81–90 of 138 posts
Nice work. I went through the experience recently, although with two offers instead of six... and that was stressful enough! Well worth it in the end, obviously.
I recently finished reading the book Never Split the Difference and I would highly recommend it. It's a slightly different take on the traditional negotiation tropes we've all heard. I've managed to employ many of the techniques in my day to day as a PM with success, but his discussions on salary negotiation resonated with me. I'm sure you can find some notes on the book to derive 50% of the value, but the author's s…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
None of the numbers in the article seem unrealistic to me. Keep in mind the big tech companies (FANG et al) are really a tier above in terms of pay, and also that the numbers given here include both RSUs and a projected performance bonus. If you think this guy/gal is overpaid, well, get a load of this table: https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-facebook-alphabet-most...
Does an L3 or L4 at google in the valley make $300k/year? That seems way above normal based on those salary spreadsheets that leaked.
Salaries normalise over time though, if performance is similar to peers then comp eventually will be as well (meaning other people will get bigger raises).
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Just tried in TurboTax. $300k income in CA has effective tax rate of 35%.
I filed my taxes with TurboTax last year. Did you account for state tax deduction, mortgage deduction, property tax deduction, standard deduction, child tax credits, 401k deductions, charity deductions, and a myriad of other options ? There is no way for anyone to say what an accurate effective rate would be. Mine was 28% last year
https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/personal-finance/how-has...
If you own a home in the Bay Area, chances are you hit the limit on your property taxes alone.
Wow. I have 15 years of experience and am making under 220k in NYC. There’s no way I’d have offered that much money for someone with 2 years of experience. It just isn’t worth the price.
You are underpaid.
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You are underpaid.
220k base + 220k in options a year isn't underpaid. All depends on the options.
With that disclaimer/explainer out of the way, I can say with confidence that I don't factor options into my comp. When an employer gives me options, I say thank you. When they don't, I don't feel upset.
Every time something like this is posted a, likely very good, engineer who does not live in the Valley post about how overpaid these engineers are. Compensation is heavily dependent on market rates. It's far more difficult to hire a strong senior engineer in the valley than it is in most other cities in the US. Even companies in fairly remote areas can hire a remote developer or pay a SF engineer to relocate for less…
It's all relative to how much things cost. Suppose one of these engineers wants to buy a home. Here, somebody of similar skill could afford any one of:
a. new McMansion
b. waterfront property with a boat dock and canal access to the ocean
c. canal access for an airboat
d. a condo literally on the beach
e. 11 acres, sheep, goats, can fire an AR-15 in the backyard
For each of the above, I've had a coworker get it. For half those prices, a house within a couple thousand feet of work can be had. An actual house right on the beach seems possible too, perhaps requiring a 30-minute commute in low traffic.
That is single-income by the way.
So, are these things available? If these would be unaffordable, you're underpaid, no matter how big your dollar figure may be.
I recently finished reading the book Never Split the Difference and I would highly recommend it. It's a slightly different take on the traditional negotiation tropes we've all heard. I've managed to employ many of the techniques in my day to day as a PM with success, but his discussions on salary negotiation resonated with me. I'm sure you can find some notes on the book to derive 50% of the value, but the author's s…
I recently finished Never Split The Difference too. It was a good read and provides a different perspective on the whole negotiation process. I couldn't help but think however, that the various techniques outlined in the book were nothing more than parlor tricks. Seems like the more these techniques are known, the less useful they become. Am I wrong? Now that I know how it 'works' I can pick out Ackerman bargaining t…
Every time something like this is posted a, likely very good, engineer who does not live in the Valley post about how overpaid these engineers are. Compensation is heavily dependent on market rates. It's far more difficult to hire a strong senior engineer in the valley than it is in most other cities in the US. Even companies in fairly remote areas can hire a remote developer or pay a SF engineer to relocate for less…
Here, I'll break the trend: they are underpaid It's all relative to how much things cost. Suppose one of these engineers wants to buy a home. Here, somebody of similar skill could afford any one of: a. new McMansion b. waterfront property with a boat dock and canal access to the ocean c. canal access for an airboat d. a condo literally on the beach e. 11 acres, sheep, goats, can fire an AR-15 in the backyard For each…
200k+ for 2 years experience in the valley? That is crazy. This guy is overpaid. How realistic is this? I work in the valley I have roughly a decade of experience and I am definitely under 200k. Am I getting shafted?
Anybody willing to pay me 200k+? I'm a python expert. I know golang. I can do fullstack work but my preference is for the backend. I'm basically a polyglot, willing to do anything from scala, haskell, python, lisp, you name it. I have good fundamentals, and extensive experience diving into and navigating large/old codebases.
First, if a candidate talks about programming languages a lot (especially if they're talking about Lisp and Haskell), that can be a sign that they're going to be unhappy working within the confines my team's Java/C++/whatever codebase, and that they're going to complain a lot and try to rewrite things in other languages. That's not a dealbreaker, but it's not a great first impression.
Second, bragging about how many languages you know also codes as "junior engineer" or "recent graduate", even though the rest of your post makes it sound like that's probably not the case. Most teams are looking for someone who has demonstrated that they are really productive in at least one language, so focus your sales pitch on that. Again, this is just a first impression issue.
Finally, I probably wouldn't claim myself as "expert" on anything, unless I was a top 10 committer to the project or I was specifically trying to bill myself as a consultant on that specific technology. Seeing "expert" sets off people's BS alarm bells, and they'll evaluate everything else you say with a more skeptical eye. It can also get you in trouble in interviews. Point #7 on this blog post explains it better than I could: https://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2007/09/ten-tips-for-slight...
Anyway, please read this as constructive advice rather than someone on the internet trying to tear you down. I'll echo what the other comments have said - practice coding interviews, apply to the big tech companies that have a presence in your area, and don't get discouraged if you don't get an offer right away. The big companies are full of people who had to interview 2-3 times to get an offer.