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Ask HN: Those making over $300k/year, how did you achieve it?

282 points by thrwunderpaid 8y ago

Recently there was a thread about someone making ~$500k/year at a FAANG company and seeing that there's people who hang out here and make ~$300k/year I always have questions for high income earners. Since I don't know any personally (or at least I think I don't) I'm hoping some are lurking and willing to answer some questions. I've set it to $300k because I think at this range the salary is exceptional even in LA/SF/NYC. These are my questions and I'm adding my own answers though my income is not really in this range; some are slightly fudged to prevent de-anonymizing. * What do you do? * What is your job title? * What is your total comp? * Who do you work for? * Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? * How long did it take you to get here? * How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? * What do you do? - I do frontend development for financial applications; think trader dashboards, openfin, etc. I have done backend work previously and actually prefer it to frontend work * What is your job title? - Associate; a generic corporate title in banking * What is your total comp? - Last year I made $118k including my yearly bonus and 401k matching * Who do you work for? - JPMorgan * Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? - A large Texas city; one of Dallas/Houston/San Antonio * How long did it take you to get here? - 5 years from my first job as a developer * How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? - It's been a gradual climb; whenever I feel there's no more to learn at my current job I look for another, each move included a pay bump. This job I managed through an acquaintance who offered to put my resume in although I was not looking for a job at the time

