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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#571

Post by chinesempire »

jpetso wrote: post #454
asjw wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

You got a point, a provocative one, but still one.

Let's expand it: it's also amazing what you can do if you don't care much about being good at what you do and pass it to the others (that's what reputation is for, being authoritative), it's even more amazing what you can do if you don't care about your family or other people in general.

Madoff achieved a lot by not caring about scamming other people

Then he got caught

It's ok to not care, but rest assured that one day not caring will catch up with you

What I mean is: if your wife wants to move far away from the place that will give you early retirement, maybe it's because she hates the kind of life that will let you retire early...

Is it better to retire early (much early!) or end up divorcing or having an unhappy marriage?

Have you thought about that?

These are the kinds of compromises people usually go through when they are building something that involves more than ME.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#572

Post by senordevnyc »

subsubzero wrote: post #533
senordevnyc wrote: post #322

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…

I too work at a smaller tech company, market cap is near the ones you posted and one thing many people forget is the share price upside on those sized companies is enormous(also downside too!) I came in during a low point in the companies stock and saw my yearly RSU's go from being valued at 70k to over $200k a year. I don't think the large FAANGs will see even a 100% upside in share price(maybe NFLX though) in a yea…

It's true, I see a ton of upside for my company. I think they could theoretically 10x over the next decade, which seems unlikely for FAANG. But yeah, they could also 0.1x, I guess. I'd move on before that though!

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#573

Post by senordevnyc »

treis wrote: post #423
thatsenough wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started working at FANG recently, after spending 15 years in a different field. The very first thing I noticed was how young the average employee is. It was a little startling. I've heard different theories: * Today's big tech companies are still relatively young, so the workforce is young. * The companies have grown exponentially in recent years, and they've hired many new grads to meet hiring targets. This would…

>The very first thing I noticed was how young the average employee is. It was a little startling. I've heard different theories These salaries come with a big gamble on SV real estate and the market performance of these companies. The first one is a big difference between young and middle aged people. In my 20s I averaged a new home every year as my financial situation changed and I wanted to live in different parts…

Now in my 30s with a wife and kid I don't expect to move for 10+ years. The only way to achieve that is buying a house. Which, in SV, means plunking down 3-4 million.

I think you're pretty deep in the bubble or you have really extreme tastes. I have tons of friends in their 30s with kids in SV and NYC. Almost all of them are renters. The actual financial calculation for renting vs. buying in these markets is brutal. You need to stay for 10-20 years for buying to start to make sense.

Also, you don't need $3-4mm in either of these markets to buy a place suitable for two adults and a child. There are plenty of 2 bedrooms for a third of that.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#574

Post by senordevnyc »

segmondy wrote: post #471

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…

I think you really want your analysis to be true, so you're fudging the numbers to "prove" to yourself that it makes no sense.

- Taxes are not 50%

- Daycare is not $4k for one kid, though could be for 2

- You don't need a 3 bedroom unless you have 3+ kids

- Health insurance is a few thousand per year, max (employer pays most)

- Household expenses and food expenses aren't THAT much different from elsewhere. Do you spend $5k / month on those now?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#575

Post by bovermyer »

rolltiide wrote: post #560
bovermyer wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but after a certain point, more money doesn't make much of a difference. I travel enough. I go to plenty of good restaurants with my wife and friends. I can buy some fun toys. My retirement fund is in progress. I have no debt. Would I turn down another hundred grand a year? No. Would I do much with it? No, it'd just go to investments, which I may or may not live long enough to use.

nah, I want to be able to make the same amount annually from interest alone, I want to be able to afford appeals court for any civil or criminal issue, I want a total exemption from the socio-economic woes of the proletariat such as the privilege of switching fielty to nations when convenient or preferred, a total exemption from ever needing to split assets built in a marriage because they would have never been built…

That's... oddly specific.

You do you, though.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#576

Post by rolltiide »

bovermyer wrote: post #575
rolltiide wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nah, I want to be able to make the same amount annually from interest alone, I want to be able to afford appeals court for any civil or criminal issue, I want a total exemption from the socio-economic woes of the proletariat such as the privilege of switching fielty to nations when convenient or preferred, a total exemption from ever needing to split assets built in a marriage because they would have never been built…

That's... oddly specific. You do you, though.

Its the privilege that separates the classes. As you pointed out the consumptive aspects completely disappear, but its an incredibly limited view of money.

I forgot to mention the tax and liability advantages of a fully funded trust and autonomous private foundation.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#577

Post by infinite8s »

blaser-waffle wrote: post #316
notacoward wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Negotiate better terms. I work for a FANG, and my salary is pretty consistent with what's in that list despite the fact that I work from home elsewhere. Sure it's northeast, but that's probably closer to southeast than to west coast at this point. Maybe in southeast you'll take a bit of a salary hit, but probably still make quite a bit more than you can get locally. There are a couple of other downsides, though. One…

I'm in central Canada and work remotely for an org in the bay area, and this is (generally speaking) true. As the remote worker you're always going to be a step behind. Still totally worth it, financially speaking, but know that your triumphs are smaller and your fuck-ups larger while remote.

Hi any chance I could speak to you offline? I am about to start a similar situation and would love to understand your setup. My email is in my profile.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#578

Post by non-entity »

_qbxp wrote: post #540

Some of these salaries are hilarious. I work in a small city in the Southeast at about 250k cash comp and feel blessed because of it. Leave it to HN to make me feel that tinge of envy. The weird thing is, I never get jealous/envious of someone my age making 1 million. 2 million. Or hitting the jackpot and selling their company for hundreds of millions. Doesn’t give me one iota of “wish I had that”, but the 400k start…

How the hell do you make $250k in the southeast? On top of that in one of the smaller cities

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#579

Post by infinite8s »

Tehchops wrote: post #496
auiya wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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? :)

Did you start remote? I wonder if there is a difference in experience between people who start off working onsite but then decide they want to live somewhere else and negotiate remote work after proving themselves.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#580

Post by infinite8s »

mabbo wrote: post #252
gnrlst wrote: post #190

What I find completely demotivating is working for a FAANG in Europe, and seeing the massive disparity between US colleagues. You can argue cost of living is different, healthcare is public blablabla, but recruiters have told me straight out: we dont adjust for cost of living, we adjust for market rate. Therefore they dont give a rats ass about how much it costs to live in a specific country, they just pay based on t…

There are over 1000 engineers in Amazon's Toronto office. Every one of us knows we could make a huge increase in total comp by moving to the USA. Amazon would even help us make the move, relocation support, everything. I know ~3 people who've done so after 7 years here. We just like it better here, money be damned.

What's the pay differential between Toronto and SF/NYC?
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