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Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

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Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#581

Post by wakkaflokka »

non-entity wrote: post #578
_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

I found a company that was trying to compete for “Silicon Valley Tech Talent” so they ramped salaries up to do it.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#582

Post by bovermyer »

rolltiide wrote: post #576
bovermyer wrote: post #575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I admit I never considered these aspects of financial gain. What books or other reading would you recommend on the subject?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#583

Post by [deleted] »

beefalo wrote: post #482
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…

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.

[deleted]

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#584

Post by chinesempire »

vonseel wrote: post #305
chinesempire wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 What if your spouse wanna spend her 20s and 30s with you, in a place that has a normal cost of living, doing a job that doesn't require you to be on 60hours a week? What if she doesn't wanna wait for you to retire or she doesn't want to retire early (or can't)? What if you spend your…

> What if your spouse wanna spend her 20s and 30s with you, in a place that has a normal cost of living, doing a job that doesn't require you to be on 60hours a week? I'm not sure 'bout the exact number of hours, but the top comment in this thread already said "In fact you'll typically find significantly better work-life balance at a FAANG than a startup." .

> "In fact you'll typically find significantly better work-life balance at a FAANG than a startup."

I agree with that sentence.

But it also depends on what people are looking for. If working at a FAANG means having to spend a capital for housing in the bay are, maybe that's not what they really want.

Or maybe life in the bay area is not the kind of lifestyle they like.

My point was more about trading money for freedom, especially freedom from bureaucracy/politics and freedom to prefer to be with your spouse instead that being at the office to retire early in your life and maybe divorce in the meantime.

We are young only once in our life, we have plenty of time to work hard.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#585

Post by monoideism »

dmode wrote: post #535
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,…

This is very bad advice. 130k in low COL is absolutely not equal to 400k in Bay. People generally cap their housing expense to 30% salary. So that may give you a mansion in low COL and a 3 bedroom townhome in bay, but the remaining 70% goes very very far. Remember vacations, Tesla, electronic goods, in n out, cost the same no matter where you live.

> 130k in low COL is absolutely not equal to 400k in Bay

It's amazing to me how little people read comments. They latch onto one idea, and then respond to that.

I mentioned - 3 times! - in my original comment that they were not equivalent, but only much closer than they appeared at first glance because of COL. In light of all the responses above, many of which were enlightening to me, I stand by that assertion.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#586

Post by Bahamut »

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…

Typically to be allowed to work remote at a FAANG, you need to have spent time doing critical work onsite - this is still a very rare arrangement.

One secret is that management in most companies, even FAANG, often will let you work remotely from time to time as long as you get your work done - I have often worked while traveling in order to cut down on vacation day usage without complaint.

Otherwise, I have seen Netflix offer remote positions on occasion, but know that such positions are extraordinarily competitive. You will not get such a position by being just an above average dev.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#587

Post by exclipy »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #547
exclipy wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to cut the myth that these salaries only exist in Silicon Valley. Seattle and NYC also offer otherworldly packages. Google (and probably other FAANGs) also pay extremely well in Boston, Los Angeles, Boulder, Chicago, Austin and Zurich/Switzerland.

Yes - but try Des Moines or Missoula or Boise or even Portland, OR (a growing tech hub) and these salary levels are hard to hit. And, outside of the FAANGs the salaries are a step down just about everywhere.

Was just responding to the "being forced to live in California" comment.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#588

Post by qqwaabb »

Waterluvian wrote: post #16
typest wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is not necessarily a catch. Pay is not based on cost of living -- it's set by market rates, and the market rate for software engineers in these areas who can do the jobs required at these companies is high. All these companies operate at an immense scale where an engineer, through what is often a simple change, can add significant value to the company. So, yes. For now, these companies are giving college grads…

Interesting, thanks. Now I wonder how many of these jobs are 100% work from home. I'm not sure a salary doubling could take me away from my family and into commuting an hour a day. But I mean, if they're going to pay me to engineer in my pyjamas, sure! =)

I effectively have 100% work from home for a FANG. I live in the Midwest and my compensation is the same as engineers working from HQ. I worked from HQ for a few years then told my manager I was gonna quit to move closer to family and we ended up being to arrange this. I fly to HQ a few times a year to have face time with my team. Not sure how long this arrangement will last, but it’s been awesome so far.

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#589

Post by excursionist »

tikiman163 wrote: post #545
Bahamut wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree - I joined a FAANG company 2.5 years ago and was given a $280k package as a mid-level. After two annual review cycles, I currently make $318k. My initial RSU grant is about to hit double what it was ($105k initially), and my refresh RSU grants are close to hitting 50% above their initial value (two grants of $125k) still as a mid-level. Benefits like 401k matching and ESPP stock purchasing also push up eff…

Unlimited PTO is bs because when you give unlimited time off people usually request less time off, and companies don't have to pay you for unused time off when you leave. The potential to punish for taking time off isn't a thing anywhere I worked that had the unlimited deal, but the result was typically that the average employee would rarely ask for more than 8 days a year because they didn't feel like they had anyth…

If the company says you get unlimited pto, and actually delivers on it's promise, why couldn't you just take off for like 6 months every year? If you actually need to get approval for time off, then it's not 'unlimited', because they are literally 'limiting' your pto. Is there anything to these 'unlimited pto' offers, besides being an obvious scam?

Re: Top Paying Tech Companies by SWE Level

#590

Post by TomVDB »

gok wrote: post #530
TomVDB wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salary (W2 before tax) + bonus + promised RSUs. It's not an unreasonable way to calculate it, and given the way the economy has been going in the past 10 years, it's lowballing the real taxable compensation.

A W2 includes bonus and RSU vest though...

Yup, my bad. So definitely not what's on the W2.
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