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Tech compensation in 2021

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Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#461

Post by postmeta »

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.

plenty of low paying silly and mind-numbing work out there too tho

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#462

Post by gunshai »

I_AM_A_SMURF wrote: post #260
theshadowknows wrote: post #223

I’m wondering if I’m just not worth as much money or if I’m not paid as much because I don’t work in California or both, lol. I work for an enormous company. I’ve got about 8 or so years experience. As of right now I’m a sr architect and I work on enterprise-level systems - either designing or enhancing existing processes and platforms. I don’t really code much these days, though I do write a lot of sql, build lots o…

Just for comparison, I'm a staff ~ level engineer not at FAANG, not in California, similar experience to yours and this year I will make about $400k.

Fuck me sideways what are your annual living expenses?

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#463

Post by jjav »

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).

> This isn't true. Google allows you to "scale" your work (eg 80% pay for 80% time).

Well.. sort of. My partner was doing 80% for 80% at goog for many years, which sounds like a good deal. Except the demands were more like 40-50 hours/week, with management always saying that full-timers were working way more than 50 hours, so at 80% salary you better be working 40-50hrs/wk.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#464

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway19170 wrote: post #336

So there are all these people in these threads who are like "I only make $175K/200K/150K, I feel like I'm grossly underpaid when I read these things." I got you all beat. I have 15+ experience. I am a really good coder . I can be very not humble because this is a throwaway, but everyone who has ever worked with me or gone to school with me or worked on open source with me would agree, I am very good at designing and…

[deleted]

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#465

Post by opinion-is-bad »

Ozzie_osman wrote: post #437
tubby12345 wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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?

I think it depends on the team and your role in it. I worked at one of the Google X moonshots and never heard of this. There were a couple engineers from other teams that were donating one day a week to helping us, which is a similar 80/20 split. These 20% were somewhat common at Google, I believe, but it was never to take time off work.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#466

Post by vincnetas »

franciscop wrote: post #359
eminence32 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like a lot of HN readers are continually playing the "maximize salary" game and use like articles like this one to figure out how well they're doing. If you want to play that game, then good luck, have fun. I understand the desire. But it's not for everyone. Are you able to live comfortably on $175k per year? Do you enjoy what you do and the people that you work with? If so, I don't think there should be any…

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…

i had to read this twice to make sure i was reading it correctly:

  and it might actually be better to donate the diff between 300k and 175k vs working in a slightly more ethical place for 175k
this really triggered me. you basically say its ok to do shady things as long as you give something to the poor. sounds so much like "indulgence" in Christian churches where you could pay off your sins. sad.

i'd say money is not a permission for you to do bad things, and it should not make you fell better about bad things you did (and continue to do) just by giving some of the money away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#467

Post by qPM9l3XJrF »

Hermitian909 wrote: post #205
farnsworth wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think plenty of these people are lying on the internet and um, rounding up a little.

Eh, I helped several people job hunt this year, here are the offers accepted (total comp, not salary, which tends to cap around 200k). None of the people listed have more than 5 years of experience: 200k (fresh grad) 352k 452k 507k 412k

Why is it that I don't see these kind of numbers on levels.fyi?

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#468

Post by [deleted] »

throwaway19170 wrote: post #336

So there are all these people in these threads who are like "I only make $175K/200K/150K, I feel like I'm grossly underpaid when I read these things." I got you all beat. I have 15+ experience. I am a really good coder . I can be very not humble because this is a throwaway, but everyone who has ever worked with me or gone to school with me or worked on open source with me would agree, I am very good at designing and…

[deleted]

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#469

Post by repsilat »

karaterobot wrote: post #232
jsjohnst wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the US barely has any union jobs in 2021 In software, sure, but to say there barely are any union jobs in the US currently is wildly inaccurate.

Since I went to the trouble to look it up: There are estimated to be 4.4 million software developers employed in the U.S.[1] and about 150 million total jobs[2], so about 3% of employed persons in the U.S. are software developers. About 11% of U.S. workers are union members[3], so there are more than 3 times as many union members as professional developers in the U.S. [1] https://dqydj.com/number-of-developers-in-ame…

Mostly public sector (around 1/3 unionized). Private is around 6%[1]. And after the public sector it's transport, utilities, telecoms, construction, manufacturing. Basically a laundry list of underperformance in the US -- important sectors (govt especially) choked to death by rent-seeking and complacency.

1: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/best-union-jobs-in-america...

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#470

Post by thayne »

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…

> grind LC for however long you need in order to be comfortable solving hard problems cleanly in 35-45 minutes

Which is more difficult to do for people who have a lot of non-work commitments, like say raising a family. So this method of hiring introduces some biases. Not that I have a solution.

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