Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers • Hacker News Board

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#41

Post by Klinky » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:02 AM UTC

bradlys wrote: post #34

inreverse wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience interviewers are looking for a detailed thought process with a comparison of solutions that demonstrates your communication, not just an optimal solution. Do you provide that as well?

Yep. I always break down the solutions I purpose and ask them if they want me to code it up. I walk them through the solution. I give them trade offs between different solutions (if there is an alternative that has the same time/space complexity). Everything... :/ EDIT: But - really - I'm not looking for feedback or critiques in this format. I've done this endlessly with people online. Instead - it would be useful to…

You're probably interviewing with all the people who have chimed in that you can't possibly be that good.

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#42

Post by thorwasdfasdf » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:03 AM UTC

Wow, this is great. It's awesome to make that much money, but it'd be pretty hard to convince yourself to work hard enough for that stock and bonus when your marginal tax rate is over 40%.

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#43

Post by Zaheer » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:09 AM UTC

mandeepj wrote: post #36

Salaries are a bit misleading on this page. Let's take LYFT's example - on landing page - salary is $420k but on inside page - it's $396k. What's the vesting period on those stocks? I'm almost sure it's not 1 year. And, that salary is for the first year. They will not be giving you $200k worth of shares every year or do they?

$420 is the compensation for that particular individual. The newsletter features verified compensation numbers of individuals. The number on inside page you're referring to is the average total compensation for that Lyft at the same level. The compensation is yearly. Note that this is a senior candidate (third level in Lyft's hierarchy).

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#44

Post by joebro5 » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:09 AM UTC

LanceH wrote: post #35

lacker wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s quite common for people to think they nailed a question when actually they did poorly, in the eyes of the interviewer. Even if you are getting the “correct solution”, the interviewer will usually have some followup discussion designed to make sure you really understand the solution well. Often this catches out people who practice so much they’ve seen the answer before. This is my guess for what’s happening, at l…

I walked out of an interview before thinking I nailed one of the big questions. I answered it so well and in such an orderly fashion they asked if I had seen it before, which I hadn't. I received feedback that they would pass and one reason is that I wouldn't admit that I had seen that question before. I guess I wasn't prepared for having my integrity (literally) questioned. No loss for me. It was really off putting…

Seems like you dodged a bullet. I wouldn't want to work with those types of egos.

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#45

Post by MuffinFlavored » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:14 AM UTC

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #40

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #10

Those base salaries are really not that strong in those high cost of living areas.

It's stronger than any other jobs out there. But yes, you're right even the very very highest of salaries doesn't compensate enough to buy a modest 4 million$ house. You'd have to be in your 20s and rent a room with plans to leave in less than 10 years or just don't have a family.

I'm just saying, it isn't hard to make $140k-$160k/yr in Iowa/Missouri as a remote software engineer.

You just don't get your salary again in stock options :P

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#46

Post by bradlys » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:14 AM UTC

throwqwerty wrote: post #32

bradlys wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah - you'd be surprised. I got accused of cheating more than once because I'd come up with the optimal solution in less than a minute. Never even saw the problems. I spent a lot of time prepping.

>optimal solution in less than a minute you're interviewing wrong and i'm surprised that you haven't figured it out given 200 attempts. put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer - interviews aren't their main focus in the company and hence they're not invested in being excellent interviewers. they're most likely trying to do a good enough job such that it counts towards promotion and simultaneously not have a horr…

Considering I've received detailed feedback from maybe five interviewers - it's hard to decipher what the issue is. I've just tried to brute force my way through most of it since that's all you /can/ do when you get no feedback.

If someone follows the routine you set out - I follow it very thoroughly. I know it well and it's what I used to practice for when I first started. Unfortunately, a lot of interviewers don't follow that routine at all. I'd say 80% don't follow any particular routine and 30-40% immediately go to their cellphone as soon as they put the problem statement on the board. I've seen this at Facebook, Google, Uber, etc. I've seen people go from smiling to random coworkers they don't know to immediately frowning as soon as they see me and shaking my hand with regret. I'm not wearing a MAGA or "I love tabs" hat! It's really weird. It happens far too often and is why I'm looking for mock interview resources and people's experiences with them.

Sadly - I feel like even doing it online will only give me a minor edge since, again, I don't fail phone-based technical interviews much at all. It's been really hard to get back into the interview prep game since I've only really received offers from startups. (And that leads to a really lackluster lifestyle)

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#47

Post by cactus2093 » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:23 AM UTC

mandeepj wrote: post #36

Salaries are a bit misleading on this page. Let's take LYFT's example - on landing page - salary is $420k but on inside page - it's $396k. What's the vesting period on those stocks? I'm almost sure it's not 1 year. And, that salary is for the first year. They will not be giving you $200k worth of shares every year or do they?

I think it really is what it seems. I got a similar offer from Uber a few months before their IPO - level 5a position, base salary $200k, $710k shares of RSU's vesting over 4 years, and performance based bonus with a target of $25k (it's not guaranteed the bonus target will be the same every year, but this is an annual bonus not signing bonus). So total comp just over $400k.

I'm sure some people are inflating values on levels.fyi and some people are probably mixing up the 4-year vesting amounts of stock with per-year comp.

But this example seems legit. Salaries like this are very real (and very crazy)

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#48

Post by eshyong » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:26 AM UTC

andrewljohnson wrote: post #14

Twitch is so low: https://www.levels.fyi/comp.html?track=Software%20Engineer&s... Is that because a lot of people want to work at Twitch, and/or because Amazon doesn't pay that well?

Yeah, I just started started working at Twitch about a month ago, and while I was interviewing with them I found more accurate results when I searched for Amazon salaries instead. I think part of the problem is there aren't many data points for Twitch on levels.fyi compared to other companies.

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#49

Post by anongraddebt » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:28 AM UTC

bradlys wrote: post #34

inreverse wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience interviewers are looking for a detailed thought process with a comparison of solutions that demonstrates your communication, not just an optimal solution. Do you provide that as well?

Yep. I always break down the solutions I purpose and ask them if they want me to code it up. I walk them through the solution. I give them trade offs between different solutions (if there is an alternative that has the same time/space complexity). Everything... :/ EDIT: But - really - I'm not looking for feedback or critiques in this format. I've done this endlessly with people online. Instead - it would be useful to…

My gf is a management consultant, and prepped a lot for her interviews. She learned that there is such a thing as prepping too much, as your performance can come across too stilted/canned/robotic.

Have you ever filmed your performance in a practice session?

I've given tons of mock interviews, so if you want a fresh set of eyes let me know.

Re: Salary Stream – Software Engineer Offers

#50

Post by hellogoodbye777 » Thu, Mar 19, 2020, 4:44 AM UTC

bradlys wrote: post #34

inreverse wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience interviewers are looking for a detailed thought process with a comparison of solutions that demonstrates your communication, not just an optimal solution. Do you provide that as well?

Yep. I always break down the solutions I purpose and ask them if they want me to code it up. I walk them through the solution. I give them trade offs between different solutions (if there is an alternative that has the same time/space complexity). Everything... :/ EDIT: But - really - I'm not looking for feedback or critiques in this format. I've done this endlessly with people online. Instead - it would be useful to…

It sounds like you're threatening your interviewers' egos.