dreaminvm 8y ago
Not FAANG, but in SV. * What do you do? -Product management * What is your job title? -Senior Product Manager * What is your total comp? -To be super clear: -Total is ~$250k -150K base salary -50K in RSU (basically equivalent to cash for public company) -7-10k from ESPP -40k in bonus * Who do you work for? -N/A * Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? -Bay Area * How long did it take you to get here? -Hired after internship. Its been 3.5 years at current company. * How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? -Started as an engineer and quickly took the lead on a high visibility project. Lots of politics in between. Total comp in the 3.5 years: year 1: 145k year 2: 195k year 3: 225k year 4: expected to be 250k+
0xB31B1B 8y ago
300 tc is pretty standard for FAANG and the big unicorns. I pull down 330k w 5 years experience at a Uber. 180 cash, 150k equity. I’m incredibly average, 5 years exp.
- adamnemecek 8y ago
  It’s definitely not standard. Esp at say amazon.
  - devy 8y ago
    It depends on position. Total compensations for AI positions in top tier technology firms are well beyond $1M mark, some go as high as $3M annually.
    - adamnemecek 8y ago
      How many people are making 3M?
    - throwaway713 8y ago
      What is the job title for one of these positions? Background required? What is the daily work like?
      - devy 8y ago
        I donno. Research Scientist/Machine Learning Researcher? They're probably tasked with analyzing data and create AI models to assist AI-assisted product features / apis, etc.
    - inmyunix 8y ago
      talk about an edge case. top of the top of the top.
    - neopanz 8y ago
      Do you have data/sources?
    - 8y ago
throwaway713 8y ago
Also, not to hijack your question, but is it true that data scientists at FAANG companies earn significantly less in stock than software engineers?
- thrwunderpaid 8y ago
  Not at all, this is the reason I posted this question. Some of us would like a peek into our career prospects :)
- 0xB31B1B 8y ago
  Yes, but some Algo and AI researchers earn way way more.
  - throwaway713 8y ago
    What would an example of one of these people’s background be? And what job title? Individual contributor or director? “Research Scientist” perhaps, with a PhD from Stanford in NLP would be my best guess, but I have no clue.
    - inmyunix 8y ago
      you're exactly right. they're top phd's from the very top schools. hand-picked and referred out by professors who have relationships in the pvt sector. that's not to say there aren't guys who don't fit this description, but this is who gets recruited.
chrisper 8y ago
What is a FAANG? Edit: so many responses at once!
- leonkunert 8y ago
  Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netfilx, Google.
- malnourish 8y ago
  The big 5 tech stocks: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- jtmcmc 8y ago
  Facebook Apple Amazon Netflix Google
- ct0 8y ago
  https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/faang-stocks.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/faang-stocks.asp
- s3r3nity 8y ago
  Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- nulagrithom 8y ago
  From a quick Google: Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Netflix (NFLX), and Alphabet (GOOG)
- devy 8y ago
  Facebook, Apple, Aamzon, Netflix, Google https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/faang-stocks.asp https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/faang-stocks.asp
Maven911 8y ago
Wont necessarily follow the template since this is anectdotal: many "director" level (equivalent to a manager though some don't manage and purely program) make 200-300k in banking technology on the markets side in NYC, they usually have at least a decade of experience
enothereska 8y ago
https://www.financialsamurai.com/living-a-middle-class-lifestyle-on-300000-year-expensive-city/ https://www.financialsamurai.com/living-a-middle-class-lifes...
- FilterSweep 8y ago
  I wasn't expecting this depressing of a read in the AM, but its helpful.
- dx034 8y ago
  > * A 26 year old middle school teacher making $55,000 a year plus her $250,000 a year VP of Marketing wife Strange article. It's a creative way to connect a teacher's salary with a $300,000 income but in the end, this kind of salary remains the exception and is only normal in small pockets of the US.
  - thrwwyphdsalary 8y ago
    TBF $2k minimum rent and $500,000+ minimum housing prices are also only normal in small pockets of the US. I have no idea how teachers survive in expensive coastal cities.
- thrwwyphdsalary 8y ago
  The savings rate on that budget is insanely aggressive. Also, the budget is treating mortgage like it's rent. The most egregious example is college. JUST the 529 has something like $38k when the kid turns 18. The house will eventually be paid off, and 15 year mortgages are still possible in many expensive coastal cities on $300k/yr. So you have an additional $3,900/mo = $46,800/yr, some of which you can burn on college expenses. Let's say half. That means you have at most 38+8.5+46/2 = 69 PER YEAR of college. AND that's with additional 46k/2 retirement savings! Even for a huge family of 4, after discount rates [1], that's enough to pay for tuition at an expensive private college with zero scholarship over the discount rate. Especially if you forego constantly making car payments on an expensive car (drive that 5 year old car for 5 more years while the kid(s) are in college). That level of saving isn't necessary! If you're spending more than that on college, the loans to cover the difference will more than pay for themselves. (Oh, and you're in a coastal city, so there are top-tier universities within driving distance, so no ned for room&board.) [1] https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/16/discount-rates-rise-yet-again-private-colleges-and-universities https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/05/16/discount-rate... edit: I can't read columns correctly. need coffee.
fjsolwmv 8y ago
> Associate; a generic corporate title in banking To be highly paid, get a job at a company run by (former) software engineers who see software as the profit engine of their company. Not a bank that sees software as an IT cost center. In general, you make the most money at a company where the founder or senior management have the same background as you and are biased to think your job role is the most important one in the company. Facebook programmer, hospital doctor, Oracle lawyer, etc
- alangibson 8y ago
  > Oracle lawyer zing!
- euph0ria 8y ago
  Oracle LOL :)
- isseu 8y ago
  > Oracle lawyer Ouch
- ctime 8y ago
  This is actually really good advice.
- jimmydddd 8y ago
  Great advice. My father always says that you should go to a company where you work in a profit center, not a cost center. A lawyer at a law firm, instead of the legal dept. at a corp.; a coder at a software company, instead of part of the IT dept.; a marketer at a marketing company, instead of part of the marketing dept. at a corp., etc.
- julnepht 8y ago
  Wish I could upvote this comment more than once, this was the key takeaway after working in a business where software was a cost center 10+ years ago. I have always made this a rule for all my following jobs.
trendia 8y ago
FAANG is Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet’s Google.
- eXpl0it3r 8y ago
  Thanks! Not even a quick Google search could tell me the meaning.
  - solarkraft 8y ago
    The acronym seems to change every few weeks. I saw another one all over the comments a while ago.
    - kerbalspacepro 8y ago
      Friendster Alcoa AmerisourceBergen Nestle Glencore
  - JepZ 8y ago
    You might wanna try DuckDuckGo ;-) https://duckduckgo.com/?q=FAANG https://duckduckgo.com/?q=FAANG Their search results aren't always better, but sometimes you might find some surprising features (e.g. direct StackOverflow results).
devilmoon 8y ago
Question from someone not living in the US: How come you guys have such high salaries compared to ROW? Is the cost of life that much higher than other countries, or is your income simply taxed less / companies have generally more money to spend on employees? I am currently working in one of the highest paying (if not the highest) consultancy firms in my country, and my salary is probably lower than your minimum wage. It's actually something that pisses me off more than it should when I think about it.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  There is a geographic disparity in how tech workers are valued. Might consider working remote for a US company that'll bring your wage up above what your local tech economy will provide for. As a sibling comment points out, health insurance and child care consume quite a bit of a wage in the US (our employer portion is $20k/year alone for a family of four; childcare is easily $1k/per child/per month for 2 days a week of care). My wife is giving birth tomorrow to our second child, and we're prepared for a bill anywhere between $5k-10k all-in, even with a quality insurance plan at my company.
  - devilmoon 8y ago
    I've thought about working remote but I've heard that unless the company is geared towards making the playing field even for remote/onsite workers you'll be having an hard time getting noticed/pulled into projects. Might be something I'll look into if nothing I can find in the EU satisfies me.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
    - toomuchtodo 8y ago
      Don't give up! There are opportunities out there. Contact companies you're interested in who don't have open positions listed and communicate your interest. Despite what the echo chamber will tell you, it's still all about networking and who you know that gets you the job, rarely merit.
Apreche 8y ago
Here's the real question. If you are pulling that much, why are you still working? Why not head straight to the beach and live a wonderful life of idle luxury?
- jabgrabdthrow 8y ago
  Not everyone is depressed or parasitic by nature
  - passiveincomelg 8y ago
    How is that "parasitic"? Participating in investment banking, surveillance capitalism, weapons manufacturing and lots of other fields where these salaries are payed are much worse for society than sitting on the beach (IMHO obv).
- sharemywin 8y ago
  would still take 10 years to get enough money to maintain a beach lifestyle. Then, you have the boredom.
- paulcole 8y ago
  From what I've noticed, there are 2 answers: 1. The smaller group: People who do retire quietly. You don't hear about them. 2. The larger group: People who are capable of earning that salary are the type who can't just sit at the beach. Much as youth is wasted on the young, wealth is often wasted on the wealthy.
- FloayYerBoat 8y ago
  ...for a few years until the money runs out and your skills have atrophied.
