3 ms·

I was only referring to salaries regardless of technologies used. In my relatively expensive US city I do not see any companies willing to pay more than about $

I was only referring to salaries regardless of technologies used. In my relatively expensive US city I do not see any companies willing to pay more than about $150k for a senior dev. This is similar to what I see in most cities, and there are not many companies giving stock options as is common at Google, Facebook, etc. The question is: you've been doing higher level work, but has your compensation flatlined?

NotSammyHagar 11y ago
Flattened? Probably not, it's slightly higher salary, like 5%, but it's not enough time for my stock grants to vest and show a clear trajectory. I left one of the big internet superstars, and tried a startup. After a year I decided it wasn't going anywhere, so I went to a medium sized company that is really growing. I make slightly more in salary than i did at my internet superstar company, and more $ value in stock grants. My new company is growing so the stock should go up, but its less certain too. My job title looks good, so I will be able to use that in my 'next' job, if there is one; maybe I'll stay here forever. My goal is $400-$500k per year in salary and stock, over a 5 year average. Say you get about 200k in salary, and you get an initial 4 year stock grant, and each year they give you another 4 year one, so it takes several years of that to overlap. I guess I can say I'm in Seattle.
- NotSammyHagar 11y ago
  I am probably going on too much, but I really want people not to believe some ridiculous story about being washed up at 30. Learn something new, people! Before you take a job, look at your resume and see what your career trajectory is. Do you work places and go after a year (this can be bad)? Do you have a substantial time period at a strong company? Can you talk about why you left each company? What can you contribute? I was more than 10 years at Microsoft, mostly IC and some lead work, and then back to being an IC at the internet giant, then lead at a startup, now mixed design and dev at the new company; i was hired on dev skills plus experience. $150k in stock and salary is reasonable for an experienced dev, say 10 years. At the startup we paid mid career good devs 150k in salary, plus worthless options. A typical deal for devs with 10+ years who can do c++, java, distributed programming is 150-175k in salary, a couple 100k in stock, paid over 4 years, plus new grants each year. 2 years ago when twitter was doing better I got almost 200k in salary, plus double that in stock, payable over 4 years.

NotSammyHagar 11y ago

Flattened? Probably not, it's slightly higher salary, like 5%, but it's not enough time for my stock grants to vest and show a clear trajectory. I left one of the big internet superstars, and tried a startup. After a year I decided it wasn't going anywhere, so I went to a medium sized company that is really growing. I make slightly more in salary than i did at my internet superstar company, and more $ value in stock grants. My new company is growing so the stock should go up, but its less certain too. My job title looks good, so I will be able to use that in my 'next' job, if there is one; maybe I'll stay here forever. My goal is $400-$500k per year in salary and stock, over a 5 year average. Say you get about 200k in salary, and you get an initial 4 year stock grant, and each year they give you another 4 year one, so it takes several years of that to overlap. I guess I can say I'm in Seattle.

NotSammyHagar 11y ago
I am probably going on too much, but I really want people not to believe some ridiculous story about being washed up at 30. Learn something new, people! Before you take a job, look at your resume and see what your career trajectory is. Do you work places and go after a year (this can be bad)? Do you have a substantial time period at a strong company? Can you talk about why you left each company? What can you contribute? I was more than 10 years at Microsoft, mostly IC and some lead work, and then back to being an IC at the internet giant, then lead at a startup, now mixed design and dev at the new company; i was hired on dev skills plus experience. $150k in stock and salary is reasonable for an experienced dev, say 10 years. At the startup we paid mid career good devs 150k in salary, plus worthless options. A typical deal for devs with 10+ years who can do c++, java, distributed programming is 150-175k in salary, a couple 100k in stock, paid over 4 years, plus new grants each year. 2 years ago when twitter was doing better I got almost 200k in salary, plus double that in stock, payable over 4 years.