Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level • Hacker News Board

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#471

Post by segmondy » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:54 PM UTC

It's really not that much money.

I'm in the Midwest by the way and have explored moving to Bay area. But here's the reality. Contribute to 401k $19k small 3 bedroom house for family with decent schools - $5k/month - $60k a year Daycare $4k/month - $48k a year Health Insurance, Household Expenses, Food, etc $5k/month - $60k a year Car/gasoline $12k a year Assume 0 savings that's $180k post tax $360k before tax + $19k = $379k.

Wanna save a little bit, we are already over $400k...

... and this is with a small shack of a 1200sq house and 2-3x the commute. It's easy to look at the numbers and drool in the mouth but start running the numbers and it's not that nice for those with family. If you're young and single, then it's worth it. Go do it, rent a room, live like a pauper and save like hell.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#472

Post by conanbatt » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:54 PM UTC

almost_usual wrote: post #342

abalone wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Kaisers mental health services are mostly used by Kaiser staff. Its a fun industry secret.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#473

Post by alexhutcheson » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

alistairSH wrote: post #455

alexhutcheson wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (Am…

Reston is nice! Didn't mean to imply that NYC is strictly better. It would be nice if there were even more private-sector tech jobs in Reston, although I fear that housing supply constraints would then push Fairfax and Loudoun county home prices up to NY/NJ levels.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#474

Post by sjg007 » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

monoideism wrote: post #377

qqwaabb wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> I personally work remotely for a FAANG from the upper Midwest Which FAANGs hire remotely, please? And why do you think online COL calculators are inaccurate? They're relatively close to government reimbursement tables, which are pretty well-researched. Edit: Also, once again, I'm not arguing that I wouldn't come out ahead, only that you have to consider COL. So many new grads I know have moved to CA for a junior po…

Note remote but Amazon/AWS have offices in the twin cities. Google has an office in Madison, Wisconsin. Google is also opening up an office in Rochester, MN. Whether you can work remote is another question.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#475

Post by segmondy » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:00 PM UTC

zerr wrote: post #432

city41 wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix is a little different from other companies. Netflix pays entirely in cash plus a small stock option bonus on top. You can opt to get any amount of your salary as stock options if you choose. There are no vesting schedules, you get everything immediately (including 401k). Netflix has unlimited vacation.

I wonder how unlimited is that - how common is that people take e.g. 60+ days off (not including sick leaves of course)? I guess most self-impose 30 days limit (or 15, considering US culture).

Why would you take 60+ days? Why not go for 600+ days?

The idea of unlimited is that it's not 14 days or 21days. Take as many as you honestly reasonable need to. Everyone's life is different, you might get sick, have a sick family member, have a new child. There might be things that come up that requires you to take time off without you having to grovel to your manager. If you also need to take time off for the good times, a wedding, a party, to go see a world cup, Olympic, whatever, do so. So long as you're contributing, not holding your team and peers back and your impact is constant.

p/s. I don't work for Netflix, but that's what I imagine anytime I hear "unlimited".

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#476

Post by b3b0p » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:01 PM UTC

bovermyer wrote: post #315

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…

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…

Almost exactly same situation with exactly same salary. I work at a bootstrapped startup.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#477

Post by northern-lights » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:01 PM UTC

zuhayeer wrote: post #196

thecleaner wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love levels.fyi. Will it be possible to specify which companies do or do not sponsor visas ?

Added to our list, will try to work on it!

Please see if it is possible to add Bangalore as well!

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#478

Post by senordevnyc » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:05 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…

Here's a 2 bedroom less than 10 mins away from Google for $1.2M: https://streeteasy.com/building/marais-coop/10b

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#479

Post by jsnell » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:05 PM UTC

rolltiide wrote: post #433

Nitramp wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that universally true. I work for G in Munich, and salaries post cost of living are competitive with the Bay Area (maybe 10%-20% off, but OTOH consider quality of life). From what I can tell, Zurich beats the Bay Area.

> From what I can tell, Zurich beats the Bay Area. Yes, with the similar salaries and a 1:1 exchange rate between CHF and USD and the only tax is the Cantonal tax of 13% vs 50% for Bay Area, it makes Zurich way far ahead. The offices in Zug down the street get only 7% tax. And healthcare is free, but its a negligible concern at these compensation ranges. It just shows how the American arguments fall apart, since most…

Basically everything you wrote is incorrect.

- It's not just the cantonal tax; you've ignored the federal and municipal taxes.

- The location of the office isn't what matters, but where you live.

- Healthcare definitely isn't free. Everyone is legally obligated to buy private health insurance.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#480

Post by auiya » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 7:06 PM UTC

savrajsingh wrote: post #470

auiya wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who worked for a remote FAANG office IN the southeast US, I feel your pain. Rates in this part of the country aren't anywhere near what they are in the bay area sadly. I took a job with fedgov for twice what I was making at FAANG.

You mean half?

No. FAANG remote position paid a pittance. Promotion was going to require a relo to HQ. Fedgov paid double what FAANG was paying in the same area believe it or not, and I had no desire to move to SF. Admittedly the barrier to entry is quite a bit higher w/ Fedgov and the work isn't nearly as glamorous.