation to send your kids to college, yet chances are tha…

It’s incredible that people think you need seven freaking thousand square feet to raise a family.

Nobody needs a luxury car. Nobody needs to eat at nice restaurants. Nobody needs vacations in Europe. Nobody needs a $1000 phone.

But if I had to choose one thing where I have no problem spending more than what is strictly needed, it's going to be the place in which I'll be spending the vast majority of my time for the rest of my life.

If it makes you feel any better: for the low end of my range ($1.5M), you're not going to get that 7000 sq.ft. You'll be buying a house on a 3500 sq.ft. lot, so the argument still stands.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#457

Post by diehunde » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:31 PM UTC

What I would like to know is how much is your take home pay when working for a FAANG after taxes and rent. Not including equity.

If you make 130k base in TX, you see around 8k monthly assuming you put close to 10% in your 401k. For a two bedroom relatively close to Downtown you pay about 2k so that would leave 6k monthly after taxes, rent and 401k savings. What would be the realistic equivalent in a FAANG in the Bay area if you want to maintain that standard of living? Meaning at least a 1000 sq ft apt that's at most 20 mins from work?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#458

Post by whiddershins » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:31 PM 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…

Do not relocate. Figure something out. Have dual residences. Negotiate negotiate negotiate. Read every relationship book known to mankind. Especially out of fashion things like ”way of the superior man” and such.

Read How to Win Friends and Influence people.

Do not quit your job.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#459

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:35 PM UTC

angarg12 wrote: post #294

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…

Just to add to your awesome comment, many of these companies have compensation policies that discourage retaining talent. I'll give an example of a certain FAANG. - Initial offer sets your comp for your first 4 years. - If stock outperforms the expectations (as it has historically done) you get no refreshers. - If your comp is at the top of your band, you get no/nominal raise. - Newly promoted engineers get paid the…

[deleted]

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#460

Post by wcunning » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:38 PM UTC

throwawaymath wrote: post #362

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 don't think your analysis is correct. Or at least, it's really incomplete and thereby misleading. I'm going to use hard numbers as someone who lives in one of the highest COL areas, but I want to emphasize I'm doing that for illustrative purposes and not to be condescending. To begin with, the cost of basically anything you buy online from Amazon, Walmart, Apple, Best Buy, etc is the same no matter where you are in…

How does that all change if you live a decidedly non-California/non-Bay-Area lifestyle?

I work in the auto industry, which doesn't pay nearly as well, and I'll grant that you're all talking savings rates above my before-tax salary, so you win on that point. However, my hobbies include a machine shop in my basement and a woodshop in the backyard. I estimate the expense of moving to the Bay at north of $150k due to having a non-50-state truck that I would need to replace to be able to move a machine if I ever wanted to upgrade or replace, etc, along with the need for ~2x the typical space that people want in definitely not a condo or apartment. Is that even possible, nevermind practical, in Mountain View?