4 ms·

20% seems very low to me. In the 2 FAANG's I've worked at, the RSU's ended up being 100+% of my salary (which was average for my level).

BoorishBears 5y ago
Initial grant was 100% of one year's salary you mean right? So +25% of yearly salary before appreciation? Otherwise you're saying something like a 250k base, 1MM RSUs before stock appreciation... which is a very lopsided looking offer
- chillacy 5y ago
  It can be over 100% per year depending on level (more senior = more equity). Check out https://www.levels.fyi/ https://www.levels.fyi/ If you're senior L5, it can be around 100% per year even before appreciation. Above that and it starts going above 100% per year.
- pm90 5y ago
  This is actually a common offer. Some companies that wanna continue to offer high compensation without this upfront sticker cost are now resorting to one year rather than 4 year grants (stripe, Lyft).
  - BoorishBears 5y ago
    Stripe and Lyft are definitely not aiming to avoid upfront sticker cost with their 1 year grant scheme. An exceedingly charitable view is that they're limiting downside, but realistically they're limiting upside so that you don't end up with people reaching targeted compensation for the next 4 years in a year or two and then leaving regardless of unvested shares - But I also mentioned in a comment above, I think my view is skewed because I negotiate base aggressively As an L6 I make 250k base, and my initial grant was just over 600k in RSUs at a non-FAANG company. I think that's a higher base than median but lower equity than median for FAANG
    - pm90 5y ago
      Why? Unless you’re sure that the stock price will tumble, it makes no sense to increase your base pay aggressively. Most higher engineering levels will top out their base in the 200-300 range and all the rest of compensation will be via RSU.
      - BoorishBears 5y ago
        We're barely a year removed from some of the most volatile stock market action since 2008 Barely removed from a lot of people taking massive haircuts as COVID darlings are down 50%+ from ATH - To me equity is an investment you can't back out of for 4 years. I'm not sure the bottom isn't going to fall off the market for tech period, so I'm happy to trade equity for the ability to have some control over my investment
- shawabawa3 5y ago
  The non-faang but with faang pegged compensation company I work for does yearly grants My L5 comp is ~$150k base and $140k equity per year (I'm based in UK, would be higher if I was in the US)
  - BoorishBears 5y ago
    I guess this is just lower base than I'm expecting I work at a company in a similar situation (we get a lot of Xooglers and pay accordingly) and my L6 base is 250k and I have 150k worth of RSUs vesting per year for the next 3 years. I do negotiate base aggressively vs equity so that might be skewing my view of things
    - Infinitesimus 5y ago
      L6 (~ Staff eng) new hire offers at rich big co usually are af 250 base and 250-300k/yr in stock. See levels.fyi for some recent ones.
      - BoorishBears 5y ago
        250-300k and 250k base still seems pretty uncommon for my role (mobile development) The only company I see doing that somewhat consistently is Fa.. Meta, and they're slipping into the same place Amazon is, where they need to pile on TC to make up for an image problem
        askafriend 5y ago
        I can tell you this is not true. It's common at top companies - they are all competitive with FAANG comp. You will easily pull in $400-500k in total compensation as a mobile dev at sayyyy an AirBnB or similar. Roughly even split between base and equity.
        BoorishBears 5y ago
        Isn't your comment confirming what I said? If 400k (where I am with 250k base) to 500k (where I'd be with a 50:50 split) is the entire range you're mentioning, that's the same as saying "250k - 350k RSUs with 250k base is uncommon" isn't it? - It might be relative to my situation: I have 8 YOE experience, I'm in mobile, and most people I can talk to candidly about salary are similar. So the numbers I hear directly might be tinted by the fact ~8 YOE isn't usually enough for band topping L6 offers That being said, even Levels.fyi isn't showing me mobile devs negotiating 250k base without giving up anything on RSUs is a common situation (it definitely wasn't when I got my job, but even with the current market craze that feels like a stretch) If I'm missing something I'm glad to know more, one undersold upside of the current market is you don't absolutely have to job hop to push for more comp
- optymizer 5y ago
  I meant 100% yearly, but after reading your comment I double-checked my offers and I was wrong. RSU grant (per year) was at ~45% of base salary. I was going by my tax filings, and because of the stock growth (and additional grants), I end up with 100+% yearly, but that's quite different from the initial award. Thanks for pointing this out.

