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Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#221

Post by keiferski »

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business.

These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, whereas it's virtually unlimited as a business owner.

If you aren't a shoo-in at FAANG and you want to make that kind of money, your best bet is to learn how to start and run a business. I don't mean try to launch a billion dollar social app that needs venture funding. I mean a SAAS that solves a boring problem for other businesses with money to spend.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#222

Post by ai4ever »

neilv wrote: post #160
fnbr wrote: post #106

Yes, many AI startups pay more than FAANG for ML talent.

I think FAANG-like big IC offers right now are flying around for technical people familiar with the current hot "AI" methods. A lot of hype, a lot of situational ethics around copyright, and some investment scams, but some of the tech is ready for legitimate things people want to do, at acceptable quality levels for the application. Also, one thing that happened early in the dotcom gold rush is that a ton of people s…

agree 100% with this nice comment from a fellow dot-com crash observer.

Many HackerNews readers are young'uns who are seduced by FANG salaries, and the latest AI/ML bandwagon. They dont have the perspective one gets having seeing the highs and the lows.

I can bet there will be another rude awakening around the corner which will wipe out the "pretenders". After the dot-com bust, many pretenders left the silicon valley with anecdotes of leased BMWs abandoned at SFO airport.

After the AI/ML hype deflates, there is likely to be a similar separation. Folks in it for real will be separated from the folks who came in for the riches.

And for the history-buffs this rhymes with the CA gold-rush circa late 1800s - some found it, most didnt, levis profited selling denims to them.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#223

Post by QuercusMax »

brodouevencode wrote: post #216
reaperman wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[Edited to remove snark/barbs as per HN guidelines]. I am genuinely curious though - you seem like you've had a successful career and life. I typically assume people in your position are rather familiar with the basic math behind personal taxes, 401k's, HSA's, child tax credits, standard deductions vs. large charitable deductions, etc. I think I may have been grossly mischaracterizing a potentially large group of peo…

~Calm down. It's a common misconception.~

It's a common misconception among people who haven't done even the slightest bit of research. Or done their taxes themselves. Confidently stating stuff that is obviously false SHOULD be ridiculed.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#224

Post by muzani »

hiddencost wrote: post #115
muzani wrote: post #49

According to levels.fyi, FAANG only pays the most at the most experienced levels. I'm not sure if those are even hired for, they might be promoted into. Of the rest, the top paying ones seem to be fintech and AI startups. Only Netflix still scores high in top salaries. It would make sense too, as they have a lot of leverage. Lots of people joining are happy to take a cut just to have the FAANG name on their resume. A…

Those salary websites are very wrong.

It's odd because top level salaries are a tool to hire the best. If someone is paying a good salary, it makes good sense to broadcast them. Otherwise, what's the point? Who's going to go after invisible carrots? All you can do is spread rumors or expect that people act on delayed rumors.

There's the argument that salaries are opaque so someone within wouldn't feel bad about getting a lower salary, but this is only really the case is someone is paying a L6 differently in US vs UAE vs India or something. But they know what market they're in.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#225

Post by amonith »

some_random wrote: post #139
amonith wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would gambling be high risk for employees? Unless you compare it to some cushy govt job it isn't really more "layoff-prone" than others.

The risk is that if you ever want to leave the gambling industry you'll be the candidate who made their living swindling vulnerable people.

Really interesting how this is viewed in different countries. How far does this go? Does this include Gacha game devs? How about people working on loot boxes in gaming (like finance/marketing people who come up with new boxes)? Or NFTs or crypto in general?

I wouldn't even thought to think about people coming from gambling companies differently.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#226

Post by offices »

schmookeeg wrote: post #12

Using your own example, every "avg startup" engineer who is overemployed with only two gigs is matching FAANG money.

The unspoken assumption about salaries are that we picture earning that amount for the rest of our careers. $500k at one job feels much more secure and mortgage-able than $500k dependent on maintaining an illusion and level of work that will lead to burnout.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#227

Post by sulam »

oarla wrote: post #185

Tangential to this topic, but are there publicly traded companies that pay only in stocks? I'm curious to know if someone who gets paid only in stocks will come out ahead in terms of taxes they owe than someone getting a comparable base pay.

Actually yes, but you won’t find engineers compensated that way. Usually it’s the CEO. They will take a symbolic base salary (often they will say $1 but HR forces it to be minimum wage behind the scenes) and get paid with stock.

The trick is that it’s not RSUs, so not regular income. Instead it’s some form of option (I am not a tax attorney so I hesitate to state the type of option, there’s a variety of them that are used with different limitations). I believe they exercise 83(b) style to avoid AMT as well.

As usual, you need to already have a lot of money to make this work. Tax avoidance is amazingly accessible once you have enough money. One trick I could do, but don’t — my bank gives me a line of credit based on assets they manage for me. I could quit my job and easily live for years just using the LoC and report zero income other than passive income from rebalancing trades (which are very minimal).

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#228

Post by Der_Einzige »

amonith wrote: post #118
Zambyte wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are some examples of unsexy industries that are high paying?

Ironically probably porn is the most unsexy on a CV.

Right now, anyone who works in text-to-image or interacts with the website Civit.AI is effectively “working in porn” as an AI engineer.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#229

Post by Der_Einzige »

atonse wrote: post #107
red_admiral wrote: post #86

There's the kind of job where you need security clearance and a full background check. Not all of those pay well (I assume the janitors at NSA are security cleared in some way), but some absolutely do. Especially when, like Snowden did, you leave the actual org after a bit and then get hired back as a private contractor.

Yes I’ve read this is a huge problem for these agencies. They invest in training people, getting them clearances, etc and then the people leave for the private sector because they make 5x as an ex-NSA cybersecurity expert etc.

Why we need to legalize weed, cus the glowies have already asked for it since they lose so much talent to the herb.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#230

Post by packetlost »

diggan wrote: post #207
packetlost wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty hard to get into these IME. I'm considered a top-performer at the deep tech company I currently work at, and interviewed at a hedge fund awhile back. The process was way less intense than what I would expect a big tech co. interview to be. I made it to the top three candidates, but didn't get it. In hindsight, the role wouldn't have been a good fit, it was "higher up in the stack" than I prefer to be, whi…

I'm not sure it's enough to experience something once and then assume it looks like that across the industry, it's very context-dependent. While I've done zero attempts to work at any hedge fund, I know plenty of people who both had success when wanting to join one (even though some of them were under-qualified) and people who failed (some who were over-qualified).

Oh most certainly. But that industry has a reputation for a reason, no? I would expect every place to have different culture, interview processes, etc.
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