5 ms·
Are $500k+ yearly salaries in SV really that usual?
by heyoo 6y ago
Are $500k+ yearly salaries in SV really that usual?
- RhodesianHunter 6y agoIf you factor in stock grants and the crazy run-up in their valuations over the last decade(s), yes. This may or may not continue.
- influx 6y agoFor senior engineers, yes. I've found that https://www.levels.fyi/ https://www.levels.fyi/ is pretty accurate.
- esrauch 6y agoLevels.fyi seems to indicate senior total comp as more like 300k in Bay Area for FAANG.
- pb7 6y agoGoogle is ~$350K, Facebook is ~$375K, Amazon is ~$315K (and not known to pay well outside of equity appreciation), Apple is ~$320K for ICT4 which doesn't map well to Senior at the others, probably a bit low. Netflix is severely north of $300K but hard to say because there's just one title -- average at $450K.
- esrauch 6y agoRight: the grandparent was about north of $500k though which apparently seniors don't make, only higher levels. I'm surprised I was downvoted there?
- pb7 6y agoI guess "senior engineers" can be up to interpretation. Colloquially, I take it as someone with mid-career experience. For most of the FAANGs, "senior" can be reached in as little as 3 years out of college, with a median somewhere around 4-5. For a 30+ year career, one can safely assume your compensation will continue going up from your "senior" title 5 years in. To summarize: yeah, I suppose $500K 4-5 years out of school isn't achievable, but within 10 it is.
- TACIXAT 6y agoThat would be a staff level position, possible but not common. https://levels.fyi https://levels.fyi has details, but in the 200s for experienced, 300s for senior.
- fizwhiz 6y ago> Are $500k+ yearly salaries in SV really that usual? Salaries? Not at all. Total compensation? Well, it depends. Software engineers with < 10yrs of experience routinely make this much at FAANG. The total compensation number usually includes the following: * Salary * Bonus (anywhere between 15-25% of salary) * Initial grant that vests over 3-4yrs * Stock "refreshers" that you get annually * General equity appreciation due to a bull market For senior engineers, the equity portion of their compensation far outweighs their salary.
- naveen99 6y agoI wouldn't count the equity appreciation as compensation. you already own the capital, its your own capital gain, not income from employer at that point.
- conro1108 6y agoI'd argue that if we're talking about unvested equity, counting appreciation as a comp increase rather than capital gain is reasonable.
- logicslave12 6y agoIt’s basically guaranteed at this point. And you don’t own the capital, you don’t start getting the massively appreciated grants until you are a few years in
- blawson 6y agoYes and no. When your RSUs are granted at 100k and then vest a few years later at 300k, from yours and the IRS' perspective you made whatever + 300k.
- vkou 6y agoYes, but you should value them at 100k, because it is the functional equivalent of getting a 100k cash bonus, that you (instead of diversifying) foolishly spent on buying a single company's stock. You don't actually need to work at Facebook to sink 100k into buying Facebook stock (That you then forbid yourself from selling for 4 years).
- compthrowaway 6y agoYes as long as you're talking about total compensation; I've 7 years of experience in software engineering and my offers are in the 500-600k range of total compensation. Note this is equity value at grant; there is no appreciation (or depreciation) yet. I recently took one of those offers from a FAANG, swapping a bunch of illiquid startup RSUs for liquid equity compensation.