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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#481

Post by senordevnyc »

wcunning wrote: post #460
throwawaymath wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 hav…

I probably have a dozen hobbies I'd love to explore that just aren't compatible with my NYC lifestyle. Like anything else, you make your choices on what tradeoffs are worth it to you. For me, not being able to have a machine shop (also on my list) is well worth all that I get in return. You can't have it all, and trying is just going to make your life miserable. If you're happy where you are, then that's what's important.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#482

Post by beefalo »

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…

The problem with COL calculators is that 100% of your pay does not go to costs. You can't just say SF is 4x as expensive as Chicago so I need 4x the salary. The increased costs are a fixed number, not something that scales with salary.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#483

Post by diehunde »

senordevnyc wrote: post #469
diehunde wrote: post #457

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…

I'll use myself as an example. I live in NYC, my rent is $4300 / month (2 bedroom apartment in nice doorman building on Upper West Side), and I just accepted an offer at a public tech company. My first 12 months should pay me $420,000, assuming the stock price is stable. I'll ignore the possibility of any raises, promotions, bonuses, stock price increase, and refreshers. I'll also ignore the 401k match (max is about…

Congratulations! Can I ask how many years of experience you have ?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#484

Post by laurencerowe »

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).

I was advised ~30 days/year was normal. Only downside is you don't get paid out accrued vacation days when you move on.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#485

Post by beefalo »

robrenaud wrote: post #449
monoideism wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You need to account for savings. A dollar saved in a high COL area is as good as one saved in a low COL area. If compensation triples and cost of living triples, your savings also triples. If you are saving 100k/year in a place that is very expensive, and are happy to live in a place with low COL, work for 10 years in the high earning/high cost of living area and retire in the low COL area.

Just to back you up on this, the savings should more than triple. 3x the compensation probably more than offsets the 3x in costs, so your savings may be more like 5x or more compared to low COL areas.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#486

Post by senordevnyc »

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).

60+ is ridiculously high. Isn't the upper end of European countries only like 30 days (6 weeks)?

For what it's worth, the company I just started at is "flexible", but the average is around 25 days per year.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#487

Post by alistairSH »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #473
alistairSH wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I own already, that’d be great for my retirement. ;)

And to be honest, my ability to walk was dumb luck. If I change jobs, I’m just as likely to have to drive/Metro into Tyson’s as walk locally. But walking is a big incentive to stay put.

That was one fear with HQ2 coming to DC. With it on the other side of Fairfax, it’ll be a while before it impacts housing out here. But if Google expands its footprint, and with the Metro opening soon, we might see another bump soon.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#488

Post by senordevnyc »

diehunde wrote: post #483
senordevnyc wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll use myself as an example. I live in NYC, my rent is $4300 / month (2 bedroom apartment in nice doorman building on Upper West Side), and I just accepted an offer at a public tech company. My first 12 months should pay me $420,000, assuming the stock price is stable. I'll ignore the possibility of any raises, promotions, bonuses, stock price increase, and refreshers. I'll also ignore the 401k match (max is about…

Congratulations! Can I ask how many years of experience you have ?

12 years of experience, 9 in iOS (what this role is for), all self-employed. More detail littered across comments in my history.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#489

Post by driverdan »

qqwaabb wrote: post #345
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,…

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…

You're forgetting taxes. CA has some of the highest taxes in the country. Comparing to TX, for example, gas is about $1/gal more in the bay and TX has no income tax.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#490

Post by usaar333 »

alistairSH wrote: post #409
_dark_matter_ wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

? All the new SFH in mountain view near Google are close to $2m, not $3m. $3m buys you a massive lot as well.

Either way, rent is around $5k a month here for a three bedroom, which is quite doable on a Google salary.

$1.3m will get you a 1300 sq foot town house, so yes, it's quite possible to be located near fang HQ on the budget described above with a family.

Source: Zillow around whisman station

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