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Tech compensation in 2021

jacobian.org

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271–280 of 631 posts

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#271

Post by m_ke »

paxys wrote: post #248
m_ke wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the myth that keeps the whole thing going. For every successful exit that makes employees rich there's a 100 failures and acquihires. You should judge these deals based on expected value.

> You should judge these deals based on expected value. Which is what all the comments you are replying to are saying. However the expected value isn't automatically $0 as the article suggests. You can apply a fair bit of your own judgement.

It's close enough to 0 to be a rounding error. Even some of the recent unicorn IPOs didn't return enough for employees to offset what they could have made working at FAANG.

https://www.teamblind.com/post/IPO-millionaires-Y7ak8UpJ

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#272

Post by lazide »

goodpoint wrote: post #261
lazide wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only for lower income earners. A great health plan is $1k-1.5k/mo, which is crushing if your savings or excess capital are in the 5 digits or less. If you’re financially independent or wealthy enough to be (independently) doing a startup or taking on a business venture, it’s a rounding error in the books.

Correct. That's why SV startups are billionaire's playgound. And billionaires are much more scarce outside of US (and those who exist have better chances investing in other fields). That's why SV salaries for developers are so crazy.

It doesn’t take a billionaire, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. A couple million can work, or half a million if someone is crazy.

Your point still stands though.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#273

Post by topkai22 »

I don't think 4-5 years experience is Sr level, as used in the Robin example. $100k with 1% of the company seems... OK? The salary is a mid level software engineer is closer to $150k, Chicago should down adjust a bit, so maybe $130k salary in big tech. Realistically, you are looking at $162.5k with bonuses and stock. How much is the startup worth now? She's probably passed on (very roughly) $300k of comp, so if that startup valuation is sitting above $30M she might be close to even and if it provides an exit above $100M she'll have done well. If not, well it was a lottery ticket.

As for the other person, Staff+ does not necessarily translate between companies, and especially does not translate from companies in very different cultures to the big tech space. It's not impossible, but just because someone got the title of Staff engineer in one market does not mean they will be able to get that title in another market.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#274

Post by zz865 »

SCUSKU wrote: post #96
zz865 wrote: post #41

I'm not sure if its good to get in now while the market is hot or wait for January when it'll really take off.

What's happening in January that would make things take off?

There are so many jobs right now they wont get filled, so people will have to pay more just to get anyone. Plus people are quitting their jobs to move to new roles and those spaces will need filling.

OTOH there could be a lot of people out of the job market right now which could start looking for work in the new year. And the market could crash.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#275

Post by Zaheer »

chiefofgxbxl wrote: post #134
Zaheer wrote: post #39

Co-Founder of Levels.fyi here. As Jacob points out, the market is extremely hot right now. It feels like salaries are inching up slightly each month. We're working on improving how numbers are updated and working on weighing recent salaries more heavily. Would really encourage everyone to submit their compensation on the site. We also have some relevant discussions with recruiters from FANG type companies on our team…

What's the consensus on the tech market being really hot right now? Does that imply a potential crash in the future, or simply a "cooling down" or plateau-ing? Can anyone point to some commentary on future expectations, beyond the immediate salary bumps we can get today?

Don't think there is a consensus. We talk to HR / Compensation analysts at companies every week and the consensus is noone knows what's going on / what to do anymore. Companies are scrambling to figure out how much more to pay people so that they can attract the talent they want. Keep in mind the tech industry is supply side constrained (particularly for mid-senior+ talent). As long as that's the case, wages will always go up. The huge immediate increase is due to several macro factors (covid, remote, great resignation, capital flowing into public markets, etc). As those cool, increases may cool down but still trend up likely.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#276

Post by morelandjs »

He’s taking the tail end of a distribution in one geolocation and translating it to another geolocation, but then associating it with the median of that location. This is a mistake and his estimates are inflated. Of course it’s always easy to sell “you’re underpaid” because everyone likes to hear it. If you’re feeling inadequate, realize this is likely way off the mark.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#277

Post by Zaheer »

reilly3000 wrote: post #89
Zaheer wrote: post #39

Co-Founder of Levels.fyi here. As Jacob points out, the market is extremely hot right now. It feels like salaries are inching up slightly each month. We're working on improving how numbers are updated and working on weighing recent salaries more heavily. Would really encourage everyone to submit their compensation on the site. We also have some relevant discussions with recruiters from FANG type companies on our team…

Thank for your work! I’d be really interested to see YoY trend data for the aggregate and for the same level. Also if there is ‘level inflation’ happening over time.

Will see if we can include that in the annual report!

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#279

Post by Thrymr »

jiggawatts wrote: post #71
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.

What the... s%&#? Half a million a year for a developer or architect is bonkers. That's the equivalent of AUD 800K a year. That's more than what the Prime Minister and a cabinet member put together make here! How can that possibly make sense? For that kind of money you can easily hire 4 senior developers here! Any company "hiring local" at those prices isn't exploring their international staffing options properly...

> That's the equivalent of AUD 800K a year. That's more than what the Prime Minister and a cabinet member put together make here!

It is also about what the US President ($400k) and a cabinet secretary ($196.7k) put together make in the US. But far, far, less than the CEO of any public company.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#280

Post by albertsondev »

gpt5 wrote: post #75
azinman2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except the cost of living is wayyy lower

Does it matter if you are comparing one year of living in the valley? You don’t need to buy a house for that.

It does when a massive portion of your supposed profits are eaten by a 4-5 figure monthly rent on a flat.
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