Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tech compensation in 2021

jacobian.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

431–440 of 631 posts

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#431

Post by whycombagator »

LindyTalker wrote: post #361
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…

I taught my friend to code in a year and he did one of the intensive bootcamps. First job ever. A healthcare company in NYC is paying him 155 + 20% bonus. You're getting hosed

Remote or in office?

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#432

Post by mobiledev2014 »

tubby12345 wrote: post #382
mobiledev2014 wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

•Boston area •7 yoe •Staff level •Full remote •Co is SF-based •$250 total comp I expect a promotion and ~20% increase next cycle. Interview was no leet code (I’m terrible at it!) - my strategy was to interview at public companies with levels on levels.fyi but not FAANG

7 yoe at FAANG is double that and they're all permanent remote now (except Apple). Diminishing returns n all regarding TC but you didn't hack the system or anything with that strategy.

By no means did I imply I did. I offered an alternative to “grind lc” to somebody who is underpaid. I did not say this was how to get the maximum TC

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#433

Post by franciscop »

tubby12345 wrote: post #421
franciscop wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything else being the same, it's better to make 300k than 175k/year. And not everything is the same, normally in those better paid jobs you have better Engineers, a lot of challenging problems, many nice perks, etc. What you don't normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week. Also you don't get highly ethical companies, just average ones at that (and it might actually be better…

>What you don't normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week This isn't true. Google allows you to "scale" your work (eg 80% pay for 80% time).

Okay in Google it's a official perk, bad example; my point still stands that you have more negotiation power with specific personal perks in smaller companies than in larger ones.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#434

Post by franciscop »

ramraj07 wrote: post #387
franciscop wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything else being the same, it's better to make 300k than 175k/year. And not everything is the same, normally in those better paid jobs you have better Engineers, a lot of challenging problems, many nice perks, etc. What you don't normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week. Also you don't get highly ethical companies, just average ones at that (and it might actually be better…

You might have better engineers in FAAnG but it’s not given that you love your work. Many of my colleagues in those places are bored out of their minds because of how silly or numbing the work is. Part of the reason why I’ve not tried the transition yet.

Yes, of course, that's how statistics and probability work, you are not guaranteed anything. But chances are higher.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#435

Post by hintymad »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #422
hintymad wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My point was not that algorithms are irrelevant but they are table stakes You're wrong. A previous team built a simple data processing pipeline for a big customer. The throughput is single digit per second. The customer was furious as they would have wait for days to get their data in. The reason is the team was not aware that their graph building and traversal algorithms are O(n^2), and they didn't understand how…

What part of my statement is wrong? I said algorithms are table stakes (a poker term for something you need to know just to play at the table). To continue the analogy, sounds like whoever designed that system didn't have enough to buy into the table. > If you build large backend for data intensive systems I have. Many.

ouch, my bad. Somehow I read “algorithm is irrelevant”, and you’re right, I didn’t get your analogy.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#436

Post by bombela »

throwaway2016a wrote: post #410
Jensson wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are great at algorithms, have 20 years of experience with a great track record and live near a great tech university so plenty of tech companies, then you are doing something really wrong if you just earn $175k a year. Or you intentionally choose to have a low salary and prioritize other things, but if you did that then you'd know about it instead of asking this question.

You're being downvoted (not by me) but you have a point. I did two things wrong that I know of: - I graduated college right before the great recession and that effected my career starting rates - I stayed at a company I knew was under paying me for far too long (because I had a lot of stock options and I valued them too highly) If either of those two things were different I'd probably be making a lot more. But my poi…

Or maybe, the more you are experienced and able to solve problems. Any problems. And produce quality software that performs. Then maybe the more unique that makes you. Which is not what FAANGs are looking for. They want a smart enough human, that is replaceable enough. And they will pay a lot for people that accept to play by the rules.

Hey just a theory. I am probably wrong.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#437

Post by Ozzie_osman »

tubby12345 wrote: post #421
franciscop wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything else being the same, it's better to make 300k than 175k/year. And not everything is the same, normally in those better paid jobs you have better Engineers, a lot of challenging problems, many nice perks, etc. What you don't normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week. Also you don't get highly ethical companies, just average ones at that (and it might actually be better…

>What you don't normally have is flexibility to negotiate special conditions e.g. 4day work week This isn't true. Google allows you to "scale" your work (eg 80% pay for 80% time).

Do you have a source for this? I know a lot of people at Google and have never heard of this. In fact, a few years ago I explicitly asked a Google recruiter about this, and they said it wasn't an option. Is it a more recent thing perhaps?

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#439

Post by tubby12345 »

mobiledev2014 wrote: post #432
tubby12345 wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

7 yoe at FAANG is double that and they're all permanent remote now (except Apple). Diminishing returns n all regarding TC but you didn't hack the system or anything with that strategy.

By no means did I imply I did. I offered an alternative to “grind lc” to somebody who is underpaid. I did not say this was how to get the maximum TC

But how is an alternative? It's half the money. Reminds of a Russian joke: daughter asks mom for milk. Mom says sure there's a pale of water underneath the bed

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#440

Post by seoulmetro »

pcmoney wrote: post #341
seoulmetro wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside the US this is more like 10-20%. Americans care about money a lot. American SWE care about money even more.

I mean sure but the track record of American Tech Companies speaks for itself. Wanna know what the truly passionate programmer does? Ship things that make money. If they don’t they are a hobbyist not a professional because it isn’t a profession for them.

No. Truly passionate programmer doesn't ship at all, they create work for themselves.

Earning money or not does not recognise the difference between hobby and profession. Ironically a lot of hobbyists make money and very few professionals work for free.

Post reply on HN