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Our $100M Series B

oxide.computer

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Re: Our $100M Series B

#171

Post by Aurornis »

steveklabnik wrote: post #134
ethbr1 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who doesn’t ask about compensation (at least at a later point in the interview process) would be a red flag to me. Most valuable people know they’re valuable, and do (and should!) negotiate compensation.

I am not sure I fully agree with the characterization above (that asking about salary is a 'red flag' in our process), but if I had to try and steelman it: we prominently put > Everyone at Oxide makes $207,264 USD, regardless of location. (Some sales positions have a lower base salary and contain a commission component.) On our applications page (see it here: https://oxide.computer/careers/sw-control-plane ) It's als…

> (that asking about salary is a 'red flag' in our process)

> To be clear, I still think calling it "a red flag" is a stretch.

In my comment above I did not call it a "red flag". My specific wording was "somewhat of a negative signal". That seems consistent with what you said about judging someone for asking about a well-known aspect of the company because it signals they haven't done enough research.

It also dodges the question that keeps getting asked: Does everyone receive the same equity compensation as well? As far as I can tell, that question is not answered on your website. Asking it seems like fair game.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#172

Post by Rendello »

throw0101c wrote: post #63

Meta: Oxide has talked about the designs of their cooling [1][2][3], so I'm curious to know if they ever start offering GPUs how they'd handle that. Folks seem to be moving toward liquid cooling[4] either to the rack/chassis[5] or even to the chip[6]. [1] https://oxide.computer/blog/how-oxide-cuts-data-center-power... [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vVXClXVuzE [3] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hTJYY_Y1H9Q [4] h…

If after that you're not satiated with data center cooling talk, Jane Street's Signals and Threads just did an episode about their cooling infrastructure a few days ago:

https://signalsandthreads.com/the-thermodynamics-of-trading/

Re: Our $100M Series B

#173

Post by tshaddox »

Aurornis wrote: post #56
mrcwinn wrote: post #13

Everyone at Oxide makes the same salary: >We decided to do something outlandishly simple: take the salary that Steve, Jess, and I were going to pay ourselves, and pay that to everyone. [ https://oxide.computer/blog/compensation-as-a-reflection-of-... ] Does everyone at Oxide have the same equity grant?

> Does everyone at Oxide have the same equity grant? I thought I saw this question answered in a previous thread and the answer was basically “no”, but the question has been avoided a lot. Aspects of equity compensation would inherently need to be different over time due to valuation, fundraising stage, and so on. However I always thought it was strange that they made a big deal about paying everyone the same base sa…

> There was discussion about how they thought candidates asking about compensation to be something of a negative signal because they wanted people who weren’t in it for the money, basically.

I think companies avoiding discussions about compensation is a negative signal, because they’re only in it for my labor.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#174

Post by cestith »

steveklabnik wrote: post #134
ethbr1 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who doesn’t ask about compensation (at least at a later point in the interview process) would be a red flag to me. Most valuable people know they’re valuable, and do (and should!) negotiate compensation.

I am not sure I fully agree with the characterization above (that asking about salary is a 'red flag' in our process), but if I had to try and steelman it: we prominently put > Everyone at Oxide makes $207,264 USD, regardless of location. (Some sales positions have a lower base salary and contain a commission component.) On our applications page (see it here: https://oxide.computer/careers/sw-control-plane ) It's als…

I think in general, at many companies a candidate asking is a red flag. Also for many candidates a company not wanting to discuss it until the offer is a red flag.

It seems that specifically your open disclosure very up front bypasses at least most of this from both sides.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#175

Post by Aurornis »

benreesman wrote: post #170
Aurornis wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> With the CoL in most SWE-heavy metros They’re a remote company. They’re not targeting HCOL metros. > and inflation has savaged a notional 200k. > "200k is plenty to live on" is rich, well-connected guy talk in 2025. Claiming that $200k is not enough to live on is rich-guy talk. The majority of the country lives on well below $200K. I agree that a single person living in a HCOL metro like SF Bay Area would not find…

Nothing about a remote gig in one job affects the imperstives I highlighted about past layoffs or future uncertainty: pricing relocation into or out of e.g. SFBA at zero is another conversational gambit popular with the out-of-touch. You don't teleport. It's bad generally, this is a terrible time to be a working person in general. How SWEs stack up against profession X? Depends on profession X. SWEs are in a job mark…

> pricing relocation into or out of e.g. SFBA at zero is another conversational gambit popular with the out-of-touch. You don't teleport.

