4 ms·
Staff SWE, Google Seattle. Total 2018 comp will be around 550k with a roughly 55/45 equity/cash split if GOOG shares remain constant. Historically they have ty
by rndmswethrwawy 9y ago
Staff SWE, Google Seattle.
Total 2018 comp will be around 550k with a roughly 55/45 equity/cash split if GOOG shares remain constant. Historically they have typically gone up meaningfully over the course of any given year.
The cash component includes base salary and bonus.
- checker659 9y agoIs Staff SWE different from regular SWE? What's the difference?
- 4k 9y agoIirc, staff SWE is Google's equivalent of Principal Engineer.
- Bahamut 9y agoI think Google has principal engineers as well - a staff engineer at Google probably is equivalent to a principal engineer at most companies though.
- dx034 9y agoFor someone not working in tech, what is the difference between an engineer and a principal engineer?
- ben0x539 9y agoprincipal engineer is when you want to give someone more salary but they dont wanna be a manager
- arebop 9y agoThe Principal has a very distinguished and widely-recognized track record of achievement.
- beamatronic 9y agoWhat's interesting here is the social dimension of this. It's not enough that you are competent and have achievements. They key is that your achievements are recognized socially.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- rndmswethrwawy 9y agoIt (staff) is a level, one past senior engineer. The difference is that senior engineers do something resembling engineering. When not attending meetings, I turn coffee into emails and Google docs.
- SmellTheGlove 9y ago> The difference is that senior engineers do something resembling engineering. When not attending meetings, I turn coffee into emails and Google docs. I like you.
- browsing 9y agoI'm still a student, I have a few questions: -What tech skills sets do you have? Do you need a MS/PhD at your level? If not, does it help? In school we learn the standard algorithms/data structures material, but I want to expand my horizons and begin learning what is applicable to industry. I am very curious to learn what someone at your level has skills in. I'd like to pick up something not taught in school and begin hacking away on a project that will help me... which leads to my next question -What are good beginner resources/tutorials you recommend to learn these skill sets? Are there any good projects you can point me to? -Just curious. Does "550k with a roughly 55/45 equity/cash split" mean you make ~247,000 base + ~302,500 in stock options? I am not too familiar with how compensation is broken down.
- rndmswethrwawy 9y agoNot going to talk about my specific skills (throwaway account). The algorithms stuff is useful. More useful than it seems. It comes up often in many engineering jobs. Perhaps more importantly at your stage in life, it will get you an internship. Do internships. If you miss the one you really want, think hard about why, then try again. Internships are the best place to start into my next piece of advice. Specialize in something valuable while you're in school or once you start into your career. Jobs I might look for if I were entering the work force today: - Image processing or other noisy data handling. - Robotics, especially something requiring interdisciplinary skills like control theory. - Deep learning techniques are all the rage; you'll be much more useful if you understand how they work and can build novel topologies. Being taken seriously here will likely require a portfolio (maybe graduate work). - Systems programming is an unending hellscape of horrible problems. Some people seem to enjoy it. - If you have a knack for it, security. It takes a certain deviousness to think of new ways to misuse things. It takes a wizard to do something like Meltdown and Spectre. It doesn't really matter what you become a domain expert in as long as it's valuable. It does matter that you don't treat "domain expert" as a fixed target. In terms of extracurricular work, find an open source project that's got engagement from companies with lots of senior people (Kubernetes would be a good example, it has many very talented people working on it). Fix open bugs. Fix the onboarding experience. Start with trivial things and go from there. Don't get dismayed when you end up with hundreds of review comments, that's how you learn. Regarding compensation, the split is approximate. The cash is both salary and an annual bonus paid out in January. The stock is actual stock, not options, so every month some number of Google shares show up in my brokerage.
- gigatexal 9y agoHats off to you sir! half a mill in total compensation is amazing. That's doctor money for much less of the time in school.
- seattle_spring 9y agoAlso usually comes with an entire childhood of learning in computers, whereas learning to be a doctor really doesn't start in earnest until med school.
- gigatexal 9y agoi fail to really understand algorithms so i think support roles is all i will ever muster -- still gotta give kudos where it's due. And I agree, a lifetime spent in computing is what i did too, when kids were out playing i was building a 486.
- bitcoinmoney 9y agohow long have you been working in the industry already?
- rndmswethrwawy 9y agoI have approximately 9 years of industry experience, following a BS and MS.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- who_is_firing 9y agoThanks for answering the previous person's questions; your answers were very helpful. Can you talk about how long it takes most people to reach staff level (or how long it took you)? At what level do most engineers plateau at Google (meaning most people are unable to go past it)?
- rndmswethrwawy 9y agoI came into Google as Senior with about six years experience at another large tech company (where I'd also made senior recently). Senior (one level below Staff) is deemed "career level," and if you just want to build stuff it's a good place to stop. Staff involves a much more substantial leadership and coordination component, and that requires both the skill and desire to take on that sort of work.