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It’s a huge misconception that Meta is outpaying everyone. If you’re willing to work in the Bay there are at least ten companies that will consistently beat th

It’s a huge misconception that Meta is outpaying everyone. If you’re willing to work in the Bay there are at least ten companies that will consistently beat them. Check levels.fyi For remote, I’m not sure, maybe Meta is best but unclear exactly what their remote situation is. I’ve read you’re second class citizen to MPK. Meta obviously pays super well but that’s reflective of SV paying well, they don’t stand out. They are just a better known brand. In fact despite their “toxic” brand I think they still have quite a strong overall engineering brand and many engineers interview there precisely because it “looks good on the resume.” This is especially true for the international crowd. Often times people only interview at famous companies and don’t realize the better options. Somehow FAANG has gotten reputation for being the king of compensation when none of those companies stand out, strong consumer brands and huge market caps putting them on finance radars is why they get talked about. FAANG as a term was coined by a stock analyst. Of course any individual case can vary a ton and Meta has deep pockets if they desperately want you, I’m just talking about standard IC senior E5 and staff E6 engineers. I’m not saying anyone has to move to the Bay or optimize their life for money, I’m just noting that if you do want the “cheddar” but don’t like Meta, you’re in luck. Many other companies will outpay them, I speak from experience as an IC engineer in the Bay whose spoken with many others who get offers.

pwinnski 5y ago
I was told I'd be looking at an offer in the $350k+ range working remotely, based on my location in Texas. If that's not outpaying everyone, I'm very interested in hearing of companies that aren't so repugnant willing to come close to that.
staticassertion 5y ago
> It’s a huge misconception that Meta is outpaying everyone. Offers can be pretty specific. I might be worth 300k to one company but 600k to another down the street. The ranges can get pretty ridiculous at a certain point. levels.fyi can't really cope with ranges like that, especially if you're being grabbed for a more niche role/ background that they're particularly eager to fill. What this means is that, no, you're not in luck. One company might legitimately pay you twice what the others will.
- Matthias247 5y ago
  Do they even do that? My feeling is all recruiters just mass email candidates and neither understand nor consider backgrounds or requirements. All Meta recruiters I heard from certainly where like that.
mattzito 5y ago
I think this is a relatively recent shift - anecdotally I've heard that meta is getting a lot more aggressive comp-wise, especially at the more senior levels (E7+/L7+). I'm not saying there might not be other companies paying at that level, but it definitely feels like there's a shift happening there, partially because of their toxic reputation. There's some external signals as well: https://www.recruitingnewsnetwork.com/posts/facebook-changes-name-to-meta-and-cannot-hire-enough-engineers-to-build-its-metaverse https://www.recruitingnewsnetwork.com/posts/facebook-changes... I bring all this up because 1) levels.fyi is great, but it's lacking at the more senior PM and eng levels at most companies, and 2) it's a lagging indicator if things have shifted recently.
freyir 5y ago
To save some people the trouble, here are some top-paying companies: https://www.levels.fyi/2020/ https://www.levels.fyi/2020/ This was compiled in 2020 and Meta might move up the list in 2021. It’s worth noting that Netflix does not have RSUs, and Stripe keeps appreciation of RSU value for itself. So if you expect Meta stock price to go up over the next few years (a big if), compensation at Meta could be higher in the long run.
- aoeusnth1 5y ago
  If you were that confident in Meta stock going up, then you could work for Stripe and split the difference in compensation with long term OTM call options in Meta.
cavisne 5y ago
FAANG has many other benefits (standardised hiring, promotion, performance expectations and compensation increases, profitable business with more stable stock price). Meta is the only one of the FAANG trying to break into a new area that is perceived as complex. Ie Google is trying to grow Cloud but the strategy is mostly “copy AWS and sell it well”, likewise with Microsoft. So they know they don’t need to pay top of market for these roles.

pwinnski 5y ago

I was told I'd be looking at an offer in the $350k+ range working remotely, based on my location in Texas. If that's not outpaying everyone, I'm very interested in hearing of companies that aren't so repugnant willing to come close to that.

staticassertion 5y ago

> It’s a huge misconception that Meta is outpaying everyone. Offers can be pretty specific. I might be worth 300k to one company but 600k to another down the street. The ranges can get pretty ridiculous at a certain point. levels.fyi can't really cope with ranges like that, especially if you're being grabbed for a more niche role/ background that they're particularly eager to fill. What this means is that, no, you're not in luck. One company might legitimately pay you twice what the others will.

Matthias247 5y ago
Do they even do that? My feeling is all recruiters just mass email candidates and neither understand nor consider backgrounds or requirements. All Meta recruiters I heard from certainly where like that.

mattzito 5y ago

I think this is a relatively recent shift - anecdotally I've heard that meta is getting a lot more aggressive comp-wise, especially at the more senior levels (E7+/L7+). I'm not saying there might not be other companies paying at that level, but it definitely feels like there's a shift happening there, partially because of their toxic reputation. There's some external signals as well: https://www.recruitingnewsnetwork.com/posts/facebook-changes-name-to-meta-and-cannot-hire-enough-engineers-to-build-its-metaverse https://www.recruitingnewsnetwork.com/posts/facebook-changes... I bring all this up because 1) levels.fyi is great, but it's lacking at the more senior PM and eng levels at most companies, and 2) it's a lagging indicator if things have shifted recently.

freyir 5y ago

To save some people the trouble, here are some top-paying companies: https://www.levels.fyi/2020/ https://www.levels.fyi/2020/ This was compiled in 2020 and Meta might move up the list in 2021. It’s worth noting that Netflix does not have RSUs, and Stripe keeps appreciation of RSU value for itself. So if you expect Meta stock price to go up over the next few years (a big if), compensation at Meta could be higher in the long run.

aoeusnth1 5y ago
If you were that confident in Meta stock going up, then you could work for Stripe and split the difference in compensation with long term OTM call options in Meta.

cavisne 5y ago

FAANG has many other benefits (standardised hiring, promotion, performance expectations and compensation increases, profitable business with more stable stock price). Meta is the only one of the FAANG trying to break into a new area that is perceived as complex. Ie Google is trying to grow Cloud but the strategy is mostly “copy AWS and sell it well”, likewise with Microsoft. So they know they don’t need to pay top of market for these roles.