6 ms·

It’s definitely not standard. Esp at say amazon.

devy 9y 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 9y ago
  How many people are making 3M?
- throwaway713 9y ago
  What is the job title for one of these positions? Background required? What is the daily work like?
  - devy 9y 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 9y ago
  talk about an edge case. top of the top of the top.
- neopanz 9y ago
  Do you have data/sources?
- godelmachine 9y ago
  I think a PhD is compulsory at that level
fjsolwmv 9y ago
Amazon is a huge exception. You do well at Amazon when the stock price explodes upward and the equity value grows more than your total salary, because Amazon cuts salary and equity refreshes to cancel out stock growth as much as possible. Amazon stock price had been exploding updward on average for the past decade though.
jhall1468 9y ago
Right now it's happening a lot actually, because of stock growth. There are a mountain of people making over $300k whose total comp should be lower.
ryandrake 9y 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 9y ago
  Lol, I know.
- gremlinsinc 9y 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 9y 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 9y 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.
lochlan 9y ago
Ignoring stock appreciation Sr. SDEs at Amazon have a total comp target of ~$250k-$350k. Same for L6 SDMs. It’s definitely “standard” for some levels/job families.
- godelmachine 9y ago
  May I ask what's SDM?

devy 9y 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 9y ago
How many people are making 3M?
throwaway713 9y ago
What is the job title for one of these positions? Background required? What is the daily work like?
- devy 9y 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 9y ago
talk about an edge case. top of the top of the top.
neopanz 9y ago
Do you have data/sources?
godelmachine 9y ago
I think a PhD is compulsory at that level

fjsolwmv 9y ago

Amazon is a huge exception. You do well at Amazon when the stock price explodes upward and the equity value grows more than your total salary, because Amazon cuts salary and equity refreshes to cancel out stock growth as much as possible. Amazon stock price had been exploding updward on average for the past decade though.

jhall1468 9y ago

Right now it's happening a lot actually, because of stock growth. There are a mountain of people making over $300k whose total comp should be lower.

ryandrake 9y 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 9y ago
Lol, I know.
gremlinsinc 9y 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 9y 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 9y 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.

lochlan 9y ago

Ignoring stock appreciation Sr. SDEs at Amazon have a total comp target of ~$250k-$350k. Same for L6 SDMs. It’s definitely “standard” for some levels/job families.

godelmachine 9y ago
May I ask what's SDM?