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Staff level at Google/Facebook/LinkedIn will give you ~200k base + stock + bonus without being 'specialized' like others claim here. E.g. for me at Staff level

Staff level at Google/Facebook/LinkedIn will give you ~200k base + stock + bonus without being 'specialized' like others claim here. E.g. for me at Staff level it's 200k base (>400k total with stock and bonus for last year) with ~5 years working as a Software Engineer. As a Senior at these companies you'll likely max out at 180-190k base but with stock + bonus you easily break 300k after your stocks starts vesting. The stock based part of your salary will increase more and more the higher your position gets. E.g. from the salaries I know it's perhaps 20-25k more base salary per level but the amount of stocks you get each year (or at offer time) will increase by a multiple of that while also depending a lot on how your work is perceived.

bsvalley 10y ago
Of course, google has the highest salaries. If you're a staff at Google I'd expect $200k base. Same if you work in finance. Though, in most of the case you won't make $200k/y base salary with 10 years of exp in "java" or anything related to java technologies. Except if you're at the big 5 + financial/stock market related companies in NYC. There are way too many people doing Java... It's easy to find and most of the contractors do java.
- throwawaysv 10y ago
  Even at series A+ startups 180-190k base for 10 years of experience is not that unusual and if you get less in SV I would assume you should get a pretty big part of the equity. No matter what I wouldn't count stocks/options in these cases and there's likely no bonus. But you see that even then it's already pretty close to 200k. So at least in SV I would say this is pretty standard for at least the top 10% of companies and likely much more pay this. Edit: I general I think people complaining about the high cost of living really don't know how much you can earn here in SV after working a few years for a company. Especially equity gets underestimated by most people and it's comparing 'normal' salaries with base + perhaps a small bonus with the salaries here in SV which are after a while mostly based on stock (at least half of your salary often more after a few years and as long it's a publicly traded company that means real money not fake hopes). The houses cost much more here if you don't waste salary it's not that hard to safe for it especially before you have kids. And as soon as you're in the game with some property you have a great salary and fixed costs for your housing situation. I would n't bet on it but it likely also appreciates in value much more than anywhere in the US which is a nice side-effect. Just wanted to add this to make it clear that I think it pays to be in SV salary + experience wise and outdoors in general are amazing here so the quality of life is pretty nice here if you get into one of the growing companies or found your own after you saved enough.
  - throwawaysv 10y ago
    Also there is a difference between 'doing Java' and being a Software Engineer writing code in Java (or whatever other language makes sense or makes you happy). For sure you can find people 'doing Java' but I wouldn't allow them to commit a single line of code into anything I care about or want to be associated with. It's not about how much code you produce (which 'doing Java' sounds like) but what quality you produce and how little code you write to make your project do what it should do. That's exactly where these two kinds of people differ. With 10 years+ I would hope a developer is in the second part and wouldn't hire someone still being in the first one.

bsvalley 10y ago

Of course, google has the highest salaries. If you're a staff at Google I'd expect $200k base. Same if you work in finance. Though, in most of the case you won't make $200k/y base salary with 10 years of exp in "java" or anything related to java technologies. Except if you're at the big 5 + financial/stock market related companies in NYC. There are way too many people doing Java... It's easy to find and most of the contractors do java.

throwawaysv 10y ago
Even at series A+ startups 180-190k base for 10 years of experience is not that unusual and if you get less in SV I would assume you should get a pretty big part of the equity. No matter what I wouldn't count stocks/options in these cases and there's likely no bonus. But you see that even then it's already pretty close to 200k. So at least in SV I would say this is pretty standard for at least the top 10% of companies and likely much more pay this. Edit: I general I think people complaining about the high cost of living really don't know how much you can earn here in SV after working a few years for a company. Especially equity gets underestimated by most people and it's comparing 'normal' salaries with base + perhaps a small bonus with the salaries here in SV which are after a while mostly based on stock (at least half of your salary often more after a few years and as long it's a publicly traded company that means real money not fake hopes). The houses cost much more here if you don't waste salary it's not that hard to safe for it especially before you have kids. And as soon as you're in the game with some property you have a great salary and fixed costs for your housing situation. I would n't bet on it but it likely also appreciates in value much more than anywhere in the US which is a nice side-effect. Just wanted to add this to make it clear that I think it pays to be in SV salary + experience wise and outdoors in general are amazing here so the quality of life is pretty nice here if you get into one of the growing companies or found your own after you saved enough.
- throwawaysv 10y ago
  Also there is a difference between 'doing Java' and being a Software Engineer writing code in Java (or whatever other language makes sense or makes you happy). For sure you can find people 'doing Java' but I wouldn't allow them to commit a single line of code into anything I care about or want to be associated with. It's not about how much code you produce (which 'doing Java' sounds like) but what quality you produce and how little code you write to make your project do what it should do. That's exactly where these two kinds of people differ. With 10 years+ I would hope a developer is in the second part and wouldn't hire someone still being in the first one.