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Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

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Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#281

Post by distribot »

mustyoshi wrote: post #102
yob28 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the fact that your job would be less than meaningless

What kind of meaningful job produces enough value to justify making 7x what the median US worker makes?

Do you mean meaningful in the bull** jobs way or the moralistic way? I find the moralistic version confusing. I usually hear it applied to CEO pay, which last year was 350x the average worker. But what will ever feel like a fair or just differential? 7x? 3x? And what would be a fair metric? Are dentists less or more than social workers? What about dangerous jobs, are lumberjacks worth more than coal miners?

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#282

Post by baobabKoodaa »

Rastonbury wrote: post #209
baobabKoodaa wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> at least as good as getting cash This claim is patently false. If you receive $100k in cash, you can immediately exchange that to $100k in public company stock. The opposite is not true (if you receive stock with a vesting period, you cannot immediately exchange it to cash). Therefore, getting cash is at least as good as getting public company stock, not the other way around.

If it's about timeframes it can be thought of as like a year end bonus being paid out when it vests. With some risks in terms of share price (which is like variable cash bonuses). The only reason most prefer cash is because it's a hard number that base increases/bonus are computed by and for negotiation in next job.

Please explain to me how you can't achieve your desired stock exposure by receiving cash and then buying stock on the public market with that cash?

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#283

Post by distribot »

yeswecatan wrote: post #272
pembrook wrote: post #167

If you're inside the US, just apply to any private unicorn or public tech company (the ones that get media coverage). Anecdotally, roughly 50% of them are now cool with full remote and virtually all will pay 250k or more in total comp. If you're outside the US, forget about salaried roles. I've found that a vast majority of companies mentioned above will have blanket policies against hiring non-US workers (most HR de…

I just received an offer from a unicorn where over a third of my total comp are ISOs. After reading many posts here about the number of ways they can be worth $0 even in the event of an IPO, I'm not so sure I want to accept.

I can accept that prospect, but the thing I find the be really messed up is how you can be diluted beyond what you agreed to? It's not a percentage of ownership. They can just issue more shares. I don't get that.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#284

Post by rco8786 »

citizenpaul wrote: post #267
Jensson wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting $100k sticker price worth of stocks per year is worth about $100k a year. If stocks go up they are worth more, otherwise less. On average they will be worth more than cash, and for a big company it is rare for them to go down a lot, so I'd say that getting the $100k worth of stocks a year is at least as good as just getting the cash. Edit: Not sure why people think otherwise. Maybe they are used to companies…

>Not sure why people think otherwise. Because stock compensation can be vastly different experiences therefor not just as good as getting cash.

It’s weird to say this though. Because stock comp is purely additive in almost all cases. The amount it adds to your pay is variable, and in extreme circumstances can even be $0. But it’s not like you can really lose money because of equity based pay, under normal circumstances.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#285

Post by anonuser123456 »

yob28 wrote: post #83
cushychicken wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I run a job board for FPGA people and hoo WEE do the HFT firms compensate amply. Talking two to three times the salary of a comparable position at a defense or chip company. That's not to say you won't be earning it. The corporate culture sounds absolutely savage: https://www.reddit.com/r/FPGA/comments/pj43ar/my_experience_...

Not to mention the fact that your job would be less than meaningless

Liquidity is not meaningless.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#286

Post by rblatz »

6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #262
rco8786 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I could not disagree more. Public companies will give you $X amount in stock. In writing. With specific vesting periods, etc. Obviously if the stock goes up or down so does your pay. But there’s no real way for companies to game this against you. Nearly Every highly paid SWE in the US takes a significant amount of their pay in equity. As an anecdote - I take around 70% of my pay as equity and so does everyone I work…

Public companies will sometimes tell you $X amount of stock and not tell you the number of shares, which is what actually matters. For the purposes of the offer, the dont generally use today’s market price as their price per share. In those cases, you can actually end up with less than is offered. And in pre-IPO companies that’s the norm, but that’s beside the point.

Every grant I received had exactly how the number of shares would be calculated. Typically a trailing 10 day average as of the closing on a specific date.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#287

Post by hihihihi1234 »

guitarsteve wrote: post #187
rco8786 wrote: post #48

You just need to apply for roles with public companies that offer liquid equity. Very few of us are getting 250k+ on base salary alone. Most of us have the salary bands you’re already in, but have additional equity pay on top. It doesn’t have to be a FAANG either. There are loads of public companies out there hiring engineers at 250k total comp .

Agree! At least in the US, this kind of total comp is possible at my employer (Datadog) and many other public companies, not just FAANG mega-corps. Typically you’d have to be “senior” or “staff” engineer, or get lucky and join during a period of stock growth. The pandemic really changed things to make remote work more viable. Previously many companies limited it to exceptional cases (long tenure in-person followed by…

How realistic is it to get hired fully remote at this kind of comp if you don't live in the US? I'm British and live in the UK and I'm pretty sure I have enough experience to be making these kinds of high salaries if I lived in the US. Relocating isn't an option for me, at least not in the next few years, but I wonder, am I a fool for taking a UK-based job? Should I find a remote position with a US-based company and double my salary? Is that even possible?

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#288

Post by Msw242 »

zerocount wrote: post #231
mojomark wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fully concur. I recieved stock appreciation rights (SARs) as a bonus at one company for a few years. CEO drove company into the ground that effectively wiped out all of these SARs. I was bitter at the CEO for making stupid decisions, but not at the fact that my bonus was in the form of SARs. If I'd have stuck to my guns more, the company would have probably succeeded and the SARs could have had significant value. Bot…

It's hard to believe that your lack of contribution tipped the scales so the company failed. Doing good work, in itself, doesn't increase the value of the company.

In small companies, the ability to influence the CEO against poor decisions can make a massive difference

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#289

Post by sershe »

bitcharmer wrote: post #129
rco8786 wrote: post #48

You just need to apply for roles with public companies that offer liquid equity. Very few of us are getting 250k+ on base salary alone. Most of us have the salary bands you’re already in, but have additional equity pay on top. It doesn’t have to be a FAANG either. There are loads of public companies out there hiring engineers at 250k total comp .

Sadly, going for equity in these scenarios is a mine field and almost never as profitable as advertised by the employer.

the only scheme i've seen in post ipo equity (rsu-s) is that you are given a cash amount that is converted to shares at current price, then the shares vest over time. If the shares go up you get more cash. Assuming an average company (ie tracking the total market) and an average return this is going to be better than cash.

Re: Ask HN: Strategies to land fully remote $250k+ job

#290

Post by jason-phillips »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #248
sidcool wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mad respect for you sir. What advice would you give a 35 year old software engineer who's worried about being obsolete in 10 years?

Keep learning new tech. I would expect major retraining to be required much more often than even 10 or 20 years ago. Personally, I am a big fan of Coursera and eDX online courses, but any form of study is good. Someone from HN just emailed me about this HN thread, and I will make the same comment to you as I did in an e-mail: “”” Every morning first thing, I spend a minute or two thinking of everything that I am grat…

I agree. I'm 50 and don't feel as though the sun has set on my usefulness yet. I'm definitely experiencing more demand than ever.

My personal philosophy is similar and I very much love the work I do.

1. My role is to help the team.

2. Stay humble. There is always a better way to do something and we're very lucky to be in our position.

3. Practice not talking. Let others have the experience of figuring it out for themselves. Interject if you can help get them unstuck.

4. Always be learning.

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