BoorishBears 5y ago

Initial grant was 100% of one year's salary you mean right? So +25% of yearly salary before appreciation? Otherwise you're saying something like a 250k base, 1MM RSUs before stock appreciation... which is a very lopsided looking offer

chillacy 5y ago
It can be over 100% per year depending on level (more senior = more equity). Check out https://www.levels.fyi/ https://www.levels.fyi/ If you're senior L5, it can be around 100% per year even before appreciation. Above that and it starts going above 100% per year.
pm90 5y ago
This is actually a common offer. Some companies that wanna continue to offer high compensation without this upfront sticker cost are now resorting to one year rather than 4 year grants (stripe, Lyft).
- BoorishBears 5y ago
  Stripe and Lyft are definitely not aiming to avoid upfront sticker cost with their 1 year grant scheme. An exceedingly charitable view is that they're limiting downside, but realistically they're limiting upside so that you don't end up with people reaching targeted compensation for the next 4 years in a year or two and then leaving regardless of unvested shares - But I also mentioned in a comment above, I think my view is skewed because I negotiate base aggressively As an L6 I make 250k base, and my initial grant was just over 600k in RSUs at a non-FAANG company. I think that's a higher base than median but lower equity than median for FAANG
  - pm90 5y ago
    Why? Unless you’re sure that the stock price will tumble, it makes no sense to increase your base pay aggressively. Most higher engineering levels will top out their base in the 200-300 range and all the rest of compensation will be via RSU.
    - BoorishBears 5y ago
      We're barely a year removed from some of the most volatile stock market action since 2008 Barely removed from a lot of people taking massive haircuts as COVID darlings are down 50%+ from ATH - To me equity is an investment you can't back out of for 4 years. I'm not sure the bottom isn't going to fall off the market for tech period, so I'm happy to trade equity for the ability to have some control over my investment
shawabawa3 5y ago
The non-faang but with faang pegged compensation company I work for does yearly grants My L5 comp is ~$150k base and $140k equity per year (I'm based in UK, would be higher if I was in the US)
- BoorishBears 5y ago
  I guess this is just lower base than I'm expecting I work at a company in a similar situation (we get a lot of Xooglers and pay accordingly) and my L6 base is 250k and I have 150k worth of RSUs vesting per year for the next 3 years. I do negotiate base aggressively vs equity so that might be skewing my view of things
  - Infinitesimus 5y ago
    L6 (~ Staff eng) new hire offers at rich big co usually are af 250 base and 250-300k/yr in stock. See levels.fyi for some recent ones.
    - BoorishBears 5y ago
      250-300k and 250k base still seems pretty uncommon for my role (mobile development) The only company I see doing that somewhat consistently is Fa.. Meta, and they're slipping into the same place Amazon is, where they need to pile on TC to make up for an image problem
      - askafriend 5y ago
        I can tell you this is not true. It's common at top companies - they are all competitive with FAANG comp. You will easily pull in $400-500k in total compensation as a mobile dev at sayyyy an AirBnB or similar. Roughly even split between base and equity.
        BoorishBears 5y ago
        Isn't your comment confirming what I said? If 400k (where I am with 250k base) to 500k (where I'd be with a 50:50 split) is the entire range you're mentioning, that's the same as saying "250k - 350k RSUs with 250k base is uncommon" isn't it? - It might be relative to my situation: I have 8 YOE experience, I'm in mobile, and most people I can talk to candidly about salary are similar. So the numbers I hear directly might be tinted by the fact ~8 YOE isn't usually enough for band topping L6 offers That being said, even Levels.fyi isn't showing me mobile devs negotiating 250k base without giving up anything on RSUs is a common situation (it definitely wasn't when I got my job, but even with the current market craze that feels like a stretch) If I'm missing something I'm glad to know more, one undersold upside of the current market is you don't absolutely have to job hop to push for more comp
optymizer 5y ago
I meant 100% yearly, but after reading your comment I double-checked my offers and I was wrong. RSU grant (per year) was at ~45% of base salary. I was going by my tax filings, and because of the stock growth (and additional grants), I end up with 100+% yearly, but that's quite different from the initial award. Thanks for pointing this out.