We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything • Hacker News Board

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#21

Post by zuhayeer » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:32 PM UTC

uyt wrote: post #15

How do you account for stock/option appreciation? Which number is displayed on the site? There might be a huge difference between a person reporting their total compensation from their offer letter (according to the fair market value at the time) vs what it is after a few years of appreciation.

We think of data points on our platform as snapshots of salaries in time. Currently, we ask for the last reported year of compensation which would include stock appreciation. You can distinguish this on our compensation page by filtering the "Years at Company" field: https://levels.fyi/comp.html?showFilters

When the Years at Company field is 0 it is a new offer.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#22

Post by danbrooks » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

A big thank you for putting levels.fyi together. It's a big reason that I'm working in tech today.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#23

Post by dilat » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:33 PM UTC

zuhayeer wrote: post #14

bern4444 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not from levels.fyi but I think some reasons are * Its cheaper for the company than cash (stock is the company's currency, they can issue more of it, decrease the supply, use it as collateral in financing etc) * It can be better for the employees (pay less in taxes, more opportunity for growth) * Incentives become aligned (I now care about the continued success of the company more so than I otherwise would)

Yup the higher you go in level, the larger your stock compensation is to tie you to company growth and align incentives. A company that's the exception to this is Netflix: https://www.levels.fyi/company/Netflix/salaries/Software-Eng... They have one level and pay all cash with an option to convert some of it to equity.

How does Netflix compete for post-senior talent with only one level? (i.e. “staff” and beyond)

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#24

Post by mercutio2 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:40 PM UTC

My observation, as a hiring manager, is that levels.fyi data for my company is consistently representative of the highest compensated 10% of my team, but presents itself as reflecting something closer to median compensation for a given role.

Is this deliberate?

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#25

Post by zests » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:41 PM UTC

It feels like there are two classes of engineers in the US. One class of engineers makes 60k-120k and the other makes 150k-500k.

Is this just a really well kept secret? I don't really see many engineers trying to migrate from the first class to the second class. I'd expect most software engineers would jump through hoops at the prospect of doubling their salary.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#26

Post by drclau » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:42 PM UTC

mercutio2 wrote: post #24

My observation, as a hiring manager, is that levels.fyi data for my company is consistently representative of the highest compensated 10% of my team, but presents itself as reflecting something closer to median compensation for a given role. Is this deliberate?

I'm curious, how big is the range per level at the company you are hiring for?

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#27

Post by whymauri » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:42 PM UTC

zests wrote: post #25

It feels like there are two classes of engineers in the US. One class of engineers makes 60k-120k and the other makes 150k-500k. Is this just a really well kept secret? I don't really see many engineers trying to migrate from the first class to the second class. I'd expect most software engineers would jump through hoops at the prospect of doubling their salary.

From the people I've talked to, they enjoy the WLB and location of their job enough to not hop.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#28

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

zests wrote: post #25

It feels like there are two classes of engineers in the US. One class of engineers makes 60k-120k and the other makes 150k-500k. Is this just a really well kept secret? I don't really see many engineers trying to migrate from the first class to the second class. I'd expect most software engineers would jump through hoops at the prospect of doubling their salary.

[deleted]

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#29

Post by whymauri » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

mercutio2 wrote: post #24

My observation, as a hiring manager, is that levels.fyi data for my company is consistently representative of the highest compensated 10% of my team, but presents itself as reflecting something closer to median compensation for a given role. Is this deliberate?

Selection bias: those most proud of their offers are most likely to share it on aggregators, is my guess.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#30

Post by b20000 » Wed, Jun 30, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

mercutio2 wrote: post #24

My observation, as a hiring manager, is that levels.fyi data for my company is consistently representative of the highest compensated 10% of my team, but presents itself as reflecting something closer to median compensation for a given role. Is this deliberate?

my observation is that most companies present offers that are 30% lower than they should be to have a comfortable lifestyle in tech metros and not worry about school, housing or retirement costs. is this deliberate?