Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

$900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

levels.fyi

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 351 posts

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#101

Post by _ugfj »

"yes, i produce automated plagiarism which can only function on the backs of exploited Kenyan workers, encodes and furthers every systemic bias imaginable and endangers society -- but at least I am paid well"

That's getting close to some Nuremberg level shit. Not yet there of course but consider when the next pandemic rolls around and the anti science propaganda will be produced by these how many will die?

We know manually produced anti vaxx propaganda killed about 300 000 people in the United States (source: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/05/13/1098071... ) , what it'll be next time?

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#102

Post by saddd »

locusofself wrote: post #80
markus_zhang wrote: post #67

Now the problem is how to get into this kind of companies. Is LC hard mandatory for junior-senior (below lead) IC job?

I've never looked into their interview process, but considering what they have created I would guess that their coding problems go way beyond leetcode.

Probably not true for their front-end positions.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#103

Post by paulcole »

Solvency wrote: post #65
giantg2 wrote: 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…

Yeah crazy. A gallon of milk costs the same if you’re a landscaper or a tech bro. Really makes ya think.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#104

Post by wmf »

scarface_74 wrote: post #83
wmf wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenAI PPUs are no different than stock in a growing-but-unprofitable company like old Amazon. You don't have to wait for dividends; you can sell your PPUs to speculators who expect returns in the future.

It’s completely different. I can sell my RSUs in AMZN as soon as they vest on the public market at market price.

For pre-IPO companies you have things like SecondMarket.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#105

Post by ben_w »

weaksauce wrote: post #85
Solvency wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

which is why billionaires are an indictment to our system.

Billionaires have a whole novel extra layer above this, as their taxable income and investment preferences can be significant for local (and sometimes national) governments.

What's described here affects everyone, and is a reason to something something Gini coefficient.

Someone on $1k/year can't afford for their $50 smartphone to get damaged or stolen; on $10k/year they can't afford for their fridge to break and their food to spoil; most of us are close enough to $100k/year to not need an example; $1M/year I can't imagine, as despite my close (logarithmically) to $100k income, my expenses are closer to $10k but without the stress of low earnings.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#108

Post by kpw94 »

BrandoElFollito wrote: post #97
giantg2 wrote: 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 th…

For people not living there but curious about trying it out: What's a reasonable range for "very well paid job in France"? Is it all cash or is there equity?

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#109

Post by bafe »

wmf wrote: post #20
boeingUH60 wrote: post #4

> 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.

A signing bonus the size of an average software engineer salary here...and I'm in a very wealthy country

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#110

Post by wmf »

atlasunshrugged wrote: post #75
wmf wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engineers don't control the strategy. If Altman decides to reinvest all free cash flow into growth and safety instead of profits (which is not unusual in tech) the employees can't/won't stop him.

Maybe not, but if as others have mentioned in the thread that there is very high talent density and these are top folks, then surely engineers have some say in the strategy -- if only through mass defection and quitting, right?

The other part that everyone is getting wrong is that OpenAI's future profits are already priced in to the PPUs so employees can sell them today to unlock that value. They don't have to wait.
Post reply on HN