  - FilterSweep 8y ago
    It goes away extremely fast.
    - 8y ago
mabbo 8y ago
I've been reached out to before by recruiters for High Freq trading companies and other financial groups, offering 300-500k starting. A friend of mine worked at one of them and basically said that yeah you do make that kind of money but you work 70-80hrs/week and if anything is ever determined to be a crime, you'll be the one who gets thrown under the bus.
- dx034 8y ago
  I think this applies to many jobs in Investment Banking as well. Salaries are great but you won't have much time to spend it.
  - vs2 8y ago
    didnt OP say he works for JPMorgan?
- ptero 8y ago
  I am curious what "thrown under the bus" is: getting fired (which some/many may consider an acceptable risk for a high salary position) or being blamed / framed by a company for a jail time; or something else?
  - andrewchoi 8y ago
    An example: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-goldman-sachs-aleynikov/ex-goldman-programmers-code-theft-conviction-revived-by-new-york-court-idUSKBN1582L0 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-goldman-sachs-aleynikov/e...
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syntaxing 8y ago
Any MechE here in the states that makes over $300k?! I rarely meet anyone that makes over $200K even if they are a principal engineer or management in the MechE related positions. Maybe high level engineering management will reach this salary but even then it's rare (I'm on the East coast if that matters).
The0racle 8y ago
Currently earning $300k base with 100k in RSUs annually at Oracle as an engineer, though my title is different (director title). All they've asked from me so far is engineering IC work. I had to negotiate hard for it, and my expertise spans multiple currently hot tech domains. Also a former founder of my own startup. I'll also say that despite the common hater mentality against Oracle, it's been a nice place to work in my experience. As long as your boss and team are a good fit, you can have a good life, interesting work and good balance.
- solarkraft 8y ago
  This makes me wonder whether Oracle's unpopularity raises the wages they pay.
  - The0racle 8y ago
    It's definitely possible. I've also learned that a lot of folks at Oracle don't make that much money, but like their teams, projects, and stability. Can't say I completely get it. It's definitely more chill than startup life, though.
- godelmachine 8y ago
  May I ask what's IC?
  - neuronsguy 8y ago
    I think it means Individual Contributor work, so he's coding stuff not managing people
wyldfire 8y ago
Does anyone have this kind of compensation at FAANG but outside of those megalopolis, ultra-expensive real estate cities?
- thrwunderpaid 8y ago
  I've read previously of machine learning specialists in Atlanta reaching this level of compensation
  - cirgue 8y ago
    Do you have any company names to go with that?
  - yespleasethrow 8y ago
    I am one of these Atlanta-based machine learning specialists, here to confirm that we do exist. But I think it is very rare, and I am not sure many at all are doing $300k+. Since the cost of living is comparatively low, though, I am doing way better than I ever could dream of doing in the bay.
    - throwaway713 8y ago
      What on earth sort of companies? I grew up near Atlanta and can’t think of any that would pay $300k for machine learning expertise. (I’m just curious because I will probably be living there again at some point in the future and I have a background in ML).
    - atl_throw 8y ago
      well damn, now you've piqued my interest.
exogeny 8y ago
CPO for 400+ person, post Series-D private company. Salary and bonus, about $350k. Maybe $400k or slightly higher if I'm counting options. Report to the CEO. I live in Brooklyn, office is in Manhattan. Got here by my current company acquiring mine; I've been here a little under three years and have resisted starting another company because I like my current one so much and frankly, I've got a lot of impact. I have a CS background from a top-end school which made my first few career moves relatively easy. One difference is that I was always more interested in the product side of things so I started after school as a product/front-end engineering/design generalist (ie: get shit done guy) for Google and then a series of startups, which allowed me to collect a lot of things to point to so far as my contributions. Google was too slow and bureaucratic, the other startups were interesting but not mine.
- bauer 8y ago
  Mind clarifying what CPO means in your case? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPO Could take a guess from several of those.
  - zild3d 8y ago
    usually Chief Product Officer
    - softawre 8y ago
      At our 5k person company, the CPO has the heads of engineering and product management report to him, and is responsible for them working together well and delivering product.
      - exogeny 8y ago
        In my case, I have the product management and UX groups reporting to me. CTO is responsible for engineering, and as you could guess, the CTO and I are joined at the hip relative to keeping a good pace of delivery.
  - 8y ago
faangthrow 8y ago
* What do you do? "Internal Tools & Automation". String together data pipelines (source and sink), write system tools, rapid app development for small and time limited tasks, review and optimize code for the team at large, public API reviews for usability / sanity. * What is your job title? Whatever I want :^). But my card currently says Lead Automation Engineer * What is your total comp? Amortizing my RSUs, it's about 300K/Y, with about 50% stock in a public company. * Who do you work for? FAANG * Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? Moved around the Bay Area a bit * How long did it take you to get here? 2 years at a low volume / high value / esoteric material semiconductor foundry 4 years here. * How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? Cold call from recruiter after passively posting my resume on a job board (never asked which one). Once here, just through performing well and getting exposure to other teams and how the OS works through experience.
- nexus2045 8y ago
  Can you talk more about your experience, or what sort of projects you worked on in previous roles to become a "lead automation engineer"?
  - faangthrow 8y ago
    Anything in particular? I touched on this a bit in the description. In short, I would say it has felt like a straight forward progression after performing well yet being aggressive with pay negotiations. The latter becomes easier when you realize it’s not money out of your managers pocket, just a spigot guarded by HR.
    - pm90 8y ago
      > The latter becomes easier when you realize it’s not money out of your managers pocket, just a spigot guarded by HR. Hah, I like this characterization. I've often walked away from lowball offers only to be contacted by hiring managers with much better offers. I can't say I agree with a company's policy of trying to bring in engineers at the lowest rate possible. I'm still somewhat Mid-Level though, when I do get to play a more important part in hiring decisions, I will most certainly try to change these shitty policies. At first I kinda felt that I deserved the higher comp. because of how firm I would be in asking for what I wanted, but lately I've come to realize that most engineers don't really want to negotiate hard but they do need a good compensation to be happy (lets not fool ourselves here).
reacharavindh 8y ago
Reading such a post on HN is only fanning my financial insecurity. I'm a Comp. Engineer in early 30, who used to draw approx. 130K (105 + 25K RSUs) from a major company in the south east USA. Moved to Europe(Denmark) for personal reasons, and have been essentially working for less than half that money I used to make. ($96K after taxes in US vs $48K after taxes in Denmark) - 10 years of experience. Before you ask, that 130K job was not hell, it was a great experience. Nice people, great working hours/culture/balance. I keep telling myself that the quality of life after I moved here has improved in everything else except money. But, it's not completely true. Yes, I don't need to worry about * healthcare, * gun violence, * fear of being kicked out due to the 10+ year wait for Green card (Indian on H1B), * Childcare when I need for kids in future. But, I question whether I'm wasting my prime earning years (comp.Engineer) at a place that does not pay well when compared to the US for superficial benefits. I'm not comparing Silicon valley standards.. Any HNers reading my rant from outside USA, care to share your thoughts?
- ryandrake 8y ago
  These threads are mostly comedy and hot air. Don’t let them fan anything. Everyone here says they’re making $300k. It’s a trope that won’t die. They are either statistical outliers or exaggerating. Median for the Bay Area (which tends to be the highest in the country if not the world) is around $115k plus equity. I’m not going to trot out the links again, but these numbers are Googlable unlike all the anecdotes.
  - dx034 8y ago
    Even the $300k numbers here are 50%+ equity. That's a considerable risk. It worked over the past 10 years because tech stocks have outperformed everything else. If we see a true tech stock crash (50%+ correction), many of those $300k salaries are in reality closer to $200k (or less if you'll never be able to sell the stocks). I don't wish that to anyone but it's important to keep in mind that stock bonus is something very different from cash salary.
    - Redoubts 8y ago
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throwaway-cto 8y ago
(Using a throwaway, as uncomfortable associating this with public username) What do you do? * What is your job title? CTO * What is your total comp? $600k salary, $500k cash performance bonus, $750k equity mix (RSUs and options) * Who do you work for? Post C-round VC backed tech company, <500 employees, 200+ engineering on my team * Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? London, UK * How long did it take you to get here? ~12 years * How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? Worked for a couple FANNGs, did consulting, built a brand for myself, got hired to replace a founder CTO who maxed out their skillset.
conanbatt 8y ago
Its noticeable to me that FAANG companies get to this heights because of their stock compensation. An economic downturn or hit to the tech sector will immediately drop the compensation for its worker significantly. (Not to say that they are still noticeable salaries). I wonder outside of FAANG how easy it is to get 300k salaries.
- wyldfire 8y ago
