6 ms·

Don’t ignore the other aspects of compensation: raises, bonuses, vacation days, health insurance, etc. It’s not just salary.

throwaway4pp24 2y ago
All of these are very significant at a FAANG and generally not as great elsewhere.
chipdart 2y ago
> It’s not just salary. The "not just salary" bit is very often used as a mirage intended to fool employees to take a lower compensation than what they can get, and then tag a bunch of conditions that can't possibly or realistically be met.
- freeqaz 2y ago
  There is certainly a balance to be struck. Being in a meat grinder that pays well is not super fun, and a lot of people would gladly take 70-80% of that in exchange for work/life balance and strong PTO. TBH that's one of the reasons I chose the company I'm at now. I had other options, but having a team that I love and very healthy PTO won me over. To each their own!
- aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 2y ago
  Members of my family have serious health problems, and the company’s PPO plans cover medical treatments with world-class providers. It would probably be prohibitively expensive for us to purchase such a plan on the open market.
  - nottorp 2y ago
    Basically a modern form of company town? Instead of being indentured by spending company scrip at the company store you're staying because of health insurance that would otherwise be unaffordable to you.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 2y ago
      Yeah, well. This is America.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  Sometimes money is really not the only variable, unless it's a very large amount, say half a million. For people with family, I believe a good insurance plan and flexibility in hours also mean a lot. Especially hours.
  - sshine 2y ago
    > a good insurance plan Can be purchased with money. > flexibility in hours Hard to not get flexibility if remote is on the table, which it usually is for these jobs.
    - syntheticnature 2y ago
      When I was a consultant, I could not find a health insurance plan that was even vaguely the equal of my current job's health insurance. Not too expensive, but simply not offered. That's not to say that job insurance is automatically good -- the job I had before being a consultant had worse health insurance that was a little worse than the plans I had as a consultant.
      - tracker1 2y ago
        My plan next time I'm doing any kind of c2c type work will be to setup with trinet or another similar company to handle payroll benefits, even if it is just me.
        fulladder 2y ago
        You'd still have GP's problem of not finding any decent health insurance offered for a single-employee business. Google "adverse selection."
        tracker1 2y ago
        The health insurance would be from TriNet (not a single-employee business). There are similar collective businesses.
- ska 2y ago
  That certainly can be true (not universally) when a company that might give you an offer is saying it. If it’s coming from a peer, especially one whose been round a few more blocks than you, may just be an observation about life.
stuff4ben 2y ago
When I was younger, the salary definitely would have been the top deciding factor. These days I'd willingly give up $50K for an extra 4 weeks of PTO. And none of that "unlimited PTO" bullshit either.
- garciasn 2y ago
  I am part of the group that misses unlimited PTO. I was averaging 8-9 weeks of time off under the unlimited model while I am capped at 5 weeks at a company with actual PTO. The only difference is that I get paid out any remaining PTO, should I leave, whereas with unlimited, there was no expectation that it will be paid out on departure.
  - javier123454321 2y ago
    I also came from a place with unlimited and I loved it. Makes me wonder if the people that regurgitate the notion that it's a trap actually have worked in places with unlimited.
    - some_random 2y ago
      There are three situations from what I've seen, one is toxic workplaces where PTO is closely tracked and people who use it are punished (socially or otherwise). That happens more often in unlimited PTO places, but absolutely happens in places with traditional PTO plans too. Second you have the more common situation where without a use-it-or-lose-it resource people end up taking less PTO than they would normally, this happens naturally A LOT. Third are people who have never worked somewhere with unlimited PTO who are justifying to themselves and others why it's bad :)
      - deleted 2y ago
        [deleted]
    - hunter2_ 2y ago
      I believe it's not intended to be a trap; it's not to encourage taking more or less than a typical amount. Rather, it's done to avoid paying out on termination in places that require doing so as mentioned earlier.

throwaway4pp24 2y ago

All of these are very significant at a FAANG and generally not as great elsewhere.

chipdart 2y ago

> It’s not just salary. The "not just salary" bit is very often used as a mirage intended to fool employees to take a lower compensation than what they can get, and then tag a bunch of conditions that can't possibly or realistically be met.

freeqaz 2y ago
There is certainly a balance to be struck. Being in a meat grinder that pays well is not super fun, and a lot of people would gladly take 70-80% of that in exchange for work/life balance and strong PTO. TBH that's one of the reasons I chose the company I'm at now. I had other options, but having a team that I love and very healthy PTO won me over. To each their own!
aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 2y ago
Members of my family have serious health problems, and the company’s PPO plans cover medical treatments with world-class providers. It would probably be prohibitively expensive for us to purchase such a plan on the open market.
- nottorp 2y ago
  Basically a modern form of company town? Instead of being indentured by spending company scrip at the company store you're staying because of health insurance that would otherwise be unaffordable to you.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 2y ago
    Yeah, well. This is America.
markus_zhang 2y ago
Sometimes money is really not the only variable, unless it's a very large amount, say half a million. For people with family, I believe a good insurance plan and flexibility in hours also mean a lot. Especially hours.
- sshine 2y ago
  > a good insurance plan Can be purchased with money. > flexibility in hours Hard to not get flexibility if remote is on the table, which it usually is for these jobs.
  - syntheticnature 2y ago
    When I was a consultant, I could not find a health insurance plan that was even vaguely the equal of my current job's health insurance. Not too expensive, but simply not offered. That's not to say that job insurance is automatically good -- the job I had before being a consultant had worse health insurance that was a little worse than the plans I had as a consultant.
    - tracker1 2y ago
      My plan next time I'm doing any kind of c2c type work will be to setup with trinet or another similar company to handle payroll benefits, even if it is just me.
      - fulladder 2y ago
        You'd still have GP's problem of not finding any decent health insurance offered for a single-employee business. Google "adverse selection."
        tracker1 2y ago
        The health insurance would be from TriNet (not a single-employee business). There are similar collective businesses.
ska 2y ago
That certainly can be true (not universally) when a company that might give you an offer is saying it. If it’s coming from a peer, especially one whose been round a few more blocks than you, may just be an observation about life.

stuff4ben 2y ago

When I was younger, the salary definitely would have been the top deciding factor. These days I'd willingly give up $50K for an extra 4 weeks of PTO. And none of that "unlimited PTO" bullshit either.

garciasn 2y ago
I am part of the group that misses unlimited PTO. I was averaging 8-9 weeks of time off under the unlimited model while I am capped at 5 weeks at a company with actual PTO. The only difference is that I get paid out any remaining PTO, should I leave, whereas with unlimited, there was no expectation that it will be paid out on departure.
- javier123454321 2y ago
  I also came from a place with unlimited and I loved it. Makes me wonder if the people that regurgitate the notion that it's a trap actually have worked in places with unlimited.
  - some_random 2y ago
    There are three situations from what I've seen, one is toxic workplaces where PTO is closely tracked and people who use it are punished (socially or otherwise). That happens more often in unlimited PTO places, but absolutely happens in places with traditional PTO plans too. Second you have the more common situation where without a use-it-or-lose-it resource people end up taking less PTO than they would normally, this happens naturally A LOT. Third are people who have never worked somewhere with unlimited PTO who are justifying to themselves and others why it's bad :)
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - hunter2_ 2y ago
    I believe it's not intended to be a trap; it's not to encourage taking more or less than a typical amount. Rather, it's done to avoid paying out on termination in places that require doing so as mentioned earlier.