6 ms·

I have never seen a signing bonus. Options, yearly bonus, even rev-share, sure. > There can be other facets of a company that should influence your decision, s

I have never seen a signing bonus. Options, yearly bonus, even rev-share, sure. > There can be other facets of a company that should influence your decision, such as what type of healthcare they offer, Almost universally, company health care SUCKS. Look for major medical. If it's not there, don't bother. Save yourself the 7$ a month they will rebate you, if you opt-out. JPMorgan? Trash. Experian? Trash. etc > What the 401k matching looks like This is important. Generally % of paycheck up to a limit. It does take a chunk from your paycheck, which is you saving for yourself. > whether they offer a mega backdoor Roth, whether they allow auto-sell of your vested stocks, whether there’s an employee stock purchase plan, and whether they offer free food or gym. This is all marginal and rare in my experience. Other than a little gym you can pay for or some snacks (which will eventually be abused and changed if the company is growing) or Kombucha on tap or whatever is not a consideration for me.

danceparty 7y ago
>I have never seen a signing bonus. Options, yearly bonus, even rev-share, sure. Anecdata, but I have worked for two of the big faangm companies and myself and every coworker I am aware of had a signing bonus.
urda 7y ago
> I have never seen a signing bonus. I have had multiple throughout my career and so have my peers. This is actually quite common for engineers and talent on the higher end of the skill bell curve.
- urda 7y ago
  Downvoter you confuse me. Either you've downvoted it because it is anecdata which is fair or you have discovered your personal market value and would rather not acknowledge that to yourself, thus making the "downvote" the way you can become at peace with that. Signing bonuses are not not unusual at all and, again I can't stress this to the reader any further, they are awarded consistently and constantly to top performing engineers and talent in their fields.
headcanon 7y ago
I've worked at startups in Michigan my whole career and have not seen a signing bonus either. Are these typically exclusive to FAANG companies?
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  Between myself and the people I know in NYC/SF, I would expect signing bonuses in tech, finance, law, and medicine.
- ilikehurdles 7y ago
  No, I received one with a startup in none of the above locations after negotiating salary and being ready to walk away.
- jonathanwallace 7y ago
  I've negotiated a signing bonus for one (small ~50 person) company. You never know until you ask but I would expect it to be rare.
- reallydude 7y ago
  Not just specific companies, but largely specific areas (which have to compete with specific companies). New grads will, statistically, never see signing bonuses in their career, much less out of school. People paying bonuses for new grads is a sunk opportunity cost and a company should never do it unless it hurts them in some measurable way (cost-benefit analyses are important). I've interviewed hundreds of people in Southern California, some who came out of google (does give signing bonuses) or Amazon (rarely signing bonus) and it has happened that Blizzard tempted some people with a little bonus...but these are uncommon. People who jump company to company (google to amazon and back) don't get bonuses (as rehires), although that's outside the topic of "new grads".
  - bluedevilzn 7y ago
    I joined Amazon as a new grad. Signing bonus was part of the standard new grad offer. > People paying bonuses for new grads is a sunk opportunity cost Sure but FAAMG aren't really trying to pinch pennies. Signing bonuses also usually have a clause where you have to return it, if you don't at least stay a year. Signing bonus as a new grad is a HUGE help to the new grad. When you're competing between FAAMNG, that signing bonus can sway what offer a new grad would accept. > google (does give signing bonuses) I'm currently at Google but I had to negotiate the signing bonus. It wasn't part of my original offer. > People who jump company to company... They absolutely do.

danceparty 7y ago

>I have never seen a signing bonus. Options, yearly bonus, even rev-share, sure. Anecdata, but I have worked for two of the big faangm companies and myself and every coworker I am aware of had a signing bonus.

urda 7y ago

> I have never seen a signing bonus. I have had multiple throughout my career and so have my peers. This is actually quite common for engineers and talent on the higher end of the skill bell curve.

urda 7y ago
Downvoter you confuse me. Either you've downvoted it because it is anecdata which is fair or you have discovered your personal market value and would rather not acknowledge that to yourself, thus making the "downvote" the way you can become at peace with that. Signing bonuses are not not unusual at all and, again I can't stress this to the reader any further, they are awarded consistently and constantly to top performing engineers and talent in their fields.

headcanon 7y ago

I've worked at startups in Michigan my whole career and have not seen a signing bonus either. Are these typically exclusive to FAANG companies?

lotsofpulp 7y ago
Between myself and the people I know in NYC/SF, I would expect signing bonuses in tech, finance, law, and medicine.
ilikehurdles 7y ago
No, I received one with a startup in none of the above locations after negotiating salary and being ready to walk away.
jonathanwallace 7y ago
I've negotiated a signing bonus for one (small ~50 person) company. You never know until you ask but I would expect it to be rare.
reallydude 7y ago
Not just specific companies, but largely specific areas (which have to compete with specific companies). New grads will, statistically, never see signing bonuses in their career, much less out of school. People paying bonuses for new grads is a sunk opportunity cost and a company should never do it unless it hurts them in some measurable way (cost-benefit analyses are important). I've interviewed hundreds of people in Southern California, some who came out of google (does give signing bonuses) or Amazon (rarely signing bonus) and it has happened that Blizzard tempted some people with a little bonus...but these are uncommon. People who jump company to company (google to amazon and back) don't get bonuses (as rehires), although that's outside the topic of "new grads".
- bluedevilzn 7y ago
  I joined Amazon as a new grad. Signing bonus was part of the standard new grad offer. > People paying bonuses for new grads is a sunk opportunity cost Sure but FAAMG aren't really trying to pinch pennies. Signing bonuses also usually have a clause where you have to return it, if you don't at least stay a year. Signing bonus as a new grad is a HUGE help to the new grad. When you're competing between FAAMNG, that signing bonus can sway what offer a new grad would accept. > google (does give signing bonuses) I'm currently at Google but I had to negotiate the signing bonus. It wasn't part of my original offer. > People who jump company to company... They absolutely do.