  Does it normalize -- will you get granted more shares at the lower share price? In which case the only risk is when the share price drops during the time it takes to vest. Certainly a bummer for that year (or years) they're in a down trend, but seems less likely that a "plummet" kind of slope would happen year over year.
  - conanbatt 8y ago
    If the company gets a 30-40% stock hit, its not going to still be generous, and of course salaries across the board will drop. Netflix has the most solid business model that could keep up the salaries (they give little to no stock i hear), but the rest would take a hit before anything can be thought of.
csomar 8y ago
It is sad there isn't a single serious answer. If you are making $300k+, you should be able to write a decent and detailed answer as long as it doesn't expose your anonymity. Another important question: What is your take-way home amount vs. what you pay in taxes. $300k is cool but if you are paying $100k of it to uncle Sam, then it is not really $300k.
- himlion 8y ago
  It's a common convention to talk about pre-tax compensation. Everyone understands that's not take-home pay.
- lolsal 8y ago
  > $300k is cool but if you are paying $100k of it to uncle Sam, then it is not really $300k. Sure it is.
LandR 8y ago
The US compared to the UK is insane salary wise. A good developer in the UK might make £40-£45k a year ($56k) According to glass door at Amazon in the UK you can make anywhere from £30k to £50k. Microsoft goes a bit higher (in London, but everything is higher in London) to around £65k for SE2. I only know one friend who is a developer on £100k+, most of us are on around £30k to £40k. I know one Senior Developer doing Web Development on around £25k ($35k) The fraction of people in the UK pulling in £100k+ in any job is tiny, nevermind tech workers.
- inventingwithmo 8y ago
  There's a bunch of senior roles in London going for 70+ at the moment. The market is changing (slowly)
- Blackstone4 8y ago
  Are you including contractors? My understanding is that tech contracting in London is where the money is at. You can make £400 a day or ~£84,000 a year. This is with a lower all-in tax rate so your take-home pay is higher if you take it as a dividend. I used to be a software engineer but changed to finance (asset management) to get paid more. I went from £23k a year to £50k.
  - zimpenfish 8y ago
    You can easily make £400+ a day with tech contracting in London, yep. I've been doing it for years and I'm defiantly middle of the road. If you're a niche expert (MUMPS, KDB, etc.), you can probably make double that.
    - Blackstone4 8y ago
      @zimpenfish do you have any advice on contracting? I was thinking about going into one day. I have a diverse background and have been a quantitative analyst, software engineer, and investment analyst. I have a MEng in Mathematical modelling (from a good UK uni) and a CFA Charterholder. My current tech stack (about 1 year experience) is React, JS/Typescript, GraphQL, Apollo Server all on AWS (AWS Lambda, AWS RDS and Docker on an EC2 instance). I used to work with Java, Linux servers and SQL (2 years experience). Would it be possible for me to contract? I could leverage my non-technical skills as well like my CFA and investment experience. :)
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bsvalley 8y ago
For the most part you'd live in a place like NYC or the Bay Area to come up with these kind of salaries. So let's assume you live in the Bay Area (California). New Federal income tax is 35% for that salary range then add 13% coming from beautiful and sunny California. We're at a 48 % tax rate. Let's round that up to 50% to simplify our maths. Congratulations - you are now making $150k/year! From 300 down to 150 just like that. Housing in the Bay Area... rent is minimum $2500 for a 1 bedroom. If you want to buy that one bedroom instead, let's make it cheap and let's pretend it's only $800k for a 1 bedroom in San Francisco. You come up with 20% down ($160k) cash and get a mortgage for the remaining $640k. Assuming you've been eating potatoes for a few years to save $160k. We're looking at a monthly payment of about $3500 at today's rate. That's roughly $40k per year to live in a tiny 1 bdr. You are now down to $110k/year from $150k. Property tax + home owner insurance + bills, etc. We're looking at %1 per year property tax so that's $8k then about $2k for home owner insurance we're now at $10k just to have the right to "own" a place. We're at $100k per year now without food, bills, etc. This is about $8300 net per month. You live in a 1bd apartment, you owe $600k to a bank, you work your butt off everyday and the only way for you to afford something bigger than bicycle is to either save money for a few months or to get a loan. You're getting paid $300k/year you can't even buy a normal car. You have to get a loan. $8000 net per months is still a lot, but in today's life you ain't rich.
- taxmancometh 8y ago
  > New Federal income tax is 35% for that salary range then add 13% coming from beautiful and sunny California. We're at a 48 % tax rate. My Federal AGI was 260K, California AGI was roughly equivalent. My Federal Total Tax was 65K My California Total Tax was 22K My total rate was therefore 33%. Source: my 2017 1040 & 540
- vostok 8y ago
  I think the math of going from $300k to $150k went by too quickly for me. Can you go over it in a little more detail?
  - flak48 8y ago
    Tax (federal + state) in California is close to 50%
irldexter 8y ago
Surprised no one has linked to this yet https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Google,Facebook,Microsoft&track=Software%20Engineer https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Google,Facebook,Microsoft&tr... where you can view the salary grades of the FAANG's compared to other public/private inc stock, as reported by staff.
aylons 8y ago
May not be the best place to ask, but I'll give a try: is this salary range in SV only for software (web and mobile)? Is there any chance an electronics, RF or DSP/FPGA engineer to reach these values? Asking for a friend...
- someguy12 8y ago
  I'm an FPGA dev making more than 300k in NYC working for a trading firm.
  - aylons 8y ago
    Thank you. Any tips on how to get in these markets? Also, do these trading firms also design their own custom equipment?
    - someguy12 8y ago
      Yeah. The trick is getting your foot in the door. Equal amounts of expertise and luck are helpful. Most jobs you'll find online or through a recruiter aren't going to be the $300k+ jobs. I found a job opening at an investment bank on monster.com (of all places) after having worked for tech companies for 15 years. I started at $150k. However once I was in finance, I was able to make connections and acquire skills that made me more valuable. After almost 5 years I was able to land a job that pays (much) more than $300k. In my experience these firms do not do true hardware design. We purchase FPGA boards from 3rd party vendors and then do the FPGA development in house.
      - aylons 8y ago
        Thank you for your tips. I see myself in the same situation you were a few years ago: After several years of experience, I'm a bit of tired of doing great stuff for so-so pay, also, I'm looking for a relocation. I'll certainly put finance as an alternative, now.
throwaway77296 8y ago
* What do you do? Software engineer working on the machine learning side of the company. I help research scientists build working large-scale systems that can actually be used in production. Working on production, user-facing applications makes it easy to justify why your salary should be high: if I can show a 20% improvement in performance, I can save the company $X00,000/year in costs. It's also important to work in the area of the company they care about. Your managers (and their managers) will have more power and influence. Working on plumbing doesn't get you paid as much as user-facing. * What is your job title? Senior software engineer * What is your total comp? - 150k base salary - ~30k bonus / year - ~100k stock / year (at current stock price) - [not counted in the above] 60k one-time signing bonus * Who do you work for? FAANG, don't want to be more specific * Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? Live and work in SF * How long did it take you to get here? - Undergrad BS in 2009 at top-4 CS school, hired directly into top company at 110k total compensation. Worked on maintaining a large distributed system. Was paid "less" than I could have but the work was technically difficult and I learned a ton. Economy was down and getting a job wasn't as easy. - Switched jobs and company in 2011 and started making 140k total compensation. Now working a more standard software engineer role on a user-facing application. - Switched jobs and company again in 2013 and made 150k total compensation at a startup in the AI space (hire #~10). Company did well for the first year, then started to do not so great. I left before it failed to do a one-year MS in AI. - Went back to school for one-year MS 2015-2016. Didn't learn as much as I hoped, and cost me a chunk of change, but networking and the diploma was critical in landing my current job. - Hired as a senior software engineer at 240k in 2016. Have stayed with this company and got a salary bump last year (and the stock is now worth more). * How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? All of the above. Well-off parents to help me get to a top undergrad school who could pay for my education so I could focus on classes. Was always top-20% of class, but never top-5%. Went to lots of job fairs, negotiated my first offer. Always look for new hard problems. Switch jobs often for a higher salary. Work in whichever area the company cares about.
- godelmachine 8y ago
  May I ask from which school did you finish your MS?
tcrow 8y ago
From my experience, one of the best (and relatively easiest) ways to reach higher salary levels over a relatively small time frame is to, at some point, go to work as a short term consultant through a consulting agency for a little while. If you have any decent skills, getting in will be no problem. The benefits of this approach is 2 fold; 1) you will obtain a broad and diverse set of skills due to traversing many different technology stacks and dealing with all sorts of issues. 2) As you move from client to client, the consulting agency which is responsible for placing you, will be ever-increasing the rate at which they charge the client for your work. Although you probably won't see any personal gain from this increase, the big benefit comes when a company wishes to hire you long term (assuming you want to be hired also) and it's time to negotiate salary. If you know what the consultancy has been charging the company for your work, you now have a huge advantage in your negotiations. Typically, they will charge the client 3-5x what they are paying you, so just as an example, if you make 75/hr, the client is probably being charged ~200/hr. I would think you could at least double your salary if not more during final negotiations with the company. This approach worked out pretty well for me, but it does assume you have some way of knowing what the client is being charged. In my case, I befriended a few people during my assignment which allowed me to open that door.
