4 ms·

It’s important to realize that when people are throwing around 3,4,500k etc at FAANGs they’re not generally reporting the base salary, but rather salary + RSUs.

• crate_barre 5y ago
  200 is not base yet in SF and NYC?
  • olliej 5y ago
    Can’t speak to NYC, but 200 seems to require a degree of seniority in the Bay Area. But again RSUs are a huge part(for example they make half my income in my taxes this year)
• scarface74 5y ago
  Why are you acting as if RSUs are not real money? As soon as they vest, I pay taxes on them. As soon as they hit my brokerage account, I can sell them and spend the money.
  • olliej 5y ago
    The phrasing of the question seemed to reflect the fairly common belief that the giant FAANG figures people throw around are the base salary. This is a problem that repeats in all the salary+wage transparency bills. Most of the intended targets already have established level->salary bands, discriminatory comp is largely through bonuses and stock (RSUs, options, etc).
    • scarface74 5y ago
      He clearly stated that there was “plenty of data on levels.fyi”. He knows that the total compensation includes RSUs/bonuses if he looked at the data. Options in private companies are statistically meaningless, they are close to lottery tickets.
      • el_benhameen 5y ago
        Yeah, I am aware that a significant part or majority of comp at FAANGs is in equity grants. I agree that options in private companies are realistically meaningless, especially if you’re trying to pay a mortgage, somy question here is specific to cash/bonus comp for senior roles.
        • scarface74 5y ago
          RSUs are just as good as cash. I have mine set to “sell all” when they vest. The cash shows up in my brokerage account (after taxes). It’s just more “lumpy”.
          • el_benhameen 5y ago
            Oh totally. I just mean to say that since most companies in this bucket probably aren’t public and offering RSUs, cash matters more here. Or that’s my guess, at least.
  • brailsafe 5y ago
    Well, if you were paid $0 base salary, but $300k at the end of two years if you meet some high level of performance and keep it there the entire time, does that count as money? I wouldn't put money on that money. You can't pay a mortgage with that money, or feed your kids, or pay rent.
    • scarface74 5y ago
      Major tech companies have a vesting schedule where you are guaranteed to get the stated amount of shares on a certain date. I knew the minimum number of shares I would get for the first four years after I got hired. After that, I will know for two years in advance.
      • brailsafe 5y ago
        Ya but if anything happens to prevent that schedule from taking place, you won't get those shares. Is that not correct?
        • scarface74 5y ago
          Anything happens like you lose your job before the six months is up? That’s just like saying if they agreed to pay you $250K in cash, and you lost your job in June, you wouldn’t get the other $125K. But if we are talking about the 5 largest tech companies - Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Google, I doubt they are going to be so distressed that they are going to not pay their RSUs.
          • brailsafe 5y ago
            The difference in my mind is that you have a certain amount of liquid income paid to you gradually, probably twice a month. I feel like it's more comparable to a cash bonus, except that it's a different asset and different period. So if you lose your job before that 6 months, or whatever the time period is, you're still paid money from your salary, but only that. But perhaps I misunderstood something about RSUs or one of your previous comments. As a contractor, even cash is risky the longer you draw out the payment period and terms, and there's also time-value of money to consider.
• el_benhameen 5y ago
  That's fair. This may be better phrased as "total semi-liquid comp of $200-300k". So not $200k all-cash, but also not $90k cash + (maybe $10mm but probably $0 in options).