I think this is missing the point.

The target audience for remote jobs that pay $200K does not overlap with the target audience of people interested in working in SFBA at FAANG-level compensation.

If someone is interested in relocating to SFBA, they should do that and get a job there.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#176

Post by inerte »

mystraline wrote: post #113
Aurornis wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Does everyone at Oxide have the same equity grant? I thought I saw this question answered in a previous thread and the answer was basically “no”, but the question has been avoided a lot. Aspects of equity compensation would inherently need to be different over time due to valuation, fundraising stage, and so on. However I always thought it was strange that they made a big deal about paying everyone the same base sa…

> There was discussion about how they thought candidates asking about compensation to be something of a negative signal because they wanted people who weren’t in it for the money, basically. I've heard this from multiple hiring managers and C levels. The cognitive dissonance is amazing. Do you know why I show up and work? Because I am paid for it, and in this country, medical is also gatekept by employment. If I wasn…

They know it's a lie but still need to say it.

I used to have a manager that gave me this line. He left this company to join another one, had multiple offers, and told me he accepted the highest one because "it's all about the money".

They know, we know, everybody knows, but that's not the playbook.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#177

Post by steveklabnik »

Aurornis wrote: post #171
steveklabnik wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure I fully agree with the characterization above (that asking about salary is a 'red flag' in our process), but if I had to try and steelman it: we prominently put > Everyone at Oxide makes $207,264 USD, regardless of location. (Some sales positions have a lower base salary and contain a commission component.) On our applications page (see it here: https://oxide.computer/careers/sw-control-plane ) It's als…

> (that asking about salary is a 'red flag' in our process) > To be clear, I still think calling it "a red flag" is a stretch. In my comment above I did not call it a "red flag". My specific wording was "somewhat of a negative signal". That seems consistent with what you said about judging someone for asking about a well-known aspect of the company because it signals they haven't done enough research. It also dodges…

> In my comment above I did not call it a "red flag".

The person I was responding did, you are right that you did not.

> It also dodges the question that keeps getting asked:

This question gets asked in every thread about this, nobody is trying to dodge anything. The equity portion is variable, and the salary is identical. We do not do bonuses.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#178

Post by benreesman »

steveklabnik wrote: post #167
benreesman wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still a class thing. With the CoL in most SWE-heavy metros and the outright war on engineer pricing power over the last few years? Just about any engineer who isnt independently wealthy is: - recovering from layoffs and a period of unemployment at a high-COL cost structure - facing layoffs with the above salients - facing an imperative to insulate their fucking house with cash for their turn in the above crossha…

> "200k is plenty to live on" is rich, well-connected guy talk in 2025. The median US income in 2023 was $39,982 for an individual, and $78,538 for a household.

My issue isn't with Oxide's comp steucture which I neither understand nor care about.

My issue is with made-for-life, self-appointed elder statesmen on HN saying anything at all about other people's finances and imperatives from the comfort of a study in whatever isyllic community they're pontificating from.

Just, be grateful, and say nothing.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#179

Post by Aurornis »

steveklabnik wrote: post #169
Aurornis wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. It’s also important to know that they support remote work, so these salaries really are not bad at all. For someone in a non-tech city who doesn’t want to move this would be a great startup job. My only reservation is that I’ve interviewed with or worked for multiple companies that made some claim about paying everyone the same and there was always some loophole: The company might have a fixed base pay but t…

We have salary and equity, no bonuses. Salary is identical, equity is not. I certainly agree with you that that kind of shenanigans can be annoying; I had a former employer who hired people with "oh it's a bonus but you always get 100% of it" and then, we did not get 100% of it.

> Salary is identical, equity is not.

Thank you. This is the question I was hoping to see an answer for.

Re: Our $100M Series B

#180

Post by azemetre »

Always happy to see Oxide Computer succeeding. As others have mention their podcast is truly great and their productive is quite innovative in the space.

With this news I hope they plan on expanding hiring for frontend devs soon, would love to work with such leadership once in my life.

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