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Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

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Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#201

Post by bulatb »

objclxt wrote: post #156
tharshan09 wrote: post #148

Holy crap. I am student in the UK, recently did a internship at a fairly well known company. Got paid £16k for that year. If I were to get a full time job, it would be around ~30k a year. These figures are insane, people have told me in person this is what the figures are really like in SF but wow. I think applying for a couple of jobs in SF etc just for kicks will be one of goals when I finish uni. I know the term W…

> It would be great to talk to someone who has first hand experience with this I'll give it a go! A few things you should be aware of to put what you're saying in context. Firstly, the cost of living in SF is incredibly high. Slightly higher than London, if you can believe it (that's not just my opinion - I was chatting to about half a dozen engineers who had been rebased from SF to London yesterday and they all agre…

> What are Google, Facebook, and the like looking for in graduates? Experience, sure, but incredible technical savvy.

I think that's overstating it. They're looking for above-average competence.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#203

Post by lefthander2 »

lefthander wrote: post #45
lefthander2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My base salary is $220k; this year my bonus plus equity will be around $200k, so my total compensation will be over $400k. I've been out for a number of years, and the bonus plus stock is performance based, and of course the value of the stock compensation may change depending on the future direction of Google stock --- it's climbed very nicely since the beginning of the year! The main point is that ignoring the stoc…

Interesting. Would you mind revealing your level?

Above Sr. SWE my impression is that the level is less tightly coupled to compensation. There are probably some Staff Engineers getting paid more than some Sr. Staff, and so on. A lot more will depend on how many rounds of equity refresh you have under your belt, whether you've done something that's saved the company millions or helped the bottom line of the company millions; and of course, if you were formerly at another company, what your salary/level you had at that former company.

At Staff Engineer and above, the levels are more about the scope of your responsibilities at Google, and while compensation is somewhat correlated to that, there are other factors.

If you can drive huge amounts of value to the bottom line, either via innovations that save the company $$$ or by working on a project which is "up and to the right", in my experience sooner or later you will be compensated for it --- either at your current company, or somewhere else. Google is pretty good at making sure it's "at your current company".

And so long as you are doing something that you love, does it really matter what level you are at? Personally, for me it's less about the money, since I have enough to be comfortable, and I haven't gotten really expensive habits (like wanting to learn how to fly, or drive race cars, or children to put through college :-). So it's it's more about doing what I love, and doing it in the company of smart people who are fun to be with. Figuring ways of making this intersect with adding as much value as possible to the company is just a bonus.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#204

Post by hpagey »

joshAg wrote: post #152
skrebbel wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you explain that? Why would companies pay less to people on visas?

because h1b visas require you to stay employed (you have like 30 days before they deport you) and they require you to keep the same job title throughout the whole greencard process or your waiting period starts over.

The later part of the above statement is an incorrect. You can change a job while your green card is being processed provided,

a) You have applied for your 485. b) Its been 180 days since you have applied for it.

This process is called invoking AC21.

In my opinion and experience H1B candidates are paid on par with other candidates. I saw no salary discrimination at least with decent and reputed companies. I agree H1b is exploited by some companies but those are typically consulting or outsourcing companies.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#205

Post by ryanSrich »

slevin8 wrote: post #170
rcush wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Graduate software engineer jobs in the UK hit £30,000 at the very top end. From the experience of friends in the industry, £24,000-26,000 seems more realistic.

I work as junior software engineer in central London and my salary is £26.000 before taxes. I think I am underpaid but there are a lot of benefits (gym, breakfast, friday lunch, office in Soho), so I can't complain.

How? This always confused me. That's approaching the poverty line here in the U.S.

For example: a standard McDonald's employee makes roughly $24,000 per year. This requires no education and just about anyone can do the work. It's also considered one of the lowest level jobs a person can get. I'm not degrading those people I'm just speaking on the status quo.

Now take a look at a manager at McDonalds. They're approaching almost $40,000 per year. You're telling me that you make less than a McDonalds manager? A job which requires no education, and arguably no real skill beyond what's taught at work?

This is absolutely insane to me that the pay is so low. How do you afford to eat? How do you afford health insurance or a car or rent? I know when I was working for $15 an hour ($28,800 per year) I had a hard time just paying the bills. The rent was always late and I had to drop my health insurance for a couple years. Do you not have student loans?

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#206

Post by thoughtsimple »

bicknergseng wrote: post #94

For everyone in the Bay Area and the rest of California, the minimum legal salary (with exceptions) for software developers is ~$81k. It is likely if you are being paid less for full time software development that you are not being paid enough. I'm not a lawyer, but googlefu: http://www.morganlewis.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/publication....

In Massachusetts it is essentially $455/week or $23660/year. Almost the same.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#207

Post by greghinch »

mattj wrote: post #126
codeonfire wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

0.05% of $40MM is $20k, which is not "Lifechanging".

If they can't afford to pay a market salary, you should be getting at least 0.5% (and probably more like 1%). Still not life changing at 40mm with no dilution (200-400k), but a little more meaningful.

Most of the YC companies seem to be favoring "large seed" rounds, which are at levels that might have, in recent years, been more appropriate for A rounds. The $6mil seeds, and such. That probably leaves them in a position of: a) not a lot of equity left to spread around b) it's a seed round, so there's little to no revenue coming in yet, which means they want to hold onto as much of that cash as possible. Depending on how the deal was done with investors, they may have such a small options pool that you're never going to get the 1% you want, and yet they also are not going to pay the $100k+ you are worth. What they are offering you is the "prestige" of working for a YC company, and it's your call if you think that has future value for you or not.

Now if you get hired by one of these and they make it for a few more years, and you stick around, your salary will likely go up significantly and additional options be granted (though you'll probably need to make an effort to ask), but I wouldn't count on getting life changing equity out of any startup if you're joining after they've raised 7 figures or more.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#209

Post by willmw101 »

ryanSrich wrote: post #205
slevin8 wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work as junior software engineer in central London and my salary is £26.000 before taxes. I think I am underpaid but there are a lot of benefits (gym, breakfast, friday lunch, office in Soho), so I can't complain.

How? This always confused me. That's approaching the poverty line here in the U.S. For example: a standard McDonald's employee makes roughly $24,000 per year. This requires no education and just about anyone can do the work. It's also considered one of the lowest level jobs a person can get. I'm not degrading those people I'm just speaking on the status quo. Now take a look at a manager at McDonalds. They're approach…

I dont think you've accounted for the exchange rate. £26,000 is approx. $40,000.

Re: Poll: Full-time software engineers in the Bay Area, what's your annual salary?

#210

Post by robrenaud »

just2n wrote: post #78
lefthander wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because I want to be anonymous. Does it mean I'm lying? Even check glassdoor to verify: http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Senior-Software-Engin... 146k base + 32k cash + 41k stock = $220k (everyone gets bonus and stock). And this averages data before the raise Google gave everyone.

It certainly doesn't imply you're being truthful. Glassdoor also suffers from the same problem. It's voluntary, unverifiable data. Using it as a source does not help your credibility.

I am swe 3 at google, one below senior, base 140k (supposedly maxed, but I've heard other swe 3 making somewhat more), total comp excluding benefits 230k.

As for verification, I'll bet you lots of money at 10:1 odds that these are accurate within 10k (flux depends on stock price).

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