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I quit my job a few years back with around $150k in the bank to fund my startup. A few months later, still nervous about leaving full time employment, I took a
by thelittleone 9y ago
I quit my job a few years back with around $150k in the bank to fund my startup. A few months later, still nervous about leaving full time employment, I took a job interview with a big four. I received an offer with a base salary of $600k. I turned that down and committed to the startup.
A few months on, I receive a letter from the tax department advising that my previous employer provided corrected earnings information and that I now owed them most of what was left in my savings account. Grim news.
That big four job was already gone so I ended up in another interview process. Leaving that interview for the train station, I realised the coins in my pocket were not enough for the train ride home.
I set out walking, it was about 5 kilometers, 30c degree heat and equatorial humidity and then it started raining. I was in a suit. Strangely enough I found myself smiling. I thought "is this all you've got?". I actually felt happy... with nothing.
A riches to rags story by traditional measure.
- davedx 9y agoI think us IT'ers feel somewhat buffered in life just by the fact that it's quite possible to get job offers with $600k salaries...
- lovich 9y agoI'm not sure that it is. 600k total I might believe someone got in the bay area for total comp, but for base salary? You'd have to be on the 1% of the 1% of devs to get that salary. It is by no means a common salary in even the US, much less the world
- thelittleone 9y ago80% base, 20% bonus. Cyber security practice leadership (not software development).
- matt_the_bass 9y agoPrevious post said 600k base?
- thelittleone 9y agoYes. $600k base (80%) + 20% for hitting assigned targets.
- lovich 9y agoSo 720k total? That is in no way a common job that an average developer can feel comfortable about getting
- olegkikin 9y agoIt's not "a" job though, it was a partner position.
- roel_v 9y agoWhich requires a buy-in, too, at least at the big 4 consulting firms. I've never heard of someone being brought in as a partner without having been partner somewhere else, or bringing over a whole group. (it's not because I haven't heard of it, that it doesn't exist, of course). I call bullshit.
- thelittleone 9y agoI don't blame you :) I'm sure I'm less intelligent than the average HN commenter and I'm certain there are many here with greater infosec expertise. So what explains the salary package? It's the combination of skills in this case. People are usually either good technically or good at sales. Rarely they're good at both. That's why most technology companies sales organisations pairs up an account managers with a tech guy. My talent was not being the best at either, but being uniquely good at both.
- ricardobeat 9y agoWhy not take the job for a year or two and have a (half) million to fund your startup?
- thelittleone 9y agoI did consider it. But the lead partner jumped through some hoops to get me admitted directly as an outsider (I had never worked in a big four). To take that job with an intent to leave in a year or two would have reflected poorly on him and me.
- jon_richards 9y agoI'm really curious why people are downvoting this. I know there's a sentiment on hacker news that you should take advantage of a company when you can, because they won't hesitate to take advantage of you. Is it that? It seems like at that level of compensation you are almost certainly in a small enough circle that any grudges you incur could severely affect you down the line.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ninjaroar 9y ago600k base salary? What type of position is that? Developer salaries in the big four (I assume you mean Google/Facebook/Amazon/Apple) are high but that is still twice what I normally hear (and have gotten offers for), and that's assuming you're talking about total comp. I'm not doubting you, i'm just curious what type of experience you need to get that.
- speedplane 9y agoIf I had a nickle every time a HN commenter said they make 500k+/yr as an engineer, I'd make 500k+/yr.
- ryandrake 9y agoDon't you know? Everyone on HN makes $500k+, drives a Ferrari and has a supermodel partner.
- thelittleone 9y agoFunny enough, I now live in Bali, earn less than $150k, drive a $3k scooter and have a supermodel partner. She just made me pumpkin soup.
- thelittleone 9y agoIt was a Partner position at a big four consulting firm. Leading up the Cyber Security practice.
- ryandrake 9y agoWhat is a "Partner position"?
- thelittleone 9y agoTraditionally, a partnership is a type of privately held company where the partners hold equity and receive a % profit share based on tenure.
- olegkikin 9y agoYou're mad to turn down $600K, unless the job really sucked. Even if you project to make millions with your startup, multiply that by the risk of ~90% failure, you wouldn't do much better than $600K/year. Still, very sorry about the situation, I'm sure you were hoping for the best.
- thelittleone 9y agoThanks I can appreciate your viewpoint. The point is money can't buy time. And in the years since, my time has been very well spent.
- golergka 9y ago> A riches to rags story by traditional measure. If you have marketable skills that at least once (even assuming that it wasn't typical occurrence) lead you to receive a $600k offer, you're not in the rags, regardless of what your financial statement says.