5 ms·

My thoughts exactly $400K? Could someone being paid this level of money please share your career path.

rco8786 10y ago
At GOOG/FB a large chunk of that comes from equity. 400k for a senior+ level engineering job at one of the "big" tech co's in the valley/SF isn't outrageous at all. Base salary ~200, bonus/equity another ~200.
- drewg123 10y ago
  Being paid in equity is just plain annoying. It makes your taxes far more complex and, at least at Google) unless you set up an autosale program a year in advance, your money is tied up in company stock until the next trading window. The taxes on equity are a huge PITA when equity is a large fraction of your salary. This is because they withhold at only 25%, even if your tax bracket is higher. This means you have to file quarterly estimated tax payments or over-withhold from your salary. I much prefer Netflix, where I just get salary. I might even be able to do my own taxes again!
  - rco8786 10y ago
    I'm painfully aware :)
  - vasilipupkin 10y ago
    Perhaps I am missing something, but the idea behind getting paid partially in equity is that your total compensation is higher.
    - rco8786 10y ago
      As long as the company('s stock) is doing well, yes. But it's also a tax hassle...though it's hard to complain about it.
  - domdip 10y ago
    Did you consider simply skipping estimated payments and paying the interest? It's only 3% above the federal funds rate. (Historical real return on equities is usually computed to be higher.) Or a hybrid (pay a reasonable amount in estimated taxes but don't put any serious effort into getting it exact).
    - tamana 10y ago
      Parent poster is being silly. It's trivial to withold some money for taxes. The pain is in calculating get your 1099 because the stock brokers get it wrong evey year, often more than once .
  - ryandrake 10y ago
    Anyone finding their $200K in tech company equity to be a big pain in the ass should feel free to send it to me. I'll grudgingly bear the burden for you. Sheesh!
tyingq 10y ago
That's in line with a VP position (directing working for the CIO) at a Non-Tech Fortune 500 company, assuming it means total comp (base, bonus, options).
drewg123 10y ago
Luck, basically. Working at Google was both a gateway to more opportunities, and a gateway to a much higher salary. I had been working remotely for a long time for a small company, and making what I considered to be good money, considering that I lived in a fly-over state. When I was hired at Google, it more than doubled my salary after a while, when stock grants began to vest. I now work for Netflix, and I am making even more than I was at Google. To this day, I cannot believe I am paid so much.
- beamatronic 10y ago
  Are you able to have a life outside work? How many hours do you work in a typicaly day/week ?
  - drewg123 10y ago
    Yes. I probably work about 45-60 hours in any given week. I have a family that I see for breakfast and dinner every day, and spend all day with most weekends. All-in-all, I work less, and have a far better work-life balance than I did a few years ago, when working for the small company. In that company, I had sole responsibility for an entire product area, and often worked over 80 hours per week. As an afterthought, I actually worked far less at Google. Probably about 45 hours a week. It was like a vacation. Being a cog in a machine and not on-call 24/7 was refreshing and enormously freeing after years of constant pressure.
    - ameen 10y ago
      Do you mind sharing your contact details? I literally burned out by working at a SmallCo (24x7 on-call) and developed multiple diseases due to stress and unhealthy sleep patterns. I'm currently rehabilitating (from an unrelated surgery) and thinking of getting back into the game.
    - Camillo 10y ago
      What team were you on at Google?

At GOOG/FB a large chunk of that comes from equity. 400k for a senior+ level engineering job at one of the "big" tech co's in the valley/SF isn't outrageous at all. Base salary ~200, bonus/equity another ~200.

drewg123 10y ago
Being paid in equity is just plain annoying. It makes your taxes far more complex and, at least at Google) unless you set up an autosale program a year in advance, your money is tied up in company stock until the next trading window. The taxes on equity are a huge PITA when equity is a large fraction of your salary. This is because they withhold at only 25%, even if your tax bracket is higher. This means you have to file quarterly estimated tax payments or over-withhold from your salary. I much prefer Netflix, where I just get salary. I might even be able to do my own taxes again!
- rco8786 10y ago
  I'm painfully aware :)
- vasilipupkin 10y ago
  Perhaps I am missing something, but the idea behind getting paid partially in equity is that your total compensation is higher.
  - rco8786 10y ago
    As long as the company('s stock) is doing well, yes. But it's also a tax hassle...though it's hard to complain about it.
- domdip 10y ago
  Did you consider simply skipping estimated payments and paying the interest? It's only 3% above the federal funds rate. (Historical real return on equities is usually computed to be higher.) Or a hybrid (pay a reasonable amount in estimated taxes but don't put any serious effort into getting it exact).
  - tamana 10y ago
    Parent poster is being silly. It's trivial to withold some money for taxes. The pain is in calculating get your 1099 because the stock brokers get it wrong evey year, often more than once .
- ryandrake 10y ago
  Anyone finding their $200K in tech company equity to be a big pain in the ass should feel free to send it to me. I'll grudgingly bear the burden for you. Sheesh!

tyingq 10y ago

That's in line with a VP position (directing working for the CIO) at a Non-Tech Fortune 500 company, assuming it means total comp (base, bonus, options).

drewg123 10y ago

Luck, basically. Working at Google was both a gateway to more opportunities, and a gateway to a much higher salary. I had been working remotely for a long time for a small company, and making what I considered to be good money, considering that I lived in a fly-over state. When I was hired at Google, it more than doubled my salary after a while, when stock grants began to vest. I now work for Netflix, and I am making even more than I was at Google. To this day, I cannot believe I am paid so much.

beamatronic 10y ago
Are you able to have a life outside work? How many hours do you work in a typicaly day/week ?
- drewg123 10y ago
  Yes. I probably work about 45-60 hours in any given week. I have a family that I see for breakfast and dinner every day, and spend all day with most weekends. All-in-all, I work less, and have a far better work-life balance than I did a few years ago, when working for the small company. In that company, I had sole responsibility for an entire product area, and often worked over 80 hours per week. As an afterthought, I actually worked far less at Google. Probably about 45 hours a week. It was like a vacation. Being a cog in a machine and not on-call 24/7 was refreshing and enormously freeing after years of constant pressure.
  - ameen 10y ago
    Do you mind sharing your contact details? I literally burned out by working at a SmallCo (24x7 on-call) and developed multiple diseases due to stress and unhealthy sleep patterns. I'm currently rehabilitating (from an unrelated surgery) and thinking of getting back into the game.
  - Camillo 10y ago
    What team were you on at Google?