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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 impor…

I hear you on that. I mean that I currently have these things and don't want to sacrifice them, but I seriously am unsure if it's possible to have them in the Bay. If it's not, as I'm coming to expect, I doubt I'll ever consider the switch. I definitely won't for the pay at a startup or the like.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#493

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.

Kind of. The problem with a $1.2M is that for most people this means you are massively leveraged. If anything goes wrong (e.g., market, tax mistakes, health issues), you can easily end up bankrupt.

Did this once and won my bet, but was very aware of how bad it might go. (Well, "won", since my ex got it all...)

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#494

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>a bizarrely micromanaged & comprehensive policy

Perfect description.

I've always been amazed by that blog post.

It reads like a textbook case of bike-shedding(seriously the number of words and engineering thought spent on it is asinine) for what ultimately amounts to faux virtue-signaling about how you're going to get paid 20% below market.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#495

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…

Since you had no big tech company on your resume, what do you think was the biggest factor in getting you the job? Interview performance? Project portfolio? Or something else?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#496
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.

I work remotely for Bay-area tech(not literal FAANG, but similar orbitals), and my pay is in no way arbitrarily multiplied for my location.

>Bet on it.

Where do I collect my winnings? :)

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#497

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…

One of the highest paying companies is stripe. They recently annouced that their fifth hub would be remote.

https://stripe.com/jobs/search?l=remote

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#498

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.

There are many houses just east of AP to the airport in the 1.2 range, and they are not in bad areas

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN never ceases to amaze me. Plenty of people here are great at negotiating job offers, but struggle negotiating in relationships. Different skill, set I guess maybe no surprise. Well, either way, figure it out. Go remote, long-distance, invest, build a business, or whatever else you need to do to retire around 40ish. Learn to make sacrifices.

There's more to risk in the relationship negotiations, especially if there are kids involved. You can play potential employers off against each other. You might be able to leave an employer and come back in a few years at a higher compensation level. Try playing off a spouse against their replacement and see how that goes ;-D

It didn't go well.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#500

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…

Do you know how many years of experience these companies need to place someone in these levels?
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