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

281–290 of 351 posts

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#281

Post by gotaran »

deanmoriarty wrote: post #224
moralestapia wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this here and there and don't doubt it, but then again I've never seen/met anyone IRL (outside of C-level) making this much money as an employee. Are they just extremely rare cases or am I just not aware of the valley and their customs?

I believe you are just not aware. C-Level folks make many millions a year, either liquid or paper. I am at FAANG and virtually everyone at L6 (staff Eng level, many thousands of people) is paid at least $500k, with monthly liquidity (no cliff). With a bit of luck stock wise, it’s also not uncommon at all to get to $500k+ at L5 (senior eng level, many dozens of thousands of people). Everyone in my SF network (hundreds…

Yeah, I’ve worked at both FAANG and non-FAANG series C companies, and made between $450k-$550k between 2018 and 2021. And I wasn’t even staff level.

I decided I was tired of all that bureaucracy and decided to join a series C startup making $230k + worthless stock options. It was fun for a year, but it actually hurts now. And there’s been a bunch of nickling and diming on perks and benefits too, and no comp adjustments.

And here in NYC it’s surprisingly easy to blow through that paycheck. Didn’t feel that way when I lived in SF.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#282

Post by GenerWork »

deanmoriarty wrote: post #224
moralestapia wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read this here and there and don't doubt it, but then again I've never seen/met anyone IRL (outside of C-level) making this much money as an employee. Are they just extremely rare cases or am I just not aware of the valley and their customs?

I believe you are just not aware. C-Level folks make many millions a year, either liquid or paper. I am at FAANG and virtually everyone at L6 (staff Eng level, many thousands of people) is paid at least $500k, with monthly liquidity (no cliff). With a bit of luck stock wise, it’s also not uncommon at all to get to $500k+ at L5 (senior eng level, many dozens of thousands of people). Everyone in my SF network (hundreds…

Reading anecdotes like this blows my mind. The most I've ever made is $129k. Granted, I don't live in the valley and I don't work at a FAANG, but still...

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#283

Post by gotaran »

tayo42 wrote: post #250
deanmoriarty wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you are just not aware. C-Level folks make many millions a year, either liquid or paper. I am at FAANG and virtually everyone at L6 (staff Eng level, many thousands of people) is paid at least $500k, with monthly liquidity (no cliff). With a bit of luck stock wise, it’s also not uncommon at all to get to $500k+ at L5 (senior eng level, many dozens of thousands of people). Everyone in my SF network (hundreds…

Recently? That's wild. Work 4 or 5 years and retire lol

I made that much for 4 years and have a total of 10 years work experience. I’m nowhere near retired. And I’ve been single the entire time.

$500k is more like $275k after taxes. Assuming $60k/yr in living expenses, which is pretty frugal in the Bay Area, that’s barely over $1M in savings in 5 years. Let’s say $1.3M after return on investments over 5 years.

Nowhere close to retirement money anywhere in the US.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#284

Post by zopa »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #126
onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anywhere in the world have a marginal property tax? LA introduced a mansion sales tax. Anywhere else? My main issue with a marginal property tax is that the areas with high property values already have enough taxes generally for the things property tax covers. Not sure at least in the US how feasible it would be to have a marginal property tax and the revenue go to the state and the Fed (or even the county's gen…

>My main issue with a marginal property tax is that the areas with high property values already have enough taxes generally for the things property tax covers. The big issue in my opinion is defining property/wealth (not just land and cars, but also intellectual property, art, etc), and then the feasibility of appraising all of that, and then litigating those appraisals (for the populace as a whole). Seems like it co…

We already have to appraise most of that anyhow, for capital gains tax purposes.

Though not really for the population as a whole: the majority of people don’t have all that much in the way assets. The proposals that get floated in the US don’t kick in until your wealth is in the tens of millions.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#286

Post by gotaran »

Zetice wrote: post #184
bluedevilzn wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The median person in SFO lives a way worse life than a median person in Ohio

Eh, you'd be surprised how much being able to walk to things, and generally being in a major international city improves your quality of life if that's the kind of thing you prefer...

I lived in SF for 9 years. Good memories. And during peak tech boom you could easily shield yourself from the worst of the city. Ubers were cheap, office perks kept you from venturing out, and foot traffic was high enough to make the open air drug use less visible.

But since 2020, it became absolute misery.

I moved to NYC, and I’m much happier here. So your point about being in a walkable city still stands.

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#287

Post by lotsofpulp »

zopa wrote: post #284
lotsofpulp wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>My main issue with a marginal property tax is that the areas with high property values already have enough taxes generally for the things property tax covers. The big issue in my opinion is defining property/wealth (not just land and cars, but also intellectual property, art, etc), and then the feasibility of appraising all of that, and then litigating those appraisals (for the populace as a whole). Seems like it co…

We already have to appraise most of that anyhow, for capital gains tax purposes. Though not really for the population as a whole: the majority of people don’t have all that much in the way assets. The proposals that get floated in the US don’t kick in until your wealth is in the tens of millions.

Capital gains taxes do not require any appraisal. They only apply when a gain is recognized, so is simply sale price minus purchase price times tax rate.

Capital gains taxes are income taxes. Property/wealth taxes are taxes paid based on the “market” price of an asset just for owning it (presumably society provides for its security and environment in which it became valuable and will continue to be valuable).

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#288

Post by [deleted] »

prepend wrote: post #254
deanmoriarty wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you are just not aware. C-Level folks make many millions a year, either liquid or paper. I am at FAANG and virtually everyone at L6 (staff Eng level, many thousands of people) is paid at least $500k, with monthly liquidity (no cliff). With a bit of luck stock wise, it’s also not uncommon at all to get to $500k+ at L5 (senior eng level, many dozens of thousands of people). Everyone in my SF network (hundreds…

> staff Eng level, many thousands of people I don’t work at a FAANG so I could be totally off but I think there’s only about 1,000 L6+ at google [0] and they employ the most. So it’s not thousands of people at this level within a company. Maybe only a few thousand in total of all companies in the US. [0] https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-are-at-each-level-of-t...

[deleted]

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#289

Post by [deleted] »

moralestapia wrote: post #245
deanmoriarty wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe you are just not aware. C-Level folks make many millions a year, either liquid or paper. I am at FAANG and virtually everyone at L6 (staff Eng level, many thousands of people) is paid at least $500k, with monthly liquidity (no cliff). With a bit of luck stock wise, it’s also not uncommon at all to get to $500k+ at L5 (senior eng level, many dozens of thousands of people). Everyone in my SF network (hundreds…

>Everyone in my SF network (hundreds of people) virtually make above $500k. Wow, great to hear that. Do you know of any "outsiders" (people not living in the valley, working remotely) making that much money as well?

[deleted]

Re: $900k Median Package for Engineers at OpenAI

#290

Post by nexus2045 »

moralestapia wrote: post #213
QIYGT wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That person could probably be making 500k+ at a FANG with less variance in the stock component.

I read this here and there and don't doubt it, but then again I've never seen/met anyone IRL (outside of C-level) making this much money as an employee. Are they just extremely rare cases or am I just not aware of the valley and their customs?

No this is not rare at all. Meta offers E5 ("senior" level) new hires a 400-500k total package in the US (given that you negotiate, I know the levels.fyi numbers are a bit lower), and this isn't some exception. If your performance is good and/or stock appreciation happens, then that number goes even higher.

I'm a very average engineer (probably way below average amongst the HN crowd) and I'm in that range.

Post reply on HN