5 ms·

What companies are paying 5 year senior enigneers $200k base salary in the Valley???

by balls187 11y ago

didip 11y ago
I can come up with a few on top of my head: Netflix, Apple, Google
- balls187 11y ago
  Do you have sources for this information? Is 200k median salary, or an outlier for the top senior engineer there?
  - tptacek 11y ago
    The top senior engineer at Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn is not making $200k. More than 10 years ago, my in-the-door offer as one member of a team of 5-6 senior developers at an east coast tech firm was higher than $200k.
    - balls187 11y ago
      > The top senior engineer at Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn is not making $200k. Fair point. The Top engineer at each of those companies is making more than $200k. Edited for clarity.
      - dsacco 11y ago
        What he meant is that they are making far more than $200k, which makes his next sentence illustrative as an example.
        balls187 11y ago
        I understood what he was saying, and I concurred to his statement: that top engineers at Google et al, are making more than $200k
        infinite8s 11y ago
        Not only are they making more than 200k, they are making WAY more than 200k.
  - mbesto 11y ago
    Source: http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/netflix-inc/2015 http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/netflix-inc/2015 http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/google-inc/2015?utf8=%E2%9C%93&refine%5Bjob_title%5D=&refine%5Bcity%5D=&refine%5Bstate%5D=CA&commit=Refine http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/google-inc/2015?utf8=%E2...
  - potatolicious 11y ago
    It's not median - it's maybe median if you select only for senior-level engineers, most of our industry leans quite young. The "outlier for top engineers" at the above companies are in the $500k+ range. I'm being entirely serious.
- rdl 11y ago
  I don't think anyone makes $200k base at Netflix after 5 years as a serious SWE. "Starts with a 3" is what I've heard pretty consistently.
thenewwazoo 11y ago
Facebook, Salesforce, LinkedIn. And that's just what I have either direct or first-hand knowledge of.
tptacek 11y ago
The best approximation of an answer to that question I can find is "virtually every large non-startup tech company in the valley that isn't Cisco".
- balls187 11y ago
  If that's the case, shouldn't there be evidence (other than anecdotal comments via HN) to support that? Not that it's so far fetched that big Valley firms are paying over $200k base salary, but if it was so prevalent, I'd expect to see more concrete evidence to support that.
  - smm2000 11y ago
    Literally, ask any friend working as SWE in any of those companies - they will confirm numbers. You are pretty much guaranteed to make that money in 5 years if you get promoted with average velocity.
    - grahamannett 11y ago
      I'm not saying you are wrong, but wouldn't this: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-San-Francisco-Salaries-EI_IE9079.0,6_IL.7,20_IM759.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-San-Francisco-Salari... be more indicative than asking a person first hand what they make? I don't think saying 'personally confront friends/workers at said companies about salaries' is anymore reliable than anonymously submitted.
      - Bahamut 11y ago
        Look at total compensation - average total compensation says ~$238k for senior, which certainly seems to confirm numbers...and they may be higher currently since I'd guess that those numbers probably span across a number of years. Google SF is a smaller office also.
        balls187 11y ago
patio11 11y ago
AppAmaGooFaceSoft and every company which is isomorphic to them. Tens of thousands of people have this pay package.
- Bahamut 11y ago
  I don't think Amazon compensates that much - I interviewed with them this past summer, and they tried to lowball me. I gave a firm number that I would not go below after giving some numbers I have turned down in the past, and the process stalled indefinitely. I have also heard stories about Apple lowballing friends as well, to the point startups were giving higher compensation. The others, I have heard stories about or could believe.
  - crucifiction 11y ago
    You were probably down leveled based on the interview. The comp will max out lower (and therefore the offer won't be able to budge significantly higher) than you may achieve somewhere that did not downlevel you.
    - Bahamut 11y ago
      I don't think so - I am pretty certain I aced both technical phone screens, answered the questions fast, and explained everything clearly with a high level understanding of everything asked (including all the nuances) while remaining calm & jovial the whole way. The technical screens were some of the easiest interviews I've ever had. I should note that I didn't get to the in-person interview, and that was because salary negotiations start beforehand. I did my research afterwards, and everything I found seemed to point towards cheapness.
      - crucifiction 11y ago
        Having worked there, I am not sure I believe you. An SDE interview is a single phone screen before onsite. Salary is also not negotiated before an onsite + offer in hand. I was a hiring manager and often matched or exceeded competing offers from MSFT/GOOG, so our pay was not significantly different. The only difference is that Amazon base pay maxes out lower (at about 160k) and therefore RSUs make up a larger portion of salary for higher level positions.
alexandercrohde 11y ago
I hate to be put in this position, but I have to call BS. This entire thread is highly biased towards people who make more: people who make more want to chime in, people who make less are more embarrassed / discouraged from chiming in. I'm a natural (coding since 3rd grade), out of college for 6 years, and I've only known 1 engineer in my career who made over 200k. Now if by BigCo you mean Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, then I don't know them, so I can't comment. But if by BigCo you mean IBM, Cisco, Intel, etc then I can guarantee you that I don't know a single person making 250k, and glassdoor generally corroborates (if you google STAFF (> senior) software engineer in SF for IBM your average is 132 base in SF)
- thedufer 11y ago
  Where do you live? These numbers are fairly local to SF/NYC/Seattle, with other large cities trailing a bit and smaller cities farther behind. That said, in those cities they are far from absurd. I started out similar to you (coding since elementary school) and now live in NYC ~3.5 years out of college. Off the top of my head, I could name half a dozen developers making seven figures, and at least 100 making over $200k.
  - alexandercrohde 11y ago
    I live in San Francisco, and have for about 4 years. I'm shocked you know the salaries of 100 other developers. Care to share some of the companies that are paying this much to developers 3.5 years out of college? I'd love to corroborate on glassdoor.
    - thedufer 11y ago
      I don't know exact salaries of that many people, but I know payscales at a couple high-paying companies and people who work there, so I put 2 and 2 together. I wouldn't count people who are borderline since there's a bit of estimating involved. I would slightly less confidently put the same group of people at $250k or more. I recently turned down an offer from Google for $270k total comp, so they're definitely one of the high-paying companies. I know Facebook pays similarly well, but have no interest in working there. Being in NYC, though, the highest paying are mostly in finance. I've found Glassdoor to run very low for higher-paying positions, though. Their numbers are all salary as far as I can tell, while a large portion of compensation is in RSUs and bonuses (40%-90% at compensation levels of $250k and up).

