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Open Salary and Equity Database

topstartups.io

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Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#31

Post by wongarsu »

bspear wrote: post #9
rsj_hn wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you believe that, say, C++ devs earn more than JS devs, it would matter. If you aren't sure and want to find out, it would also matter.

Do specific tech stacks have more earning power though? Which ones?

There are a lot of ways to look at it. I think [1] is one of the better attempts and would suggest that the spread is much bigger for average jobs than for the highest paying positions, and that e.g. Scala, Rust, Perl or Go will earn you more money than Dart, JavaScript, PHP or Java. Also apparently jobs with DynamoDB pay almost twice as good on average (median) as jobs with Firebase; and Postgres or MSSQL pays better than MySQL or Oracle.

1: https://stribny.name/blog/salaries-by-language/

Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#32

Post by dewey »

tdhoot wrote: post #26

The main thing I'd want to know is whether companies pay to appear in the Top Startups list. I learned Breakoutlist does this a few years back and it destroyed their credibility for me.

There's an easy way to pay your way into that list: pay high salaries.

Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#34

Post by smeej »

nend wrote: post #27
andrewingram wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whilst I agree equity % alone doesn't give you a picture of the value of those options, what it does communicate is whether it's the kind of company that actually gives out meaningful equity, which is useful information. It tells you if the company is actually serious about making a big exit a life-changing event for all early employees.

The odds of a company making it that big are so low though, you're chasing lottery tickets with that outlook, which I suppose is still useful information.

I actually recommend chasing lottery tickets to people who are in common jobs like customer support or social media engagement.

You could do those jobs practically anywhere, but fast-growing tech startups tend to pay relatively well (at least as well as established players) and throw in a lottery ticket.

If you enjoy wearing a variety of hats, like you'll need to in a smaller company, you might as well do a couple years each at a bunch of different startups and collect lottery tickets along the way.

People don't tend to get rich in support jobs, but a bonus of even a few tens of thousands of dollars can be a game-changer, and on the off chance you catch a ticket that ends up being worth a couple hundred grand (what happened to me that made me start recommending this!), it'll change your life!

Rarely will a customer support role be offered shares that are worth more than a couple grand at the time of grant, and it's not always worth sticking around the whole vesting period, but if you get in late enough that the company has proven product/market fit (Series A and following, at least a few dozen employees, 3+ years), it probably won't go all the way to zero.

Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#35

Post by democracy »

EnKopVand wrote: post #15
epicureanideal wrote: post #2

Great idea, but needs tech stack info also.

Why do you think the tech stack matters? Is it because you want to compare yourself to other people working with X, or because you want to pursue the best paying technologies? I don’t think either should matter, you’re paid for a job function not the tools you use, but the latter is a trap on my opinion. I’m turning 40 this year and as such an approaching the sort of midway of my career and in my anecdotal experience…

I am not sure it's true. You are hired for your skills so tomorrow you are another developer who can solve the tasks he is given in this specific tech environment.

>> You need to deliver solutions, you need to show the business the impact of those solutions

Most of the time people who interview (and eventually say yes/no) are tech people, discussing business problems and solutions is cute yet pretty useless. It's funny when you interview someone and he wants to look enthusiastic and tells you the information they found from the open source - and you go like "dude, you have no clue what's happening in these walls" )

I would go even further and say for me it would be a big red flag to waste time on "business impact" - I am going in as a programmer. From my experience, my "business impact" is somewhat close to a cleaner dude. And I don't want to take on additional (unclear) responsibilities I am not sure I know much about. Thank you, but I already know and do enough in my niche which happened to be software development and is a very specialised, demanding and valuable skill to have )

Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#37

Post by np_tedious »

smeej wrote: post #34
nend wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The odds of a company making it that big are so low though, you're chasing lottery tickets with that outlook, which I suppose is still useful information.

I actually recommend chasing lottery tickets to people who are in common jobs like customer support or social media engagement. You could do those jobs practically anywhere, but fast-growing tech startups tend to pay relatively well (at least as well as established players) and throw in a lottery ticket. If you enjoy wearing a variety of hats, like you'll need to in a smaller company, you might as well do a couple ye…

Unless they have extended their exercise window beyond that standard 90d, those lottery tickets may cost a lot is money to retain after leaving for another job. So much so that companies exist solely to extend loans for them.

You don't get to just collect multiple lottery tickets without either going out of pocket or watering down your share significantly.

Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#38

Post by mjr00 »

democracy wrote: post #35
EnKopVand wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think the tech stack matters? Is it because you want to compare yourself to other people working with X, or because you want to pursue the best paying technologies? I don’t think either should matter, you’re paid for a job function not the tools you use, but the latter is a trap on my opinion. I’m turning 40 this year and as such an approaching the sort of midway of my career and in my anecdotal experience…

I am not sure it's true. You are hired for your skills so tomorrow you are another developer who can solve the tasks he is given in this specific tech environment. >> You need to deliver solutions, you need to show the business the impact of those solutions Most of the time people who interview (and eventually say yes/no) are tech people, discussing business problems and solutions is cute yet pretty useless. It's fun…

> I would go even further and say for me it would be a big red flag to waste time on "business impact" - I am going in as a programmer. From my experience, my "business impact" is somewhat close to a cleaner dude. And I don't want to take on additional (unclear) responsibilities I am not sure I know much about. Thank you, but I already know and do enough in my niche which happened to be software development and is a very specialised, demanding and valuable skill to have )

This is really going to depend on the company and industry. You're never going to get a senior or principal engineer role at FAANG without being able to explain, or better yet, quantify, what business impact you had through your work as a developer. In non-software verticals where developers are seen as a cost center it's different. But in general, those aren't going to pay as well. Plus you're never going to move up the career ladder if you see yourself exclusively as a developer and don't understand the wider business.

Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#39

Post by lupire »

andrewingram wrote: post #23
msrsan wrote: post #7

The equity (%) without the actual cash value of the options is basically a vanity number - it does not mean much and is not comparable between the companies.

Whilst I agree equity % alone doesn't give you a picture of the value of those options, what it does communicate is whether it's the kind of company that actually gives out meaningful equity, which is useful information. It tells you if the company is actually serious about making a big exit a life-changing event for all early employees.

The IPO price can be $1B or $100B -- that's wide variance in life-changing.

% needs context of how many other employees there are and what the valuation is a grant time.

Re: Open Salary and Equity Database

#40

Post by b112 »

dewey wrote: post #32
tdhoot wrote: post #26

The main thing I'd want to know is whether companies pay to appear in the Top Startups list. I learned Breakoutlist does this a few years back and it destroyed their credibility for me.

There's an easy way to pay your way into that list: pay high salaries.

I suspect sarcasm, as paying some list for a higher ranking, is cheaper than paying loads of people for a higher ranking.
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