- machinemob 8y ago
  tcrow what are some real-world examples of "consulting agencies?" I'm a technologist but examples in any industry would give me a feeling for what kind of company you're referring to. Thanks in advance.
  - gravlaks 8y ago
    Capgemini, Accenture.
  - tcrow 8y ago
    see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IT_consulting_firms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IT_consulting_firms for a list of some large scale firms. I'm sure there are also plenty of local agencies in your area that you could tap into.
j_monroe 8y ago
Anecdotally I can say that 300k/year is also achievable in Chicago working for a non FAANG startup. I've worked for a fair number of high profile startups in Chicago and I've seen a number of people reach the 300k+ realm. Generally these people have been highly skilled directors, executives, or principle engineers and they have an exceptional track record of delivering results. In general I would estimate most of the ones I have worked with as having 10-20 years experience and I believe they got to where they are by having a great combination of raw talent, a great personality, drive, and the ability to coach and mentor others. Note that I have also come across at least two or three people at this level that had gotten there simply by being friends with a founder or early investor. Usually these types of people don't last more than a year or two though. Once the company starts gaining traction and brings in real leaders that expect real returns these types of individuals are usually the first to go. Also in Chicago the principle engineers that I have seen hit this level tend to have a strong understanding of stream processing, real time analytics, the smack stack, systems engineering, and data science. From my own interviewing and hiring experiences in Chicago I can also say that if you can demonstrate skills in these areas as en engineer and have some greenfield experience it's pretty easy to hit 150k-200k total comp with no more than 5 years of total experience. I haven't seen anyone under principle hit 200k+ with a reasonable work life balance, I know a few fintech engineers that approach 250k+ but they work 80 hour weeks and hate their life.
deleted 8y ago
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deanmoriarty 8y ago
Pretty normal in coastal areas. I recently interviewed at FAANG and these are the offers I received. I have 6 years of experience as a standard software engineer, I consider myself a solid contributor but nothing special: - Facebook (SV): ~380k (60% salary, 40% stocks) - Google (SV): ~310k (60% salary, 40% stocks) - Netflix (SV): ~410k (100% salary) - Hedge fund (NYC): ~450k (40% salary, 60% bonus) Everything is per year, I divided the stock part by the grant period (4 years). If you're wondering, I did not take any of these offers. My current compensation at a series C startup is ~280k (80% salary, 20% cash performance bonus) and I have ~3M worth of stock options (based on the last preferred valuation, though I am granted common so definitely more at risk to get screwed) of which I currently vested 50%. I hope will be able to get liquid in a couple years or so, though I'm not fully counting on it and I'm taking the risk.
- deleted 8y ago
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- godelmachine 8y ago
  May I ask what technologies have you worked on ? What skills were required at the NYC Hedge Fund?
flashgordon 8y ago
Lot of Leetcode!
- flashgordon 8y ago
  Now as glib as that sounds, let me clarify. In the valley hiring has become extremely focussed towards attracting "talent" but in the FAANGs there is really no way to qualify experience unless you are a brand (inventor of X, co-founder of Y, author of framework Z). Unfortunately also in the FANGs the stacks are extremely customized (after years of picking and choosing what works for said companies), so even if you had a lot of experience you may not be aligned (perception here) with the companies' venerated stacks. This leads to the situation where there is not much room for specialized folks (unless you are again the branded ones). In this situation there are very limited ways of judging candidates in a standardized way. Lo behold puzzles and leetcode! Many companies (in the FANGs) routinely reject experienced candidates who cannot solve leetcode problem # (put in your favorite problem here). This is for the FANGs and FANG wannabees. At startups the scene is different as you dont have a scaling problem with recruitment so leetcode is not the focal point of your judgement. But you asked how to make "big" bucks and not quantum money!
yeahhhhsry 8y ago
FAANG, Boston, 3 years, engineer. 160 salary, 40 performance bonus cash, 120 equity
tastyham 8y ago
Denver area. 10-15 years experience coding, ~3 years experience in leadership/management. Currently in webdev, spend 50/50 time coding vs management work. $165k base, ~$190-210 total comp depending on year. Work 35-40 hours a week. Mostly feel that I got here by being in the right place at the right time (luck), and being able to evaluate opportunities and accept a little risk chasing promising, but uncertain companies/positions when they become available. Also learned the importance of self-marketing and how to make yourself valuable.
throwaway_300k 8y ago
Just hired as a team lead for a big-name non-FANG tech company. Compensation includes a 1-year cliff vest in a mix of cash and stock, so I'm in a superposition of making ~180 (if I leave before the year is up) or ~320. A cliff vest like that is probably a good path into this tier, since it lets employers take a chance on somebody without being out quite as much money if they don't live up. I work in NYC. I'm close to 10 years in software engineering and this is my first 300k position. I arrogantly consider myself an underachiever--part of me feels like if I'd really tried, I'd be doing a lot better or at least have gotten here faster. I took a 60k software engineering job out of college, quit after a few years of no advancement, taught myself more skills, got a 100k job and managed to actually get enthusiastic enough about it to impress my bosses and get promoted and mentored. Eventually my career (and salary) growth was slowing down and I was depressed from 2016 and felt like I needed a change of venue to help shake me out of it. I made an account on hired.com and set a minimum salary of ~180 (significantly more than I was making), thinking that would be a long time coming. It wasn't, I nailed a tech interview for once, and the offer included the large amount of stock, which I negotiated up a bit.
Mandatum 8y ago
* What do you do? - Specialist consulting? I help large organisations migrate systems, develop API's in-house, train existing staff to use good tools and frameworks.. I wear a lot of hats, but it's mostly API development. I think most developers could manage it with a good foundation and knowledge of how things "should be done". * What is your job title? - Often something with "API", "Integration" or "Engineer" in the role. Varies by client, I let them decide. * What is your total comp? $350K/yr * Who do you work for? Varies; usually banks, education, government, insurance - not traditionally IT places. * Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? Australia * How long did it take you to get here? 5 years from doing an internship where I was made to write VB6. In 2013. * How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? Mix of luck, soft skills, good mentors and really hard fucking work. First job was a fluke - found a great team who I learned a lot from. Got the right title bumps at the right times. Was happy to tell people no and give ultimatums on pay and titles. Didn't put up with bad managers, shit code and toxic culture during downturns. My resignation is always the same, "right now I don't think this is the right environment for me at this point in my career, I've found another opportunity I wish to pursue. It's been great blah blah blah". Eventually just started selling my time by the hour, now I put up my rate every 3 months (or at the end of a contract which is usually 6+ months) until I can't find a job, then I take a holiday and usually land something within a few months at the new rate. Honestly, I think most average developers at large organisations are just that - average. The kind of people who've been writing code for 20 years but still not using source control properly or in some cases at all. Ask them something obscure about anything in their code-base and they'll tell you what you need in under 20 seconds. I think this is usually because they've had a manager in the past who said no and questioned everything, so they stopped improving and just maintained.
throw20180411 8y ago
> What do you do? Quantitative strategy research and trading. I own all aspects of my strategies' research and development, and also fill in as architect for some components that are owned by other teams. > What is your job title? Analyst. > What is your total comp? $1.5mm ($200k base) cash. Last three years have ranged from $1.25-2.5mm. > Who do you work for? A hedge fund. > Where do you live? NYC tri-state area. I go to the office two days a week. > How long did it take you to get here? Similar roles with less upside after college (4-5 years). Current role since 2015 > How did you get here Superior technical skills, having developed 10 or so "unique" ideas that have been profitable over several years and zealously guarding the IP. Being intimately familiar with another 100+ (from academic/practitioner literature, information leakage) that I can layer on and tweak. And in this industry, luck always helps.
- crispyporkbites 8y ago
  Where does the 1mn USD come from, and how do you keep ownership of it? e.g. why doesn't your company hold say, 700k back? as 300k is still a massive 150% bonus.
  - throw20180411 8y ago
    It comes from a profit-sharing agreement. Mine is roughly formulaic but not contractual (keep X% of profits). Contractual agreements can have X ranging from 10 to 50.
- tennis7331 8y ago
  How would you classify your firm? Hedge fund or prop shop? Size and AUM? What percentile would you say your compensation is compared to your peers?
aws_ls 8y ago
After reading all the answers, have an observation. Not many startup founders have replied. Most are FAANG employees. Some similar roles in other product companies. One/two consultants. And one hedge fund guy.

