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Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

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Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#91

Post by opportune »

CrazyDave wrote: post #82
opportune wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several of those companies are not public. They are indeed offering paper money, but if you trust valuations during fundraising rounds (and given how late stage Stripe, Robinhood are) it's a pretty safe bet.

Aren't more volatile valuations also better for the value seeking employees? Let's say in 1 year there's a 50% chance of the valuation going up 3x, and a 50% chance of it going down to 0. You rest and vest if it goes up, or find another company if it fails. The ante would be 1 year's RSU and job searching for a payoff of 3 years worth of RSUs.

Yes, from people I know, the asymmetric risk is what draws them to working for startups. Go to one, see if it 10xs quickly, otherwise go to another one.

There is also a particular group of people who seek out pre-ipo (meaning a company that is expected to IPO soon) companies, or more generally those that are about to fundraise again. Generally equity offers are given based on valuations at the last fundraising round, so playing this game properly can instantly turn $100k in paper money into $400k. Of course, doing this only makes sense if you expect the new valuation to have some kind of staying power, otherwise you won't realize those gains.

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#92

Post by erik_seaberg »

dcolkitt wrote: post #57
legerdemain wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Somewhat visible in some of the outdoor photos: a railroad right-of-way is located directly behind this house , with at least two trains per hour from early morning until midnight.

Conveniently located for commuters!

The train will be moving. Good exercise.

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#93

Post by _2d30 »

bradlys wrote: post #84
fwiwm2c wrote: post #70

These numbers are ridiculously low. Here is what a typical FAANG setup pays you in the bay area (Source: I have worked in a couple of them): IC5 Eng (~5 yrs exp): $350k/yr all in (cash+stock+bonus) IC6 Eng (~9 yrs exp): $550k/yr all in IC7 Eng (~12 yrs exp and you are exceptional): $800k/yr As you go from IC5 to IC7, your stock and bonus goes up (as expected). A typical IC7 will earn around $250k in cash, ~25% bonus…

The competition for these roles is extremely intense. Even doing well isn't sufficient in pandemic times. The baseline of prepping every night + weekend for 3+ months still isn't enough to guarantee you'll get in. Get unlucky and join an org like Ads at FB and you're gonna be miserable AF. Add in the general huge amount of luck that is involved with what interviewer you get, the hiring environment going on, and it's…

> Even doing well isn't sufficient in pandemic times.

Ask anyone hiring at a FAANG co and you will find that it's a massive struggle to hire now. Pandemic isn't making anything harder for applicants and, given the relative success of tech during it, may be making it harder.

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#94

Post by _2d30 »

savanaly wrote: post #64
dcolkitt wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredible to me that most of the surplus wealth generated by all of humanity's innovation in the 21st century has basically accumulated to property owners in the Bay Area and Seattle. This is only a slight exaggeration.

Also incredible that it could have been predicted over 200 years ago [0]. The law of rent, one of the most firmly established in economics, is that all the bounty of our efforts will accumulate to the holders of fixed assets, namely land and human talent. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_rent .

You've misinterpreted that greatly.

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#95

Post by nawgz »

jacques_chester wrote: post #24
gricardo99 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a fairly cynical take. You may be right, at least in some cases, but I also think it's reasonable for any executive to look at the unprecedented situation with a high degree of uncertainty and reign in spending on all possible fronts. In hindsight perhaps cutting back salaries/bonuses wasn't warranted, but that doesn't mean it was all planned as a scheme to boost profits.

I'm cynical because apparently reigning in spending can be done instantly, but handing out bonuses, raises or equity seems to be a very long and difficult process involving a lot of some-day-soons and any-day-nows and then perhaps-next-years.

Indeed, it's easy for the execs raking in top salaries to say "everyone cant get raises now", yet when the profits roll in they don't reverse course and now your salary is deflated by one or more annual cycles of non-adjustment. This is a permanent deflation of your salary vs pre-COVID expectations at this same company too.

This phenomenon definitely has made me want to leave my job. I would consider myself the most important member of my team but would guess I am making a median salary on it. Time to brush up on my political speak and whiteboarding

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#96

Post by ketamine__ »

dang wrote: post #47
ketamine__ wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On balance, anyone remote before the pandemic and traveling the world has probably had a better life than someone with the same skills making double the salary in SV. Just the reduction in poop on sidewalks speaks for itself. Apparently this comment triggered someone lol.

