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We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

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Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#71

Post by kyawzazaw »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #52
kyawzazaw wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Financial Independence is a big thing. (Not just retire) Do you have kids? Have you thought about generational wealth? These are the things that are in people's minds. If you want to understand more visit subreddits like /r/FIRE or /r/bogelheads or /r/personalfinance?

I don't really want kids, thankfully. I can see how that would be an issue if I did though, true.

What about donations? Even as a student, I liked to donate frequently (maybe it's in my culture).

Being able to donate a decent amount to a cause whenever I feel like it, is a plus.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#72

Post by [deleted] »

pumaontheprowl wrote: post #60
bern4444 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought Netflix let you pick the exact split between cash and equity no? For example, for a 500k salary you could say, I want 200k cash, and 300k in stock

Something doesn't add up here. Levels is showing that the average senior engineer at Netflix is only getting $11k stock though. If employees were allowed to choose what percentage stock they wanted, I'd expect most employees to choose a larger percentage than that. Stock is likely to grow in value over the course of the year while cash is almost guaranteed to lose value due to inflation. You'd have to be pretty pessi…

[deleted]

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#73

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

cobookman wrote: post #20
bern4444 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not from levels.fyi but I think some reasons are * Its cheaper for the company than cash (stock is the company's currency, they can issue more of it, decrease the supply, use it as collateral in financing etc) * It can be better for the employees (pay less in taxes, more opportunity for growth) * Incentives become aligned (I now care about the continued success of the company more so than I otherwise would)

For employees you pay the same in taxes. RSUs are treated as income just in Stock based compensation vs USD. RSU vest is the same as taking a USD based salary and purchasing the shares. The Employees do get the benefit that between the grant date and vest date, the RSU value could increase. And the employee gets the benefit of capturing that growth. E.g. if 100k of RSUs granted, and 25% of it vested each year. Say in…

ISOs can sometimes be better for taxes (and sometimes worse).

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#74

Post by xxpor »

tester756 wrote: post #9
Zaheer wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes many of the top tech companies are now hiring across Europe (and in fact have been). Ex. https://eng.lyft.com/introducing-lyft-engineering-kyiv-2884d... Salaries are definitely adjusted. To get a feel for salaries: - https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Netherland... - https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Ukraine/ - https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/London/

But isn't it like that e.g EU branch of $FAANG company does less cool stuff? e.g Google EU does CRUDs and maintains GCP meanwhile cool stuff is being done in MV?

Hey, maintaining GCP is probably more interesting than you think ;)

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#75

Post by borroka »

dilat wrote: post #69
borroka wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One level, but different compensation. For SWE IC, it can range between 300k and 700 (plus in some cases). The same for higher levels, there is a big variance in comp. You can use up to full salary to get options (not shares) at 40% (used to be, I don't know now).

Oh… so they basically have levels, just informally? Or are the expectations actually the same for two people making 300 and 700?

They pay market value. Let's say that you come to Netflix with a Facebook offer (or current salary), Netflix wants you, they pay >= FB offer or current salary. If you don't have any offer, they have tech-wide salary surveys that give them a market range for you. Clearly, nothing is set in stone and a hiring manager can "bet" monetarily on some candidates (i.e., pay them more of what the data points would recommend). When I was there, I was making a (very generous) x and others in my position were making 1.8-2 x no doubt.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#76

Post by theflyinghorse »

zests wrote: post #25

It feels like there are two classes of engineers in the US. One class of engineers makes 60k-120k and the other makes 150k-500k. Is this just a really well kept secret? I don't really see many engineers trying to migrate from the first class to the second class. I'd expect most software engineers would jump through hoops at the prospect of doubling their salary.

> Is this just a really well kept secret

It's very hard. Not having FANG/unicorns on your resume probably contributes massively to this. FANG style interviews are a skill of their own - I recently had a 6 hours of interviews back to back with Amazon and it was a mix of pretty tough technical questions and very specific behavioral questions. Even with practice solving sole of the question was very hard. For instance, I solved a DP question in a top down and interviewer asked me to then solve it bottom up for him in the remaining 5 minutes. You can't do this without a solid amount of practice.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#77

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

kyawzazaw wrote: post #45
whymauri wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the people I've talked to, they enjoy the WLB and location of their job enough to not hop.

I think people wrong associate high pay with bad WLB at top paying tech companies

Personally, I've found pay and work life balance to be positively correlated in my SV career.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#78

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

thatguy0900 wrote: post #39
cyrux004 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct, this what I understand. Before the remote workplace, they were just too comfy in their location to think about locating to the limited tech cities where these salaries are being paid

I mean, I'll be honest, I make around 50k in a non tech job in a low cost of living area.i really don't want for anything. Maybe I just don't like really expensive toys, but anything I want, I buy. I go on nice vacations in country, plenty of wilderness around me. I don't have to look at receipts or bills before paying them and I never think about my bank account. I'm really totally unsure what making 500k instead wo…

> besides retiring super early.

This is the dream. Get the second half of my life for myself, if I'm lucky.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#79

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

I'm curious how people here advise specifically negotiating work-life balance?

WLB (fewer hours per week/more vacation) is the single most important factor for me, but I always feel weird asking/pushing for it because it feels like I'll give a slacker impression.

Even asking how many hours a team works feels delicate.

Re: We're Levels.fyi, the most accurate resource for tech salaries, ask us anything

#80

Post by 6gvONxR4sf7o »

paxys wrote: post #58
baby_wipe wrote: post #7

Why is stock such a big portion of compensation for the big tech companies?

If the company has a few good quarters of stock appreciation, your employees are now effectively tied in ("golden handcuffs") and will not be able to get matching offers elsewhere.

Which ends up being great for the labor market, as starting offers have to rise to lure those stock-inflated candidates away.
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