ryandrake 8y ago

You forget: Everyone on HN makes $300k, drives a Porsche and has a supermodel as a significant other. I’d regard the self-reported anecdotes as outliers. $300k (total including equity) is at least one, possibly two standard deviations above the mean for software professionals. I’ve been in the industry for 20 years and work at one of these ‘top’ places and don’t make anything even close to that. These threads are always good for a morning laugh though.

adamnemecek 8y ago
Lol, I know.
gremlinsinc 8y ago
this makes me sad... On paper i make 90k, but haven't been paid in > a month because of cashflow (dev firm with one major client (MLM Company) who's not paying recently and not happy). Before that most I've made is 65k.. as a jr/intermediate web dev. The rest of my company quit, because of the pay issues, so I'm now the sole dev trying to pull us back up from the void, as a bonus now I'm a partner and President of Software Development... with 10% equity should we succeed. I'm always 'planning' on groking ai/ml but I never did algebra 2 or calculus, so I've got some math I need to brush up on before I get there. Before I get there i'll probably have my own tech agency/consulting firm and just go the entrepreneur route, rather than become a level 10 developer working on ai, but I can always dream right?
- markoman 8y ago
  Cost of living mustn't be too high where you're at or I wouldn't imagine you'd be able to make ends meet with the savings that $65K would afford. I hope the absent payroll doesn't last long for you. One has to wonder what your hours are if 'the rest' of your company quit. Good luck.
  - gremlinsinc 8y ago
    Lately it's about 12 hours a day... till I get us to launch day on the clients app. Then we should get all back-pay they're withholding...I can burn both company/client to the ground, if I'm not paid eventually, and I'll pull the nuclear option if I have to. Hopefully after launch we can afford at least 2-3 more devs, as pres. of software, I'm planning on making us be more 'lean' and spend less money. We got rid of the office/went remote for one thing. We'll focus more on full-stack devs instead of having frontend/backend people who would sometimes sit around and wait for the other team to finish something that was blocking them... working the back/frontend of the stack can alleviate those bottlenecks some.

