
Ask HN: Those making over $300k/year, how did you achieve it? - thrwunderpaid
Recently there was a thread about someone making ~$500k&#x2F;year at a FAANG company and seeing that there&#x27;s people who hang out here and make ~$300k&#x2F;year I always have questions for high income earners. Since I don&#x27;t know any personally (or at least I think I don&#x27;t) I&#x27;m hoping some are lurking and willing to answer some questions. I&#x27;ve set it to $300k because I think at this range the salary is exceptional even in LA&#x2F;SF&#x2F;NYC.<p>These are my questions and I&#x27;m adding my own answers though my income is not really in this range; some are slightly fudged to prevent de-anonymizing.<p>* What do you do?<p>* What is your job title?<p>* What is your total comp?<p>* Who do you work for?<p>* Where do you live (assuming you don&#x27;t work from home)?<p>* How long did it take you to get here?<p>* How did you get here (networking&#x2F;raw technical skill&#x2F;job board&#x2F;dumb luck, etc.)?<p>* What do you do?<p>- I do frontend development for financial applications; think trader dashboards, openfin, etc. I have done backend work previously and actually prefer it to frontend work<p>* What is your job title?<p>- Associate; a generic corporate title in banking<p>* What is your total comp?<p>- Last year I made $118k including my yearly bonus and 401k matching<p>* Who do you work for?<p>- JPMorgan<p>* Where do you live (assuming you don&#x27;t work from home)?<p>- A large Texas city; one of Dallas&#x2F;Houston&#x2F;San Antonio<p>* How long did it take you to get here?<p>- 5 years from my first job as a developer<p>* How did you get here (networking&#x2F;raw technical skill&#x2F;job board&#x2F;dumb luck, etc.)?<p>- It&#x27;s been a gradual climb; whenever I feel there&#x27;s no more to learn at my current job I look for another, each move included a pay bump. This job I managed through an acquaintance who offered to put my resume in although I was not looking for a job at the time
======
reacharavindh
Reading such a post on HN is only fanning my financial insecurity.

I'm a Comp. Engineer in early 30, who used to draw approx. 130K (105 + 25K
RSUs) from a major company in the south east USA. Moved to Europe(Denmark) for
personal reasons, and have been essentially working for less than half that
money I used to make. ($96K after taxes in US vs $48K after taxes in Denmark)
- 10 years of experience.

Before you ask, that 130K job was not hell, it was a great experience. Nice
people, great working hours/culture/balance. I keep telling myself that the
quality of life after I moved here has improved in everything else except
money. But, it's not completely true. Yes, I don't need to worry about *
healthcare, * gun violence, * fear of being kicked out due to the 10+ year
wait for Green card (Indian on H1B), * Childcare when I need for kids in
future.

But, I question whether I'm wasting my prime earning years (comp.Engineer) at
a place that does not pay well when compared to the US for superficial
benefits. I'm not comparing Silicon valley standards..

Any HNers reading my rant from outside USA, care to share your thoughts?

~~~
ryandrake
These threads are mostly comedy and hot air. Don’t let them fan anything.
Everyone here says they’re making $300k. It’s a trope that won’t die. They are
either statistical outliers or exaggerating. Median for the Bay Area (which
tends to be the highest in the country if not the world) is around $115k plus
equity. I’m not going to trot out the links again, but these numbers are
Googlable unlike all the anecdotes.

~~~
dx034
Even the $300k numbers here are 50%+ equity. That's a considerable risk. It
worked over the past 10 years because tech stocks have outperformed everything
else. If we see a true tech stock crash (50%+ correction), many of those $300k
salaries are in reality closer to $200k (or less if you'll never be able to
sell the stocks). I don't wish that to anyone but it's important to keep in
mind that stock bonus is something very different from cash salary.

~~~
Redoubts
Maybe it's because I'm making multiples of what my father ever did, but this
is why I'm diversifying my stock immediately on receipt and saving +50% of my
income. Anything else seems like insanity, or at least profligacy.

