4 ms·

Compensation, prestige, tech stack, culture - in no particular order. Excelling in one could make up for lacking a little in another. i.e. I'd be willing to ta

Compensation, prestige, tech stack, culture - in no particular order. Excelling in one could make up for lacking a little in another. i.e. I'd be willing to take a small pay cut to work for a highly prestigious company (though odds almost guaranteed they'd offer more than what I'm making now). Backwards culture (highly bureacratic, strict dress codes, being a non-tech company where tech is a costcenter) would have to be compensated for by exceptionally high monetary compensation. In fact, I'm pretty much ruling out any non-tech company for my next role, unless compensation is absolutely exceptional. I'm open to most tech stacks, with the exception of .NET and Angular which I'd prefer to avoid. Would still consider a .NET or Angular job if compensation is beyond astronomical. This ties in with the culture aspect - .NET typically implies a certain kind of culture. I don't have anything specific against .NET from a technical standpoint.

kleer001 6y ago
> prestige? I fervently avoid prestige. Why? In my experience it tends to attract the self sacrificing over achiever types that make the workplace a ego battlefield. In addition the strong competition can drive down wages and benefits. That said it feels great to be able to mention to people I meet the popular projects I've worked on and have them not only recognize it, but appreciate it. But, it's not worth it to me, in the long run, at this point in my career.
- decafninja 6y ago
  Different strokes for different folks, but interesting you mention that about wages and benefits. Aren't the most "prestigious" companies the ones that also pay the best? FAANG being the classic example, but other famous and well known companies in the SV tech sector and some niches of finance also tend to pay far better than most companies that aren't well known. The one example I can think of that might be otherwise is the game industry. On your second point, other than just feeling great, having worked at "prestigious" companies and/or projects also opens doors to future opportunities. I guess that sort of falls under recognition and appreciation.
  - kleer001 6y ago
    > game industry. yup, visual effects, same thing
  - muzani 6y ago
    The most prestigious might be FAANG + Microsoft. The highest paying seem to also be recently IPOed "startups": Pinterest, Lyft, Snap, Stripe, LinkedIn. [1]. Google has been known to undercut unless they're matching the pay of another company; there are multiple comments on HN of people who took a low salary from Google for the name so they could jump to a better job. And it seems that Oracle pays some of the lowest salaries outside America, though it seems they have a lot of benefits. I do agree that opens more opportunities later. It's like graduating ivy league, everyone will pay top tier salaries if it's on your resume. 1: https://www.levels.fyi/2019/ https://www.levels.fyi/2019/
    - decafninja 6y ago
      I would say even with undercutting, Google is still likely to significantly pay more than the greater majority of companies out there, especially outside the tech sector. I work as a senior SWE equivalent at a non-tech company. Pretty much any mid tier tech company is likely to pay me significantly more without any negotiating at all. Junior engineers at the top tier companies probably make close to what I make as a senior (if not more).

kleer001 6y ago

> prestige? I fervently avoid prestige. Why? In my experience it tends to attract the self sacrificing over achiever types that make the workplace a ego battlefield. In addition the strong competition can drive down wages and benefits. That said it feels great to be able to mention to people I meet the popular projects I've worked on and have them not only recognize it, but appreciate it. But, it's not worth it to me, in the long run, at this point in my career.

decafninja 6y ago
Different strokes for different folks, but interesting you mention that about wages and benefits. Aren't the most "prestigious" companies the ones that also pay the best? FAANG being the classic example, but other famous and well known companies in the SV tech sector and some niches of finance also tend to pay far better than most companies that aren't well known. The one example I can think of that might be otherwise is the game industry. On your second point, other than just feeling great, having worked at "prestigious" companies and/or projects also opens doors to future opportunities. I guess that sort of falls under recognition and appreciation.
- kleer001 6y ago
  > game industry. yup, visual effects, same thing
- muzani 6y ago
  The most prestigious might be FAANG + Microsoft. The highest paying seem to also be recently IPOed "startups": Pinterest, Lyft, Snap, Stripe, LinkedIn. [1]. Google has been known to undercut unless they're matching the pay of another company; there are multiple comments on HN of people who took a low salary from Google for the name so they could jump to a better job. And it seems that Oracle pays some of the lowest salaries outside America, though it seems they have a lot of benefits. I do agree that opens more opportunities later. It's like graduating ivy league, everyone will pay top tier salaries if it's on your resume. 1: https://www.levels.fyi/2019/ https://www.levels.fyi/2019/
  - decafninja 6y ago
    I would say even with undercutting, Google is still likely to significantly pay more than the greater majority of companies out there, especially outside the tech sector. I work as a senior SWE equivalent at a non-tech company. Pretty much any mid tier tech company is likely to pay me significantly more without any negotiating at all. Junior engineers at the top tier companies probably make close to what I make as a senior (if not more).