15 ms·

180k isn’t a whole lot in the Bay Area. But it still got a chuckle out of me because this is Apple!

by jelliclesfarm 5y ago

nightski 5y ago
Is that true? Is it typical for bonuses in the Bay Are to be much higher than 180k?
- compiler-guy 5y ago
  Bonuses for line engineers are rarely that high in the Bay Area--one would have to be pretty senior to get that normally. This is a very high number in raw terms. Also note that not everyone got the high end--180K is the top, not the bottom, and we don't really know what the distribution was. These RSUs vest over four years, so this is a $45k annual bonus (possibly growing with the stock). At somewhat senior levels, the federal and state taxes will eat perhaps 45%, so it is only ("only"!) about $25k extra each year.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    Standard bonus targets at Google, for example, are 20% of median salary at your grade, so $45k would be the standard bonus for an engineer making $225k (in base salary alone, not total comp) who "meets expectations". This is a pretty common salary level, according to levels.fyi
    - compiler-guy 5y ago
      So, on the high end at least, this more or less doubles the bonus for a senior engineer doing their job. Real money, perhaps enough to change your mind about leaving, but not life changing. On the low end, more than you had, but also perhaps less persuasive.
- vmception 5y ago
  There is a bimodal distribution On one end are the $0-$5000 bonuses where you are just supposed to be happy you got anything On the other end are formalized expectations at much higher amounts and with performance multipliers. The bonuses in the article are on top of that, but is in stock and spread out over 4 years. So their value is 1/4th of whatever is in the headline and that would put them as inline or closer to average.
- grogenaut 5y ago
  180k/4 years so 45k. To some that's a bonus, for many in the valley that's just typical yearly stock fluctuation's impact on your compensation. It depends on what the rest of their comp is. It also depends on how totally underpaid some of them may be. Tossing made up numbers, if this takes them from 500 to 545, great but smaller rate than 100-145. However if they're highly valued and only making 145 something else is wrong.
  - JKCalhoun 5y ago
    Never mind, even if you got the $180K in one lump sum it would not quite cover the downpayment on a home in the Bay Area.
    - almost_usual 5y ago
      Half of it would probably go to income tax anyway.
- hpagey 5y ago
  typical bonuses in bay area are percentage of salaries. Varies between 10% to 25% of your base. This looks like a retention grant which is also fairly common.
- KaiserPro 5y ago
  You have to remember that at least for amazon, facebook and google, most of your wage comes from shares. If you look at level.fyi you'll see that yes bonuses are between 10-25% of your wage, but your wage could make up less than 40% of your total take home money (once shares are taken into account.)

180k isn’t a whole lot in the Bay Area. But it still got a chuckle out of me because this is Apple!

nightski 5y ago

Is that true? Is it typical for bonuses in the Bay Are to be much higher than 180k?

compiler-guy 5y ago
Bonuses for line engineers are rarely that high in the Bay Area--one would have to be pretty senior to get that normally. This is a very high number in raw terms. Also note that not everyone got the high end--180K is the top, not the bottom, and we don't really know what the distribution was. These RSUs vest over four years, so this is a $45k annual bonus (possibly growing with the stock). At somewhat senior levels, the federal and state taxes will eat perhaps 45%, so it is only ("only"!) about $25k extra each year.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  Standard bonus targets at Google, for example, are 20% of median salary at your grade, so $45k would be the standard bonus for an engineer making $225k (in base salary alone, not total comp) who "meets expectations". This is a pretty common salary level, according to levels.fyi
  - compiler-guy 5y ago
    So, on the high end at least, this more or less doubles the bonus for a senior engineer doing their job. Real money, perhaps enough to change your mind about leaving, but not life changing. On the low end, more than you had, but also perhaps less persuasive.
vmception 5y ago
There is a bimodal distribution On one end are the $0-$5000 bonuses where you are just supposed to be happy you got anything On the other end are formalized expectations at much higher amounts and with performance multipliers. The bonuses in the article are on top of that, but is in stock and spread out over 4 years. So their value is 1/4th of whatever is in the headline and that would put them as inline or closer to average.
grogenaut 5y ago
180k/4 years so 45k. To some that's a bonus, for many in the valley that's just typical yearly stock fluctuation's impact on your compensation. It depends on what the rest of their comp is. It also depends on how totally underpaid some of them may be. Tossing made up numbers, if this takes them from 500 to 545, great but smaller rate than 100-145. However if they're highly valued and only making 145 something else is wrong.
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  Never mind, even if you got the $180K in one lump sum it would not quite cover the downpayment on a home in the Bay Area.
  - almost_usual 5y ago
    Half of it would probably go to income tax anyway.
hpagey 5y ago
typical bonuses in bay area are percentage of salaries. Varies between 10% to 25% of your base. This looks like a retention grant which is also fairly common.
KaiserPro 5y ago
You have to remember that at least for amazon, facebook and google, most of your wage comes from shares. If you look at level.fyi you'll see that yes bonuses are between 10-25% of your wage, but your wage could make up less than 40% of your total take home money (once shares are taken into account.)