~~~
ryandrake
The way I’ve always explained it: if you suddenly got $50k, would you put it
all into one stock? No. So if you suddenly got $50k of one stock, why would
you not turn it into cash right away? The scenarios are identical.

EDIT: as 0xB31B1B points out it’s worth clarifying that the scenarios are the
same only when we are talking about post-tax numbers. Generally when you
receive RSUs, the taxes have already been withheld.

~~~
0xB31B1B
No, there is a taxable event in the case of a stock sale

------
deanmoriarty
Pretty normal in coastal areas. I recently interviewed at FAANG and these are
the offers I received. I have 6 years of experience as a standard software
engineer, I consider myself a solid contributor but nothing special:

\- Facebook (SV): ~380k (60% salary, 40% stocks)

\- Google (SV): ~310k (60% salary, 40% stocks)

\- Netflix (SV): ~410k (100% salary)

\- Hedge fund (NYC): ~450k (40% salary, 60% bonus)

Everything is per year, I divided the stock part by the grant period (4
years).

If you're wondering, I did not take any of these offers. My current
compensation at a series C startup is ~280k (80% salary, 20% cash performance
bonus) and I have ~3M worth of stock options (based on the last preferred
valuation, though I am granted common so definitely more at risk to get
screwed) of which I currently vested 50%. I hope will be able to get liquid in
a couple years or so, though I'm not fully counting on it and I'm taking the
risk.

~~~
godelmachine
May I ask what technologies have you worked on ?

What skills were required at the NYC Hedge Fund?

------
tcrow
From my experience, one of the best (and relatively easiest) ways to reach
higher salary levels over a relatively small time frame is to, at some point,
go to work as a short term consultant through a consulting agency for a little
while. If you have any decent skills, getting in will be no problem. The
benefits of this approach is 2 fold; 1) you will obtain a broad and diverse
set of skills due to traversing many different technology stacks and dealing
with all sorts of issues. 2) As you move from client to client, the consulting
agency which is responsible for placing you, will be ever-increasing the rate
at which they charge the client for your work. Although you probably won't see
any personal gain from this increase, the big benefit comes when a company
wishes to hire you long term (assuming you want to be hired also) and it's
time to negotiate salary. If you know what the consultancy has been charging
the company for your work, you now have a huge advantage in your negotiations.
Typically, they will charge the client 3-5x what they are paying you, so just
as an example, if you make 75/hr, the client is probably being charged
~200/hr. I would think you could at least double your salary if not more
during final negotiations with the company. This approach worked out pretty
well for me, but it does assume you have some way of knowing what the client
is being charged. In my case, I befriended a few people during my assignment
which allowed me to open that door.

~~~
machinemob
tcrow what are some real-world examples of "consulting agencies?" I'm a
technologist but examples in any industry would give me a feeling for what
kind of company you're referring to. Thanks in advance.

~~~
tcrow
see
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IT_consulting_firms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IT_consulting_firms)
for a list of some large scale firms. I'm sure there are also plenty of local
agencies in your area that you could tap into.

------
throwaway-cto
(Using a throwaway, as uncomfortable associating this with public username)

What do you do?

* What is your job title? CTO

* What is your total comp? $600k salary, $500k cash performance bonus, $750k equity mix (RSUs and options)

* Who do you work for? Post C-round VC backed tech company, <500 employees, 200+ engineering on my team

* Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? London, UK

* How long did it take you to get here? ~12 years

* How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? Worked for a couple FANNGs, did consulting, built a brand for myself, got hired to replace a founder CTO who maxed out their skillset.

------
fjsolwmv
> Associate; a generic corporate title in banking

To be highly paid, get a job at a company run by (former) software engineers
who see software as the profit engine of their company. Not a bank that sees
software as an IT cost center.

In general, you make the most money at a company where the founder or senior
management have the same background as you and are biased to think your job
role is the most important one in the company.