slantedview 8y ago

Mostly cost of living. The locations where these jobs are tend to be very expensive to live (which is why the location part of this question will be interesting).

devilmoon 8y ago
what would rent+bills cost in SF, for example?
- ng12 8y ago
  $1.5-2k will get you a single room in an apartment, a studio will run you at least $2.5k. Forget it if you have a family
- friedman23 8y ago
  Rent + bills cost around $3700 for me for a 1 bedroom apartment a 15 minute walk from work but I also get paid $147k salary. I make the maximum contribution to my 401k every month, so after rent, payroll, retirement, health insurance, and taxes I take home around $3500 a month. This doesn't include my stock bonus, free breakfast lunch an dinner which I do take advantage of, and other small perks that add up to thousands a year.
  - LandR 8y ago
    That's crazy, my MORTGAGE is £455 a month, my factors are ~£160, then the rest of the bills is about ~£200-£300ish So my living costs each month is around £900 ($1200) I have a large apartment, living room is about 600sq feet and I have 2 big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, gated entrace to the complex, a handy man, a concierge, my own private parking space as I'm in a big city... $3700 a month is ludicrous. I'd want to live in a castle for that.
    - devilmoon 8y ago
      man where the fuck do you live to get all of that for only 900£? I pay 750€ish per month rent+bills for a bedroom in a shared apartment
      - LandR 8y ago
        I live in Scotland (Glasgow). THe place was £170k to buy and needed about £40k ish work done to it. The £40k came out of savings, £70k deposit and you end with a really cheap fixed mortgage on £100k that comes to £445 a month, in fact it's low enough that I overpay it some months by double to get the mortgage paid off quicker.
        kss238 8y ago
        Glasgow is tiny compared to NYC, SF, LON, etc. In an equivalent sized city in the U.S. you could easily find a house for $200k.
        devilmoon 8y ago
        it's probably not size but rather the "hotness" of the city, i.e. afaik Rome is the biggest city in Italy by far (maybe the biggest in EU as far as actual size is concerned) but cost of living is quite low compared to other EU capitals and even other cities in IT, Milan i.e.
    - iamben 8y ago
      Unless you bought a long time ago, I'm going to take a guess you're not in London. You could expect to pay £900 for a room (maybe including, maybe excluding bills) in a flatshare in a decent(ish)/popular location.
    - friedman23 8y ago
      >$3700 a month is ludicrous. I'd want to live in a castle for that. I'm the person you are responding to and I agree, but this is what I get if I don't want to commute.
borkt 8y ago
I work in Civil Engineering for a municipality in the bay area. We are having an incredibly difficult time getting any qualified applicants because it is not enjoyable to live in the bay area on the salary we offer compared to the cost of living. I'm pretty sure the salary for tech workers is not to compensate for cost of living, especially when I look at what my parents could afford on a blue collar salary in the North Bay when I was growing up. It is the wages paid that are raising the cost of living, not the cost of living raising the wages.

thrwunderpaid 8y ago

Cost of living in the US gets ridiculous. Healthcare is expensive and gets more expensive the more you make. As much as I make I'm probably one bad accident away from being wiped out financially When you add a family, child care is super expensive; think $350/week for two kids Not to say we aren't hyper-consuming gluttons, but I think that's only about one third of the picture

ng12 8y ago
> Healthcare is expensive and gets more expensive the more you make Huh? Are you self employed? I don't understand this.
- thrwunderpaid 8y ago
  The company I work for has what seems to be progressive deductibles. The less you make the lower your deductible will be. For some people here the only choice is a high deductible plan
- tsunamifury 8y ago
  The hospitals regularly write off bills for lower income individuals, while better paid patients are stuck with the insurance-inflated bill if they aren't covered.
paul7986 8y ago
Don’t forget the govt takes over 40 percent when your making upper class to higher level salaries especially if your single. That 300k is really only 180k annually. So the govt takes the salary of a lower level upper class person for taxes. When u make the jump from 50k to a higher tax bracket, taxes will shock u!
deleted 8y ago
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throwaway2016a 8y ago
$350 for two kids? I pay $350 a week for one kid to go to daycare. And that's in New Hampshire not in a city like Boston of SF. And that's not counting food, clothing, and other necessary child expenses.
johnny313 8y ago
Childcare can be way more expensive in some parts of the US - $500+ a week for 2 kids in the Portland, OR area.

mabbo 8y ago

Competition, and value. At the height of Microsoft's days, the average employee generated something like $2m in value. Take a dozen companies like that, where the income of the company divided by the number of employees is still in the millions, and have them fight for the best talent. Lately, tech is especially special for this because a good employee is so much more valuable than a bad one. Some developers honestly produce negative value, while a solid team of good people can pay their own salaries many times over.

devilmoon 8y ago
There's still the question of FAANG branches in other parts of the world not paying nearly as much as they do in the US, which is bullshit to me - if an employee generates value while working in the US, it does so outside of it as well. Companies this big shouldn't lower their compensation to match the country they operate in, I feel like it's an insult to employees who simply were born/decided to live in a different country
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  But 'value contributed' is only a part of the equation that goes into how salaries are calculated.
  - Daniel3 8y ago
    It's a very small component actually. "Value contributed over nominal employee" might be a better way to think about it. Compensation is set almost exclusively on "What must we pay you to keep you from leaving and doing the same thing for the company that is the same distance from where you chose to live. If there ISN'T another company, its vastly less. If the thing you do is something that everyone can do, it's vastly less.
- David 8y ago
  Yes, but they do it because they can. Local talent in those places accepts lower salaries, so they're still getting good people. There are significant barriers to moving (for the employee) and hiring remotely (for employers) which means the salaries don't equalize across regions very well. Employers are mostly competing with other local employers, so there's not much pressure to increase compensation and salaries change slowly.
- dlwdlw 8y ago
  The end reason is always market dynamics. Certain people can have certain rationalizations but the market doesn't lie. Note that it's not a perfect market because of things like immigration control and artificial friction via the broken IMO interview process. There are many people in China/India who are smarter and harder working and more driven than many people at FANG headquarters. However they're competing with each other in a highly competitive area while in the US there is less competition because of moats dug to create better quality of life. Like how elevators beep when there are too many people to prevent crowding. So the end reason is very very similar to why any sort of inequality exists at all, just in a more extreme and jarring form because the field in question is supposed to be THE meritocratic field. (Which it is in a way... But most of that disappears in large companies. And in the truly free economic playing ground it's not about smarts but about money and smarts)
- throwawyfrcmnt 8y ago
  Maybe not for the 300-500k/year region, but for the 80-200k/year region: At least for software/engineering roles in big (non banking) companies a salary in the 90 - 120k region is quite possible, for product/sales people with all bonuses probably more. I got around 82k (plus variable bonus and retirement stuff) after 2.5years. 3rd job after my graduation. 6th or 7th (relevant) job all in all. Considering how much lower the cost for living (compared to eg. SF is) and how much other stuff is covered (insurance, retirement, general infrastructure stuff), the divide is not that big. But it's still there (and pisses me off, too). The company I worked for payed considerably higher salaries for otherwise equal roles located in SF (and constantly complained about the quality they got for their money in SF). That was also often a reason quoted for lower yearly bonuses for the whole company, which again pissed everyone off..
- mabbo 8y ago
  Oh, you don't need to convince me. I used to be an Amazon Toronto employee!