What companies are paying 5 year senior enigneers $200k base salary in the Valley???

didip 11y ago

I can come up with a few on top of my head: Netflix, Apple, Google

balls187 11y ago
Do you have sources for this information? Is 200k median salary, or an outlier for the top senior engineer there?
- tptacek 11y ago
  The top senior engineer at Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn is not making $200k. More than 10 years ago, my in-the-door offer as one member of a team of 5-6 senior developers at an east coast tech firm was higher than $200k.
  - balls187 11y ago
    > The top senior engineer at Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn is not making $200k. Fair point. The Top engineer at each of those companies is making more than $200k. Edited for clarity.
    - dsacco 11y ago
      What he meant is that they are making far more than $200k, which makes his next sentence illustrative as an example.
      - balls187 11y ago
        I understood what he was saying, and I concurred to his statement: that top engineers at Google et al, are making more than $200k
        infinite8s 11y ago
        Not only are they making more than 200k, they are making WAY more than 200k.
- mbesto 11y ago
  Source: http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/netflix-inc/2015 http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/netflix-inc/2015 http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/google-inc/2015?utf8=%E2%9C%93&refine%5Bjob_title%5D=&refine%5Bcity%5D=&refine%5Bstate%5D=CA&commit=Refine http://data.jobsintech.io/companies/google-inc/2015?utf8=%E2...
- potatolicious 11y ago
  It's not median - it's maybe median if you select only for senior-level engineers, most of our industry leans quite young. The "outlier for top engineers" at the above companies are in the $500k+ range. I'm being entirely serious.
rdl 11y ago
I don't think anyone makes $200k base at Netflix after 5 years as a serious SWE. "Starts with a 3" is what I've heard pretty consistently.

thenewwazoo 11y ago

Facebook, Salesforce, LinkedIn. And that's just what I have either direct or first-hand knowledge of.

tptacek 11y ago

The best approximation of an answer to that question I can find is "virtually every large non-startup tech company in the valley that isn't Cisco".