Scene_Cast2 should add this as a fourth element to their list.

It will all make it to n-gate.com. Don't worry.

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#97

Post by opportune »

bradlys wrote: post #84
fwiwm2c wrote: post #70

These numbers are ridiculously low. Here is what a typical FAANG setup pays you in the bay area (Source: I have worked in a couple of them): IC5 Eng (~5 yrs exp): $350k/yr all in (cash+stock+bonus) IC6 Eng (~9 yrs exp): $550k/yr all in IC7 Eng (~12 yrs exp and you are exceptional): $800k/yr As you go from IC5 to IC7, your stock and bonus goes up (as expected). A typical IC7 will earn around $250k in cash, ~25% bonus…

The competition for these roles is extremely intense. Even doing well isn't sufficient in pandemic times. The baseline of prepping every night + weekend for 3+ months still isn't enough to guarantee you'll get in. Get unlucky and join an org like Ads at FB and you're gonna be miserable AF. Add in the general huge amount of luck that is involved with what interviewer you get, the hiring environment going on, and it's…

Arguably if you need to prep that much it might not be a good fit. YMMV.

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#98

Post by ahepp »

gricardo99 wrote: post #16
thelean12 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Several companies I know seemed to lie and use Covid as a convenient excuse to not give out raises (or give shitty bonuses, etc) to save money in the short term. Meanwhile hiring and earnings don't match up to those actions.

That's a fairly cynical take. You may be right, at least in some cases, but I also think it's reasonable for any executive to look at the unprecedented situation with a high degree of uncertainty and reign in spending on all possible fronts. In hindsight perhaps cutting back salaries/bonuses wasn't warranted, but that doesn't mean it was all planned as a scheme to boost profits.

Eh, executives seem pretty receptive to the idea of not cutting their own pay during uncertainty or a downturn[0].

My understanding is that retention bonuses are the norm during bankruptcy. Of course, I understand the reason for that. But the reasoning is pretty clearly "we're betting on you not being mobile enough or irreplaceable enough".

Of course it is a bit cynical, and maybe some companies are acting different. But in general I think the cynicism is justified.

[0] https://on.ft.com/3rfL1n4 (paywalled, but link bypasses)

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#99

Post by oflannabhra »

silicon2401 wrote: post #22
pugworthy wrote: post #6

I wonder how common it was for companies to not give out any raises due to economic changes from the pandemic. It depends I suppose on what the business is and what the impact is. Our Fortune 50 company late last year announced no raises based on the annual review cycle because of "things", but did give out bonuses. Of course then we had record earnings announcements recently, so it's not clear what the "things" were…

Depends entirely on the company. I switched jobs during the pandemic, the new company has constantly been hiring, I got a huge salary/benefits boost, and I got an end of year raise and bonuses. As I was heading out from the previous job, they sent out an email saying that hiring was frozen, salaries would be frozen (no raises for anybody), and retirement contribution matches would halt. I've had some friends furlough…

This exact same thing happened to me.

Re: Silicon Valley stays on top as tech salaries climb across U.S.

#100

Post by ygaitonde »

bradlys wrote: post #84
fwiwm2c wrote: post #70

These numbers are ridiculously low. Here is what a typical FAANG setup pays you in the bay area (Source: I have worked in a couple of them): IC5 Eng (~5 yrs exp): $350k/yr all in (cash+stock+bonus) IC6 Eng (~9 yrs exp): $550k/yr all in IC7 Eng (~12 yrs exp and you are exceptional): $800k/yr As you go from IC5 to IC7, your stock and bonus goes up (as expected). A typical IC7 will earn around $250k in cash, ~25% bonus…

The competition for these roles is extremely intense. Even doing well isn't sufficient in pandemic times. The baseline of prepping every night + weekend for 3+ months still isn't enough to guarantee you'll get in. Get unlucky and join an org like Ads at FB and you're gonna be miserable AF. Add in the general huge amount of luck that is involved with what interviewer you get, the hiring environment going on, and it's…

What's so miserable about working on Ads at FB?
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