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I always assumed that it the high paid jobs in SF were proper software engineering positions as opposed to line of business apps that lower paid jobs else where

I always assumed that it the high paid jobs in SF were proper software engineering positions as opposed to line of business apps that lower paid jobs else where often are?

ZephyrBlu 6y ago
What is "proper software engineering"?
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
  Calling it "proper software engineering" is little pretentious at best, but there is some distinction to be made between software engineering in the bay area and most software engineering elsewhere. When we think of SF software, we think of software created by a company whose core product is the software itself, especially when the end-users are individuals or other software companies. This is quite a bit different than most software developed outside of the bay area. Most of it is either in-house stuff or industry-specific B2B stuff. In these situations, the software doesn't have to be pretty, it doesn't have to use cutting-edge tech to woo investors, resource utilization is much less important, and hell - it usually doesn't even have to scale. It just has to work. It just has to make someone's job incrementally better, and it'll be a success. This software can be tremendously valuable, and creating it has its own unique challenges, but the job is indeed a bit different than software engineering in the bay, and the compensation is different as well.
chris11 6y ago
There's a wide range of salaries. The highest paying companies will pay $175+ to a new grad. A of jobs pay $200k+ with equity for senior engineers.
- sgtnoodle 6y ago
  175K seems kinda crazy unless that's total yearly compensation including equity. These days even interns are making 80K+ though. The crazy SV money is in getting early equity in a company with enough secret sauce to make it long term, though, and those opportunities don't usually come with big salaries right away. It's also a very high risk way to be compensated. If you are in the position to do so, I suggest focusing on finding a job that's a good fit for your skills, work style and risk tolerance. Let the compensation details fall into place from there. Assuming you've joined a good group of people working on a real project, things will probably work out. (You of course need to be responsible for yourself and understand your financial situation. It's too easy to miss a deadline and lose equity options, for example.)
  - chris11 6y ago
    Yeah, I'm including equity. Equity at a public company like Google is liquid and easier to value. But usually new grad offers don't include a lot of equity. I'd say that pre-ipo unicorns can also be a great option if it's available to you. Base salaries are usually high, and equity can end up being really valuable. Recent IPOs have made a lot of millionaires. But I do agree with you, it's high risk and there's a lot of luck involved. And it's much more important to find a job that's a good fit for you.

I always assumed that it the high paid jobs in SF were proper software engineering positions as opposed to line of business apps that lower paid jobs else where often are?

ZephyrBlu 6y ago

What is "proper software engineering"?

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
Calling it "proper software engineering" is little pretentious at best, but there is some distinction to be made between software engineering in the bay area and most software engineering elsewhere. When we think of SF software, we think of software created by a company whose core product is the software itself, especially when the end-users are individuals or other software companies. This is quite a bit different than most software developed outside of the bay area. Most of it is either in-house stuff or industry-specific B2B stuff. In these situations, the software doesn't have to be pretty, it doesn't have to use cutting-edge tech to woo investors, resource utilization is much less important, and hell - it usually doesn't even have to scale. It just has to work. It just has to make someone's job incrementally better, and it'll be a success. This software can be tremendously valuable, and creating it has its own unique challenges, but the job is indeed a bit different than software engineering in the bay, and the compensation is different as well.

chris11 6y ago

There's a wide range of salaries. The highest paying companies will pay $175+ to a new grad. A of jobs pay $200k+ with equity for senior engineers.

sgtnoodle 6y ago
175K seems kinda crazy unless that's total yearly compensation including equity. These days even interns are making 80K+ though. The crazy SV money is in getting early equity in a company with enough secret sauce to make it long term, though, and those opportunities don't usually come with big salaries right away. It's also a very high risk way to be compensated. If you are in the position to do so, I suggest focusing on finding a job that's a good fit for your skills, work style and risk tolerance. Let the compensation details fall into place from there. Assuming you've joined a good group of people working on a real project, things will probably work out. (You of course need to be responsible for yourself and understand your financial situation. It's too easy to miss a deadline and lose equity options, for example.)
- chris11 6y ago
  Yeah, I'm including equity. Equity at a public company like Google is liquid and easier to value. But usually new grad offers don't include a lot of equity. I'd say that pre-ipo unicorns can also be a great option if it's available to you. Base salaries are usually high, and equity can end up being really valuable. Recent IPOs have made a lot of millionaires. But I do agree with you, it's high risk and there's a lot of luck involved. And it's much more important to find a job that's a good fit for you.