balls187 11y ago
If that's the case, shouldn't there be evidence (other than anecdotal comments via HN) to support that? Not that it's so far fetched that big Valley firms are paying over $200k base salary, but if it was so prevalent, I'd expect to see more concrete evidence to support that.
- smm2000 11y ago
  Literally, ask any friend working as SWE in any of those companies - they will confirm numbers. You are pretty much guaranteed to make that money in 5 years if you get promoted with average velocity.
  - grahamannett 11y ago
    I'm not saying you are wrong, but wouldn't this: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-San-Francisco-Salaries-EI_IE9079.0,6_IL.7,20_IM759.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-San-Francisco-Salari... be more indicative than asking a person first hand what they make? I don't think saying 'personally confront friends/workers at said companies about salaries' is anymore reliable than anonymously submitted.
    - Bahamut 11y ago
      Look at total compensation - average total compensation says ~$238k for senior, which certainly seems to confirm numbers...and they may be higher currently since I'd guess that those numbers probably span across a number of years. Google SF is a smaller office also.
      - balls187 11y ago

patio11 11y ago

AppAmaGooFaceSoft and every company which is isomorphic to them. Tens of thousands of people have this pay package.

Bahamut 11y ago
I don't think Amazon compensates that much - I interviewed with them this past summer, and they tried to lowball me. I gave a firm number that I would not go below after giving some numbers I have turned down in the past, and the process stalled indefinitely. I have also heard stories about Apple lowballing friends as well, to the point startups were giving higher compensation. The others, I have heard stories about or could believe.
- crucifiction 11y ago
  You were probably down leveled based on the interview. The comp will max out lower (and therefore the offer won't be able to budge significantly higher) than you may achieve somewhere that did not downlevel you.
  - Bahamut 11y ago
    I don't think so - I am pretty certain I aced both technical phone screens, answered the questions fast, and explained everything clearly with a high level understanding of everything asked (including all the nuances) while remaining calm & jovial the whole way. The technical screens were some of the easiest interviews I've ever had. I should note that I didn't get to the in-person interview, and that was because salary negotiations start beforehand. I did my research afterwards, and everything I found seemed to point towards cheapness.
    - crucifiction 11y ago
      Having worked there, I am not sure I believe you. An SDE interview is a single phone screen before onsite. Salary is also not negotiated before an onsite + offer in hand. I was a hiring manager and often matched or exceeded competing offers from MSFT/GOOG, so our pay was not significantly different. The only difference is that Amazon base pay maxes out lower (at about 160k) and therefore RSUs make up a larger portion of salary for higher level positions.

alexandercrohde 11y ago

I hate to be put in this position, but I have to call BS. This entire thread is highly biased towards people who make more: people who make more want to chime in, people who make less are more embarrassed / discouraged from chiming in. I'm a natural (coding since 3rd grade), out of college for 6 years, and I've only known 1 engineer in my career who made over 200k. Now if by BigCo you mean Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, then I don't know them, so I can't comment. But if by BigCo you mean IBM, Cisco, Intel, etc then I can guarantee you that I don't know a single person making 250k, and glassdoor generally corroborates (if you google STAFF (> senior) software engineer in SF for IBM your average is 132 base in SF)

thedufer 11y ago
Where do you live? These numbers are fairly local to SF/NYC/Seattle, with other large cities trailing a bit and smaller cities farther behind. That said, in those cities they are far from absurd. I started out similar to you (coding since elementary school) and now live in NYC ~3.5 years out of college. Off the top of my head, I could name half a dozen developers making seven figures, and at least 100 making over $200k.
- alexandercrohde 11y ago
  I live in San Francisco, and have for about 4 years. I'm shocked you know the salaries of 100 other developers. Care to share some of the companies that are paying this much to developers 3.5 years out of college? I'd love to corroborate on glassdoor.
  - thedufer 11y ago
    I don't know exact salaries of that many people, but I know payscales at a couple high-paying companies and people who work there, so I put 2 and 2 together. I wouldn't count people who are borderline since there's a bit of estimating involved. I would slightly less confidently put the same group of people at $250k or more. I recently turned down an offer from Google for $270k total comp, so they're definitely one of the high-paying companies. I know Facebook pays similarly well, but have no interest in working there. Being in NYC, though, the highest paying are mostly in finance. I've found Glassdoor to run very low for higher-paying positions, though. Their numbers are all salary as far as I can tell, while a large portion of compensation is in RSUs and bonuses (40%-90% at compensation levels of $250k and up).