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Tech compensation in 2021

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Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#181

Post by nostrademons »

chiefofgxbxl wrote: post #153
VRay wrote: post #15

Man, every time I think I’ve finally caught up to the market rate, I find out I’m behind again I’m a senior FAANG coder making 350k TC, and it looks like I should be able to net 400-600k at this level if I go to Apple or Google. Hoo boy, looks like it’s leetcode time again…

> looks like it’s leetcode time Haven't searched for a job in a few years, but would consider based on TC. Are all these good-paying software jobs behind the "leetcode firewall", even for non-FAANG? I guess my willingness to practice on leetcode would be partly driven by potential TC reward, but I really would like to be judged on the merits of the development I've already done for previous companies instead of havin…

Interview problems that are stripped down versions of real problems faced on the job are gaining popularity. All of Stripe, Coinbase, and Google gave me interview questions that were recognizably related to their business when I interviewed with them last year. I've always tried to give interviews distilled from my actual job when I interview candidates at Google, but it's hard in a 45-minute block. Some companies are moving toward fewer longer interviews for that reason.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#182

Post by dreyfan »

Kinrany wrote: post #179
throwaway2016a wrote: post #90

20 years experience, two books under my belt, and lead architect (with a CTO title) on several good sized projects and most I have ever gotten in $175k... every time I see an article like this, I think I am doing something "very wrong" I live about 40 miles outside of Boston. Edit: Looking at levels.fyi for Boston that actually puts me above the median[1]. Why the heck is Boston so low compared to other markets? Edit…

How many CTOs that wrote two books are there around Boston?

[removed to protect identity of the author]

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#183

Post by [deleted] »

yholio wrote: post #124
m_ke wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I know a lot of FAANG people getting 500-600K packages. Makes it hard to even think about startups.

I see these mind boggling sums in the Valley, $300.000, $600.000, can you please translate: how much does that net you per month, after taxes, reasonable healthcare and rent, ideally no further than 1 hour commute and free of black mold?

[deleted]

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#184

Post by throwaway2016a »

tubby12345 wrote: post #174
throwaway2016a wrote: post #90

20 years experience, two books under my belt, and lead architect (with a CTO title) on several good sized projects and most I have ever gotten in $175k... every time I see an article like this, I think I am doing something "very wrong" I live about 40 miles outside of Boston. Edit: Looking at levels.fyi for Boston that actually puts me above the median[1]. Why the heck is Boston so low compared to other markets? Edit…

>every time I see an article like this, I think I am doing something "very wrong" there's a comment like this in every single thread like this. and the recommendation is always the same: grind LC for however long you need in order to be comfortable solving hard problems cleanly in 35-45 minutes and then collect your pay bump. the fact that the 1. data 2. complaint 3. recommendation crop up with 100% perfect regularit…

It was data. The "I must be doing something wrong" was tongue in cheek. The specific data point was that I am not seeing any salaries anywhere near that. And Salary.com actually backs me up.

Just the fact "grind Leet Code" is a recommendation to someone who's most recent job title was CTO and has written two books may be a sign these interviews are broken.

But point taken, I'm sure if I studied specifically for interviews I could get those jobs. But the fact remains, a vast majority of people don't work for FAANG and even the "person unwilling to work for FAANG" example is higher salary than I have ever seen.

My point was actually that the article and ones like this seem well research but don't match the reality. For example, I recently interviewed at a fortune 100 company for a Director position and it was what this article says is "non-FAANG staff engineer" salary.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#185

Post by Zababa »

johnqpub wrote: post #180
yholio wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see these mind boggling sums in the Valley, $300.000, $600.000, can you please translate: how much does that net you per month, after taxes, reasonable healthcare and rent, ideally no further than 1 hour commute and free of black mold?