Facebook programmer, hospital doctor, Oracle lawyer, etc

~~~
jimmydddd
Great advice. My father always says that you should go to a company where you
work in a profit center, not a cost center. A lawyer at a law firm, instead of
the legal dept. at a corp.; a coder at a software company, instead of part of
the IT dept.; a marketer at a marketing company, instead of part of the
marketing dept. at a corp., etc.

------
mabbo
I've been reached out to before by recruiters for High Freq trading companies
and other financial groups, offering 300-500k starting. A friend of mine
worked at one of them and basically said that yeah you do make that kind of
money but you work 70-80hrs/week and if anything is ever determined to be a
crime, you'll be the one who gets thrown under the bus.

~~~
ptero
I am curious what "thrown under the bus" is: getting fired (which some/many
may consider an acceptable risk for a high salary position) or being blamed /
framed by a company for a jail time; or something else?

~~~
andrewchoi
An example: [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-goldman-sachs-
aleynikov/e...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-goldman-sachs-aleynikov/ex-
goldman-programmers-code-theft-conviction-revived-by-new-york-court-
idUSKBN1582L0)

------
exogeny
CPO for 400+ person, post Series-D private company.

Salary and bonus, about $350k. Maybe $400k or slightly higher if I'm counting
options.

Report to the CEO.

I live in Brooklyn, office is in Manhattan.

Got here by my current company acquiring mine; I've been here a little under
three years and have resisted starting another company because I like my
current one so much and frankly, I've got a lot of impact. I have a CS
background from a top-end school which made my first few career moves
relatively easy. One difference is that I was always more interested in the
product side of things so I started after school as a product/front-end
engineering/design generalist (ie: get shit done guy) for Google and then a
series of startups, which allowed me to collect a lot of things to point to so
far as my contributions. Google was too slow and bureaucratic, the other
startups were interesting but not mine.

~~~
bauer
Mind clarifying what CPO means in your case?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPO)

Could take a guess from several of those.

~~~
zild3d
usually Chief Product Officer

~~~
softawre
At our 5k person company, the CPO has the heads of engineering and product
management report to him, and is responsible for them working together well
and delivering product.

~~~
exogeny
In my case, I have the product management and UX groups reporting to me. CTO
is responsible for engineering, and as you could guess, the CTO and I are
joined at the hip relative to keeping a good pace of delivery.

------
devilmoon
Question from someone not living in the US:

How come you guys have such high salaries compared to ROW? Is the cost of life
that much higher than other countries, or is your income simply taxed less /
companies have generally more money to spend on employees?

I am currently working in one of the highest paying (if not the highest)
consultancy firms in my country, and my salary is probably lower than your
minimum wage. It's actually something that pisses me off more than it should
when I think about it.

~~~
thrwunderpaid
Cost of living in the US gets ridiculous. Healthcare is expensive and gets
more expensive the more you make. As much as I make I'm probably one bad
accident away from being wiped out financially

When you add a family, child care is super expensive; think $350/week for two
kids

Not to say we aren't hyper-consuming gluttons, but I think that's only about
one third of the picture

~~~
paul7986
Don’t forget the govt takes over 40 percent when your making upper class to
higher level salaries especially if your single.

That 300k is really only 180k annually. So the govt takes the salary of a
lower level upper class person for taxes.

When u make the jump from 50k to a higher tax bracket, taxes will shock u!

~~~
peschkaj
Wat? My highest overall tax percentage was 32% when I made 300k as a single
person.

~~~
paul7986
That 40% includes federal, state, social security and other taxes taken out.

~~~
mercutio2
You seem to be confusing marginal tax rate with effective tax rate.

People making 300k in California will pay between 33% and 39% effective tax
rate (depending on marital status), including State, Federal, and FICA.

And that’s without simple tax sheltering techniques like pre-tax deduction for
health care, contributing to a 401k, and deducting mortgage interest.

