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Total comp sometimes includes stuff like Options (which might never cash out), bonuses (based on things you cannot control like quarterly sales) or include bene

Total comp sometimes includes stuff like Options (which might never cash out), bonuses (based on things you cannot control like quarterly sales) or include benefits. So for example if your company pays a dental insurance that costs 2,000 a year it might say your salary is 50k but your total comp is 52k. So an example could be. Your salary is 50k, your benefits are calcualted to be 10k, your options ammount to 20k and your bonus is 20k. Your total comp is 100k, but because options vest slowly you only make 1/4 of that and the bonus did not work out, so your take home salary was 55k + benefits. This can change depending on the company, role, country, contract etc. Its not really like total comp is a legal definition.

gnaman 4y ago
I've never heard anyone include the value of benefits in TC. TC is usually referred to as the cold cash you take home pre-tax. It can be stock, bonuses or salary. 100% liquid
- Arkhaine_kupo 4y ago
  In my HR portal benefits show up as part of the TC calculation, includes things like pension matching so it is not unwarranted entirely as cash calculation. But it also includes BS like will writting so yeah, I have seen some funky TC calcs out there
- scruple 4y ago
  It's common rhetoric from management when bonus targets aren't met, IME.
hamburglar 4y ago
Total comp should never include options or benefits like medical/dental. It’s just cash or things with a liquid cash value. It’s not what hits your bank account, though, because it’s pre-tax. And yes, FAANG TC of >600k for senior IC’s is absolutely a thing. The article is correct in a lot of its characterization. Your output is a lot of documents and strategic influence and not a lot of code (aka “getting things done”). But that doesn’t mean it has to be unfulfilling. You can get things done by making a compelling technical argument based on your experience and convincing hundreds of people to go build the architecture you envisioned. Do you get the thrill of debugging the code at 4am? No, you don’t. You only get that from skunkworks projects and side endeavors. But it’s still gratifying. And it pays embarrassingly well.

gnaman 4y ago

I've never heard anyone include the value of benefits in TC. TC is usually referred to as the cold cash you take home pre-tax. It can be stock, bonuses or salary. 100% liquid

Arkhaine_kupo 4y ago
In my HR portal benefits show up as part of the TC calculation, includes things like pension matching so it is not unwarranted entirely as cash calculation. But it also includes BS like will writting so yeah, I have seen some funky TC calcs out there
scruple 4y ago
It's common rhetoric from management when bonus targets aren't met, IME.

hamburglar 4y ago

Total comp should never include options or benefits like medical/dental. It’s just cash or things with a liquid cash value. It’s not what hits your bank account, though, because it’s pre-tax. And yes, FAANG TC of >600k for senior IC’s is absolutely a thing. The article is correct in a lot of its characterization. Your output is a lot of documents and strategic influence and not a lot of code (aka “getting things done”). But that doesn’t mean it has to be unfulfilling. You can get things done by making a compelling technical argument based on your experience and convincing hundreds of people to go build the architecture you envisioned. Do you get the thrill of debugging the code at 4am? No, you don’t. You only get that from skunkworks projects and side endeavors. But it’s still gratifying. And it pays embarrassingly well.