I'm in Seattle so the situation is a bit better than the valley. But here's a breakdown: L6 at Amazon, single, no kids: ~$400K TC $33,333 per month gross About $100K in federal tax, no state income tax in WA. $8333 per month Healthcare: $34 a month for an HSA plan. $3,650 over the course of the year goes into the HSA, including the employer portion. That ends up being about $205 out of my pocket. This is a bit compli…

Thank you for this detailed breakdown.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#186

Post by astura »

metalliqaz wrote: post #63
rootusrootus wrote: post #31

In other news, if you aren't in the valley or working for one of the big tech companies, you're probably making 100-150K as a mid/senior developer. There's a pretty sizable leap.

Yeah no kidding. I was shocked at the numbers in this article. A 15-year engineer in aerospace gets you ~120k.

Coincidentally I currently work in aerospace (in a software engineering role) and I have 15 years experience.

I wish I made $120k/year.... :(

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#187

Post by bcrosby95 »

sweezyjeezy wrote: post #102
nine_zeros wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The addressable customer market is one big difference. American companies sell to the world. Eastern EU companies are largely stuck with eastern Europe or EU at large. The other difference is that smaller addressable market also means fewer problems to solve and thus fewer companies. As an example, engineers in China, India and Indonesia are making way more that $18k these days because there are many problems to solv…

But can American companies not hire these Eastern European developers to do this? If yes, why do the US salaries stay an order of magnitude larger?

Some can. But hiring people in another country adds another layer or two of indirection.

Anecdotally, software companies that pay the best tend to go the opposite direction: they hire people that are good at self directing and self motivating, which can remove entire layers of indirection.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#188

Post by unpresidented »

sweezyjeezy wrote: post #102
nine_zeros wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The addressable customer market is one big difference. American companies sell to the world. Eastern EU companies are largely stuck with eastern Europe or EU at large. The other difference is that smaller addressable market also means fewer problems to solve and thus fewer companies. As an example, engineers in China, India and Indonesia are making way more that $18k these days because there are many problems to solv…

But can American companies not hire these Eastern European developers to do this? If yes, why do the US salaries stay an order of magnitude larger?

VCs and senior executives are largely hesitant to randomly go hire from any random country, eastern European or not. Unless there is an established city, like say, Bucharest. Most managers don't want to deal with 1 person in each random city. Having an official office in a big EU city is no brainer. It is being done as well.

Unrelated: A friend of mine had a well established Vodka factory in Crimea/Ukraine randomly taken over by some goons. Sometimes people worry, for good reason or not.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#189

Post by nine_zeros »

sweezyjeezy wrote: post #102
nine_zeros wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The addressable customer market is one big difference. American companies sell to the world. Eastern EU companies are largely stuck with eastern Europe or EU at large. The other difference is that smaller addressable market also means fewer problems to solve and thus fewer companies. As an example, engineers in China, India and Indonesia are making way more that $18k these days because there are many problems to solv…

But can American companies not hire these Eastern European developers to do this? If yes, why do the US salaries stay an order of magnitude larger?

American companies can but the pool is not large enough to open offices there. And if they are opening international offices, it's likely going to be in Asia where there is more money to be made.

If you are in EU, the offices are likely going to be in western Europe or Switzerland or UK - larger addressable markets.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#190

Post by bpodgursky »

plorkyeran wrote: post #98
bpodgursky wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There may be cases I'm missing, but afaik you never *have* to suffer ruinous tax liabilities from stock comp if you're willing to just eat the gains as raw income (making the (often smart) gamble to hit LCTG is what will get you in trouble).

It is very difficult to run into ruinous tax problems with publicly traded companies, but it's possible. There's a delay between the vest date and when you can actually sell your shares. Normally this is just a few days, but if something dire happens your stock can still tank in this window. If $100k of RSUs vest and then drop to $0 in value before you can sell, you have $100k of income to pay taxes on, and can only…

Mmm, I've always had the option to "withhold shares" for tax obligations for vesting RSUs; I don't think I've had a delay.

> If you exercise options you have to pay taxes on the difference between the strike price and the current fair market value, and in exchange you've gotten something which is very difficult to sell.

I am suggesting that you can choose to never exercise your options until there is a liquidity event and you can same-day-sell for raw income. This does require you to stay at the company until the liquidity event though.

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