Blackstone4 8y ago

The large software groups i.e. FAANG have very high margins and are very profitable. This means they can afford to pay their staff very well. I live in the UK and the cost of living in London is roughly the same as NYC but salaries are lower for the same job. Certain companies and countries (Luxembourg, Switzerland, UAE) have structural advantages which means staff get paid more. It is not always merit based. So you will have some very talented people who are are in the 'wrong' region or industry and get paid materially less than they could be.

devilmoon 8y ago
What really pisses me off about FAANG branches in EU is that they will pay you way less than what they're paying for the same role in the US, which feels like an insult. London I believe is the best market in the EU for cost of living/salary tech-wise - luxembourg, switzerland, UAE have a cost of living which is off the charts, i.e. yes in switzerland you can get 5k€/mo for an entry level job but having breakfast outside will probably cost you in the 10€-20€ range, which is madness compared to the rest of EU
- friedman23 8y ago
  It's definitely not fair to you that you get paid less because you were born in a different country but that's just how it works. The rest of the world simply doesn't have the demand for tech talent that the US does.
  - Daniel3 8y ago
    Imagining a world where all the candidates from everywhere could move to SF, etc for their ideal job, do you think wages would rise or fall? Hint: They'd fall. A free market economy is left no other choice than to treat the job "environment" as a "job market", complete with the dynamics of supply and demand.
- Blackstone4 8y ago
  It's frustrating right. Stating the obvious: the world isn't fair. If you're in software, the US is the place to be. Haven't said that it's not always easy. I almost got an investment job in the UAE with a SWF. They had a change of strategy which I didn't fit into. This was after 7 stages and me flying out there for two and a half days of back to back interviews. Comp included accommodation and a tax-free salary in the $200k range....
samfisher83 8y ago
Netflix and Amazon's margins aren't that great. How are they able to afford these salaries?

bjourne 8y ago

They are measuring total compensation. In European countries, you have five weeks of paid vacation and money that is put into your retirement fund in addition to your salary. Plus sick days. That is worth 10-24 % more than your base monthly salary. The spread of US developer salaries appear to be insanely high though. Median is "only" 70k according to this site: https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Developer/Salary https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Developer/...

devilmoon 8y ago
Where are you pulling the five weeks figure from? It's more like 20ish days, after that if your employer is ok with it you can "borrow" vacation and pay it back by not generating more vacation days while you work or pay when you quit your job. Retirement funds, I don't know about the rest of EU, but in my country are basically a scam - here you are forced to pay 10% of your gross salary per month into the fund and you can start getting pension after 35yrs of work (provided you are older than 70yo), that means I'm paying money I will NEVER get back, since median age is going up and employement down, no one will be around to pay my pension like I'm paying my parents' with my salary. Sick days are on the company only for the first 3 days, after that the healthcare system pays you (80% of your rate, iirc)
- bjourne 8y ago
  I guess it varies by country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_by_country#/media/File:Map_of_Vacation_Days_Around_the_World.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_b...
- chrisper 8y ago
  Where are you from? In my country a company would pay 100% of the salary for 12 months and then 80% for another 12 months in case of sickness.
  - devilmoon 8y ago
    IT, you get 100% for the first three days covered by the company, 50% from the 4th day till the 20th and 66,66% from the 21st to the 180th day covered by healthcare - incidentally 180 days is the maximum number you can be on sick leave in a year
mmcnl 8y ago
Even taking that into account, the non-US salaries are still 50% lower.

justboxing 8y ago

> I question whether I'm wasting my prime earning years (comp.Engineer) Gonna be brutally honest. I think you are. Fellow Indian here, also came on H1-B to US, survived 5 layoffs in 2 companies over a 10 month period in the .COM boom and bust. Many of my fellow engineers, waay smarter than me, were not so fortunate. Some went back to India, others found jobs in UK and rest of Europe. Your complains are what I hear from them even now. Your comps ( #s ) also check out. I run http://www.visaok.in http://www.visaok.in and routinely find that jobs in Denmark, Germany, UK and couple of other countries pay about 40% to 50% less than the same in US for the same job title and similar description. Most professions have a prime and a software engineer's career, IMO, peaks at around late 30s or early 40s in terms of the base salary and compensation. I've found the range for a Sr. Software Engineer in a non-Silicon Valley / FAANG company to top around 150K to 170K in San Francisco / Bay Area. If you are average in terms of abilities, you can easily get a Software Engineer job at the IT department of a medium to large corp here in San Francisco for about 110K to 140K. Grow from there. I would say try to come back to US on an H1B or any other Visa. Try to tell yourself you are here temporarily, and that you can always go back to Denmark as a fall back, or after you've peaked here and want to settle down and work towards FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). This may be a harder sell if you are married to a European and went there for that reason. Most western women, I found from experience, always want to move back to their home town after marriage, even if it's a bone chilling place like Siberia or Wisconsin or Alaska.

kamaal 8y ago
>>I would say try to come back to US on an H1B or any other Visa. As a fellow India, who returned from US. I'd say decide on a permanent home and stay there. Its very hard to retire in places you don't know much about. Also decide on a house, as early as possible. People who are thinking they will live like nomads and later retire in India have no clue what they are talking about. India is growing by leaps and bounds, nothing that you save will be sufficient 20 years from now. You won't even be able to afford a home.