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Tech compensation in 2021

jacobian.org

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Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#81

Post by mFixman »

beaconstudios wrote: post #17
Etheryte wrote: post #3

While I don't have doubts about this being a good way to find rough outlines for compensation, I'm yet to find a reliable source of data for Europe. Has anyone else had better luck?

in the UK, junior is £20-40k, mid-level is around £40-60k, lead can be around £60-100k. Very rough numbers, and adjust upwards slightly for London. The big money is in contracting in the UK, which would be our accessible FAANG-equivalent.

FAANG in London pays ~£200k total comp for a senior engineer.

There are also a couple of local non-FAANG companies that pay similar salaries.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#82

Post by Zaheer »

paxys wrote: post #46
Zaheer wrote: post #39

Co-Founder of Levels.fyi here. As Jacob points out, the market is extremely hot right now. It feels like salaries are inching up slightly each month. We're working on improving how numbers are updated and working on weighing recent salaries more heavily. Would really encourage everyone to submit their compensation on the site. We also have some relevant discussions with recruiters from FANG type companies on our team…

I haven't been able to get a clear answer for this so hoping you can help – what are companies' appetites for matching existing stock grants for senior hires? Say someone gets a FAANG or "hot startup" offer, but has $800K worth of stock (mainly due to price appreciation) at their current company vesting in the next year, is a direct match out of the question?

Some companies are willing to match stock grants. We've even seen some companies up-level candidates (to meet the higher compensation band) to nudge them out of their current roles where they've experienced a lot of stock growth. That said, there's still probably a cap to it, it'd be really hard even for a Facebook to get someone away from a multi-million dollar vest as an IC. Also keep in mind that all companies won't value options / ISO / private shares as much as public companies.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#83

Post by cushychicken »

metalliqaz wrote: post #63
rootusrootus wrote: post #31

In other news, if you aren't in the valley or working for one of the big tech companies, you're probably making 100-150K as a mid/senior developer. There's a pretty sizable leap.

Yeah no kidding. I was shocked at the numbers in this article. A 15-year engineer in aerospace gets you ~120k.

I've seen fpga engineers pull down $150k

Real drought of senior talent in that area

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#85

Post by beebmam »

missedthecue wrote: post #66
beebmam wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are these numbers so massively different across the world? Do European companies generate that much less revenue? Or are labor unions in Europe just that much less effective at bargaining? Or is productivity that much lower in Europe? (I'm not sold on any of these)

Or are labor unions in Europe just that much less effective at bargaining? Ah yes, the famously powerful US software engineer's union.

My point is: it seems to me that it is possible that labor unions in Europe are less effective at bargaining than individuals in the US, but I'd like to see research. I didn't intend to imply the US software industry is unionized; the US barely has any union jobs in 2021.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#86

Post by erehweb »

Ginden wrote: post #60
cryptoz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Taxes are higher in Europe, which disincentivizes risk taking and ambitious individuals. This seems backwards to me. A society with higher taxes typically has better social safety nets, better infrastructure, less corruption, etc. Higher-tax societies incentivize risk-taking, not the other way around, especially for "ambitious individuals". When there is more structure and support around, more people are able to ta…

Safety nets provided by European countries are intended mainly for not ending homeless. If you are running business, your loses are opportunity costs. Eg. you have already 100k EUR yearly salary and you decide to try running startup. If it fails after 5 years, so you didn't get any money from it (eg. you had to paid debts at the end), you probably lost 500k EUR in opportunity cost. Progressive taxes incentivize risk…

The healthcare safety net is a very big one, and a big disincentive to risk-taking in the U.S.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#87

Post by dustintrex »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #73
zz865 wrote: post #6

> Chris can expect to make $300k at a non-FAANG company, but nearly double that if they’re willing to compromise on that “no-FAANG” stance Is that really a good rule of thumb? FAANG pays double non-FAANG?

No, it is not a good rule of thumb. Many non-FAANG tech companies pay at least as much as FAANG; I think it is more the case that FAANG pays a small discount to market based on reputation. For non-tech companies the compensation landscape is more complex and diverse but I know of several cases where software engineers are on top FAANG-like compensation, sometimes straight salary, in unexpected companies and geographi…

You're correct that FAANG salaries are not always incredible, but thanks to the red-hot stock market, total comp can be ludicrous. Many people are earning more from their share program than salaries, and that doesn't even account for capital gains for existing holdings.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#88

Post by gremIin »

jurassic wrote: post #76
metalliqaz wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah no kidding. I was shocked at the numbers in this article. A 15-year engineer in aerospace gets you ~120k.

I'm not surprised. I'm guessing the aerospace industry is relatively stable in size (we don't suddenly need a lot more planes, spacecraft, or weapon systems than in the past), so employers in that industry don't need to offer big compensation packages to lure away scarce employees from competitors in order to enable that growth.

I would guess the opposite. There is a ton of new stuff going into space, and by a larger variety of organizations than in the past.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#89

Post by reilly3000 »

Zaheer wrote: post #39

Co-Founder of Levels.fyi here. As Jacob points out, the market is extremely hot right now. It feels like salaries are inching up slightly each month. We're working on improving how numbers are updated and working on weighing recent salaries more heavily. Would really encourage everyone to submit their compensation on the site. We also have some relevant discussions with recruiters from FANG type companies on our team…

Thank for your work! I’d be really interested to see YoY trend data for the aggregate and for the same level. Also if there is ‘level inflation’ happening over time.

Re: Tech compensation in 2021

#90

Post by throwaway2016a »

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 2: Boston, MA and Denver, CO on Levels.fyi are both a median $159k but due to cost of living, that $159k in Denver is the same as $211k in Boston. I.e. adjusted for the cost of living, Denver pays 25% better.

[1] https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/Greater-Bo...

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