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

Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

oxide.computer

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 202 posts

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#111

Post by sidlls »

wmf wrote: post #101
ivraatiems wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that undermines some of the core points of the letter. They talk about transparency, but are still being quite opaque. They talk about teamwork, but as employee 50, how am I supposed to feel like I'm on the same team as employee 10, when he stands to make several times more than I do if we succeed?

Isn't this the case in every startup?

Yes, but it's rare that employee 10 contributes to the success of a company that has a huge liquidity event at the same multiple as his or her equity multiple as compared with employee 50.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#112

Post by seattle_spring »

eganist wrote: post #26
smallerfish wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A senior engineer can easily make almost triple that today. Salary? Easily? Where? I've been browsing a lot of staff and principal jobs on LinkedIn recently. Some Crypto firms are around $300k, and I've seen one or two Fintech with specialized knowledge at $400k, but by far the majority are in the $200k region.

Can't share datapoints from where I work, but competitive datapoints I've gotten vary from 300k total comp to 800k total comp for senior, staff, principal engineers as well as managers in SF, LA, and DC (though DC is on the lower end). To your point, salaries tend to swing between 150 and 350, but the rest is made up with bonuses and especially stock comp. Netflix recently advertised an eng mgr role for appsec with a…

Nothing about this article or thread is taking about total comp. It’s talking about specifically base salary. ~$200k is in-line with plenty of companies’, even large ones’, bands for L5 FTEs.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#113

Post by jedberg »

wmf wrote: post #101
ivraatiems wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that undermines some of the core points of the letter. They talk about transparency, but are still being quite opaque. They talk about teamwork, but as employee 50, how am I supposed to feel like I'm on the same team as employee 10, when he stands to make several times more than I do if we succeed?

Isn't this the case in every startup?

No. Key late hires will often get more equity than long time junior employees.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#115

Post by sidlls »

armadsen wrote: post #80
rvnx wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

191'000 USD / yr "even if it's not a lot" ?

I’m a software engineer, live in an area with a way lower cost of living than the Bay Area, work for a company almost exactly the same size, and $191k would be a significant pay cut for me. It really isn’t a lot depending on your role, level of experience, etc, and that’s extra true for the Bay Area.

You're an extreme outlier, then. Most Bay Area software salaries are going to cap out around $190k - $230k range, except at FAANG or FAANG-like companies.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#116

Post by tomandrews88 »

elromulous wrote: post #97

Is this being a little disingenuous? Obviously the CEO is going to get more equity than other folks, regardless of when they joined. And we all know equity is the real difference maker in compensation in SV / faang / etc. Feels a little publicity stunty / PR-ish. -elromulous the curmudgeon

Exactly. If the CEO was serious he’d give everyone the same equity. Otherwise it’s just virtue signaling marketing. Too easy.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#118

Post by jedberg »

bcantrill wrote: post #108
epolanski wrote: post #63

I'm baffled at the comments here. I think all do nothing but confirm the very first sentence: "Compensation: the word alone is enough to trigger a fight-or-flight reaction in many". There's literally nothing you can say about it without floods of negativity.

I am SO baffled. First, this post is two years old -- and has been discussed on HN several times[0][1], but the tenor of the comments here now is just so... vitriolic. I would like to do a blog post on an update on this (the dollar figure is now $191K as the blog post indicates, but the number of employees is now 60) and in particular reflect on some of its many surprising ramifications (all positive), but honestly s…

I think it's a result of the industry being on a downswing, and a lot of unemployed engineers, who have recently seen rank and file getting laid off while execs get bonuses.

People are very bitter about comp right now, so it's spilling over into this discussion.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#119

Post by nebula8804 »

zamnos wrote: post #103
nebula8804 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

190 isn't enough for LA? I was thinking of moving there while making ~120k. Granted I have no kids or anything but I thought 120k could make it in LA?

Plenty of people do . $190k's just this ridiculous "from first principles" logic game on how much money you need to "survive" there, but it really means "not panic over money or going hungry and bank a little in an emergency fund and a retirement account" level of living, and not "If I eat ramen for a week I can afford the concert ticket" level of subsistence.

But is 120k at least somewhat comfortable for a single person? These different levels you described really hit different as you age. Yeah I could be ramen level but if the option is to not be ramen level at 120k elsewhere then moving to LA is not worth it but if there is a minimum level of comfort then other things make it worth making the move.

Re: Oxide pays all employees $191,227 (Bay Area startup)

#120

Post by newaccount2023 »

seniortaco wrote: post #86

Salary is not the same as compensation. If we look at Amazon, they do something very similar as they have a salary cap which most employees hit at L6. They can then say 'Even the CEO hits this same salary cap' when in reality the former CEO was the wealthiest person in the world. Oxide is clever in being provocative here but this is part of a totally normal compensation model.

pretty obvious...Oxide can't offer scheduled RSUs...
Post reply on HN