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$900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

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Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#91

$600K of that is “equity” in a private company. You never know when the company will go public or with what valuation. I can’t sell equity in a private company to exchange for goods and services like I can stock that gets deposited in my brokerage account every six months.

There are exceptions right? Stripe isn't public yet I'm pretty sure there are ways to sell the stock that's accrued. I remember something about them opening up a way to sell your shares and since I get pinged on LinkedIn every so often about it I'm assuming it's a thing.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#92
post #28

Based on what I've seen/heard, they seem to follow a similar comp philosophy to Netflix -- pay top of market to get the best people. But it's also important to note that only $300K of that is in cash. The other $600K is in profit participation, which could take years (maybe even a decade!) to be realized. It could also be worth $6M a year when it's realized. But ultimately it's an investment of your time. Or to think…

sure but it looks like you can sell PPU's to investors?

no "right to first refusal" or some transfer restriction?

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#93
post #86
post #28

Based on what I've seen/heard, they seem to follow a similar comp philosophy to Netflix -- pay top of market to get the best people. But it's also important to note that only $300K of that is in cash. The other $600K is in profit participation, which could take years (maybe even a decade!) to be realized. It could also be worth $6M a year when it's realized. But ultimately it's an investment of your time. Or to think…

Honestly, if you take 300k home, the risk isn't that high. But the reward is insane.

[deleted]

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#94
post #12

It'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.

What I find more interesting is this: A sole proprietor landscaper making $45-50K a year in California is paying $675 a year in annual registration fees just to keep his newish pickup truck on the road. Why newish? Because the people he's servicing trust a guy with a nicer work vehicle than a beaten down 30 year old Tacoma. A $900k developer with the same pickup is also paying $675 a year. Extrapolate this seemingly…

I don't understand your point - is it that people should pay different amount for identical amount of work based on how much they themselves are paid?

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#95
post #12

It'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.

What I find more interesting is this: A sole proprietor landscaper making $45-50K a year in California is paying $675 a year in annual registration fees just to keep his newish pickup truck on the road. Why newish? Because the people he's servicing trust a guy with a nicer work vehicle than a beaten down 30 year old Tacoma. A $900k developer with the same pickup is also paying $675 a year. Extrapolate this seemingly…

I do not find that interesting. If the goal is wealth redistribution, then either a marginal income/wealth (property)/sales tax accomplishes that.

We do not have marginal sales tax rates because it is not feasible.

Marginal income tax is feasible, and so it does exist in most places.

Marginal property/wealth tax is somewhere in the middle, given the difficulties in valuing thinly traded assets, and the tremendous effort required to appraise them all the time, over and over.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#96
post #28

Based on what I've seen/heard, they seem to follow a similar comp philosophy to Netflix -- pay top of market to get the best people. But it's also important to note that only $300K of that is in cash. The other $600K is in profit participation, which could take years (maybe even a decade!) to be realized. It could also be worth $6M a year when it's realized. But ultimately it's an investment of your time. Or to think…

yeah, Netflix is almost all cash in comparison. No clue what kind of liquidity OpenAI provides to cash out. Since it's "profit based" it actually seems even riskier, Microsoft could prevent OpenAI from showing any profit if they really want to

and if the info about the actual architecture of GPT-4 is legit, OpenAI might not have as much of an edge on the competition as they'd like people to believe. So that equity might not be worth quite as much as they think and explains why they so cagey about it in their paper on it. And why Sam Altman is calling for restrictions on research to slow down competitors

https://twitter.com/soumithchintala/status/16712671501017210...

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#97
post #12

It'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.

This is a good point.

I look at 900k$ and think wow from the perspective of my very well paid job in France.

Getting 900k$ a year would bring great things to me and probably make me retire earlier. This will not be life-changing though.

And then I think about people who earn 5% of what I do and for them multiplying their income by two would probably be truly life changing for them.

And then these 900k$ do not look that wow anymore.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#98
post #12

It'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.

What I find more interesting is this: A sole proprietor landscaper making $45-50K a year in California is paying $675 a year in annual registration fees just to keep his newish pickup truck on the road. Why newish? Because the people he's servicing trust a guy with a nicer work vehicle than a beaten down 30 year old Tacoma. A $900k developer with the same pickup is also paying $675 a year. Extrapolate this seemingly…

[deleted]

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I can’t use “the pay” to exchange for goods and services when I earn it, it’s not “pay”

Obviously wrong - a company car or a gym membership plan are part of your pay even though you can't use either to pay for goods and services

Obviously wrong. You’re confusing pay with compensation.
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