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Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

triplebyte.com

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Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#151

Post by what_ever »

santaclaus wrote: post #35
gizmodo59 wrote: post #30

The data in payscale.com seems to vary a lot with these numbers. I assume they have much more data than Triplebyte. For example, the 50th percentile of a SE with 3 years exp will have a salary of 100K in a city like NYC. The cost of living in NYC is as high as in SV. May be there are more engineers who are paid a lot less? I hope the corporate tax break gives a good hike but that's just a dream.

> The cost of living in NYC is as high as in SV. The Bay Area has eclipsed NYC, at this point. Average rent in NYC is something like ~3200 last I checked, Bay Area ~3600. Depending where you live (outside of 'main' San Francisco or Oakland west of the lake) a car is also a likely requirement in the Bay Area.

Except that Bay Area is not just SF and there are plenty of high paying companies in South Bay where average rent is not $3600. $3600 gets you a good 3 Bed apartment in San Jose.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#152

Post by gxs »

alistairSH wrote: post #17
steverb wrote: post #9

I find it kind of amusing that someone with 5-7 years is generally considered a senior software engineer in SV. Maybe we need a different designation for engineers with 10-20 years of experience? Something other than "the old man/lady".

My employer uses Principal Software Engineer/Developer. The full series is Associate x, x, Senior x, Principal x, Senior Principal x. We also have roughly parallel titles for QA/Test Engineers and Software Architects.

Same, but here they throw in an extra step after Associate, i.e., Senior Associate.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#153

Post by notyourwork »

JOnAgain wrote: post #88
htormey wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely true for Apple/Facebook/Linkedin/Google (I worked for 2 of these).

More true at Amazon. Amazon actually has a salary cap, and everything else is stock. Amazon pays towards a "target total comp" number, which includes vesting RSU's. They do not do bonuses.

> They do not do bonuses.

This is not true.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#154

Post by notyourwork »

htormey wrote: post #146
JOnAgain wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More true at Amazon. Amazon actually has a salary cap, and everything else is stock. Amazon pays towards a "target total comp" number, which includes vesting RSU's. They do not do bonuses.

Tangentialy I have heard that Amazon has a vesting schedule for stock where everything skews towards the last two years.

This is true. I think it discourages ship jumpers after 12-24 months which isn't a bad thing in my opinion.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#155

Post by htormey »

digitalsushi wrote: post #74

My god this is just another universe to me. I've got 19 years on the clock doing stuff, right now extending the jenkins model to make a usable 2.0 pipeline, for a fortune 50 hiding on the new hampshire seacoast, senior-straddling-principal level and just barely squeaking out a 6 figure salary. I know it all comes out in the wash, but it just blows my mind how different money is across the country. or, i am a country…

Well you gotta factor in the cost of living. A 2 bedroom house in a decent area in SF is like 1.3 million. Having kids is also incredibly expensive so you really need to think about that when comparing salaries.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#156

Post by user5994461 »

what_ever wrote: post #147
user5994461 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there is a lot about costs of living. The valley is $4000 a month to rent a flat.

I see people quoting those amounts for all of valley but South Bay isn't $4000 for a flat, SF is. In MTV, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose 1 Bed starts from 2k, 2 Bed from 2.5k and 3 Bed from 3k. It gets cheaper as you go South. If you want better quality/newer apartments, add $500.

Do you realize that any of these flats would be less than 1000 in Germany?

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#157

Post by bpicolo »

dudul wrote: post #150
k__ wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like? I know about health insurance, but what else?

Quality food is more expensive, day care is very expensive too. It is also understood that you should build up your own retirement fund. Phones and internet access is very expensive compared to most european countries. And just to clarify, it's always weird to say "in Europe". We're talking about close to 30 countries that have big differences between each other. My XP is mostly with western and northern Europe. I ha…

> Quality food is more expensive

The United States (as a whole) spends less of a % of income on food than any other country

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#158

Post by badpun »

albertgoeswoof wrote: post #123
bshimmin wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, a big company in NYC that we work with definitely pays contractors with lots of experience (10+ years) $1000 a day. That's closing in on a quarter of a million dollars a year and you probably won't even have to invert a binary tree whilst juggling martinis in your interview.

Not quite though, as you get zero benefits or job security with that- in the UK you’d need to knock off 4 weeks of vacation, a couple of weeks for additional training, maybe a week or 2 for sick leave, and then budget a month or so between contracts. Plus buy your own laptop, fund your own retirement fund/pension etc. Plus it can be harder to get credit if your contract can be terminated at any notice. And your next…

> And your next contract might go down, which is unlike a salary. and you’re exempt from climbing the ladder to a corporate position where the really big bucks are.

My impression is that the big bucks are actually in contracting, unless you're near the top of the corporate ladder.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#159

Post by htormey »

notyourwork wrote: post #154
htormey wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tangentialy I have heard that Amazon has a vesting schedule for stock where everything skews towards the last two years.

This is true. I think it discourages ship jumpers after 12-24 months which isn't a bad thing in my opinion.

Isn’t the average tenure at amazon and most tech companies 2 years these days?

http://www.businessinsider.com/employee-retention-rate-top-t...

Not saying it’s a bad thing just that vesting schedule is Something to think about when comparing offers. Liquidity is worth something.

Re: Silicon Valley Software Engineer Salaries by Experience Level

#160

Post by megaman22 »

digitalsushi wrote: post #74

My god this is just another universe to me. I've got 19 years on the clock doing stuff, right now extending the jenkins model to make a usable 2.0 pipeline, for a fortune 50 hiding on the new hampshire seacoast, senior-straddling-principal level and just barely squeaking out a 6 figure salary. I know it all comes out in the wash, but it just blows my mind how different money is across the country. or, i am a country…

Liberty, I presume? What's it like working there? Looking around a little, there's a pretty significant differential, if you're willing to endure 128 and MA income tax, but I'm not sure it's totally worth it; that commute is miserable...
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