Sam Altman said something to the effect of 'OpenAI has the highest talent density of any company'.
OpenAI is modest in employee count and extreme in employee talent, with its employees rewarded commensurately.
$900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
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Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#12It's always interesting to think about how someone somewhere is earning as much as you earn in a decade or lifetime in a single year. Also that you are that person for someone else.
Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#13Other companies nickel and diming engineers think they are somehow getting something for free. All the highest performing companies in the world pay insane amounts to their programmers
Paying someone a lot doesn't magically make them a good engineer. You have to actually hire the best people, and there's only so many of them to go around.
Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#14300k salary + 600k stock
Not stock PPUs which are only worth anything if they turn a profit and according to OpenAI that isn’t happening until AGI. https://www.levels.fyi/blog/openai-compensation.html
Wonder if we'll see many IPOs from any companies not turning a profit anytime soon
Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#15Instead of traditional equity, OpenAI issues PPUs which represent a share of the profits. More details on how it works here: https://www.levels.fyi/blog/openai-compensation.html
> It’s important to reiterate that the PPUs inherently are not redeemable for value if OpenAI does not turn a profit. That said, there are investors that have been willing to pay for these PPUs and that’s where the value being told to candidates is derived from. > In conversations with recruiters we’ve heard from some candidates that OpenAI is communicating that they don’t expect to turn a profit until they reach the…
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Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#16It’s incredible that in some part of the world the programmers are called “nerds” but in San Francisco are millionaires.
They're not mutually exclusive, I embrace the term, albeit I'm not a millionaire!
Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#17Isn't it for member of technical staff? It's a high level position.
Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#18Other companies nickel and diming engineers think they are somehow getting something for free. All the highest performing companies in the world pay insane amounts to their programmers
Only when overfunded with VC money.
At that point, they are not hiring you, me or anyone who directly applies themselves via the job form.
They are hiring their friends from elite circles.
Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#19What should I know to get a job there?
Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI
#20> The tax filings also reveal previously unreported details about one of the most valuable and well-known technology ventures operating today, including the level of investment by Reid Hoffman, free Teslas for early OpenAI engineers and the skyrocketing computing bill that may have prompted it to take a $1 billion investment from Microsoft. https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/17/elon-musk-used-to-say-he-p...
A ~$100K signing bonus sounds kind of small for someone making $900K per year.