[https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-
calculator](https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator)

~~~
mercutio2
Actually, that’s a terrible link. Before Trump’s tax increase targeting CA/NY,
the SALT itemized deduction lowers the effective tax rate by a further 3% or
so, and that calculator fails to include it.

------
0xB31B1B
300 tc is pretty standard for FAANG and the big unicorns. I pull down 330k w 5
years experience at a Uber. 180 cash, 150k equity. I’m incredibly average, 5
years exp.

~~~
adamnemecek
It’s definitely not standard. Esp at say amazon.

~~~
devy
It depends on position. Total compensations for AI positions in top tier
technology firms are well beyond $1M mark, some go as high as $3M annually.

~~~
throwaway713
What is the job title for one of these positions? Background required? What is
the daily work like?

~~~
devy
I donno. Research Scientist/Machine Learning Researcher?

They're probably tasked with analyzing data and create AI models to assist AI-
assisted product features / apis, etc.

------
The0racle
Currently earning $300k base with 100k in RSUs annually at Oracle as an
engineer, though my title is different (director title). All they've asked
from me so far is engineering IC work.

I had to negotiate hard for it, and my expertise spans multiple currently hot
tech domains. Also a former founder of my own startup.

I'll also say that despite the common hater mentality against Oracle, it's
been a nice place to work in my experience. As long as your boss and team are
a good fit, you can have a good life, interesting work and good balance.

~~~
solarkraft
This makes me wonder whether Oracle's unpopularity raises the wages they pay.

~~~
The0racle
It's definitely possible.

I've also learned that a lot of folks at Oracle don't make that much money,
but like their teams, projects, and stability. Can't say I completely get it.
It's definitely more chill than startup life, though.

------
irldexter
Surprised no one has linked to this yet
[https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Google,Facebook,Microsoft&tr...](https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Google,Facebook,Microsoft&track=Software%20Engineer)
where you can view the salary grades of the FAANG's compared to other
public/private inc stock, as reported by staff.

------
bsvalley
For the most part you'd live in a place like NYC or the Bay Area to come up
with these kind of salaries. So let's assume you live in the Bay Area
(California). New Federal income tax is 35% for that salary range then add 13%
coming from beautiful and sunny California. We're at a 48 % tax rate. Let's
round that up to 50% to simplify our maths. Congratulations - you are now
making $150k/year! From 300 down to 150 just like that.

Housing in the Bay Area... rent is minimum $2500 for a 1 bedroom. If you want
to buy that one bedroom instead, let's make it cheap and let's pretend it's
only $800k for a 1 bedroom in San Francisco. You come up with 20% down ($160k)
cash and get a mortgage for the remaining $640k. Assuming you've been eating
potatoes for a few years to save $160k. We're looking at a monthly payment of
about $3500 at today's rate. That's roughly $40k per year to live in a tiny 1
bdr. You are now down to $110k/year from $150k.

Property tax + home owner insurance + bills, etc. We're looking at %1 per year
property tax so that's $8k then about $2k for home owner insurance we're now
at $10k just to have the right to "own" a place. We're at $100k per year now
without food, bills, etc. This is about $8300 net per month. You live in a 1bd
apartment, you owe $600k to a bank, you work your butt off everyday and the
only way for you to afford something bigger than bicycle is to either save
money for a few months or to get a loan.

You're getting paid $300k/year you can't even buy a normal car. You have to
get a loan. $8000 net per months is still a lot, but in today's life you ain't
rich.

~~~
vostok
I think the math of going from $300k to $150k went by too quickly for me. Can
you go over it in a little more detail?

~~~
majewsky
> So let's assume you live in the Bay Area (California). New Federal income
> tax is 35% for that salary range then add 13% coming from beautiful and
> sunny California. We're at a 48 % tax rate. Let's round that up to 50% to
> simplify our maths.

What's unclear about that? 35% + 13% = 48% = about 50%. After that, it's just
a matter of removing 50% from 300k to arrive at 150k.

~~~
overeater
35% is the marginal tax rate. The actual tax on 300k is 27%.

------
trendia
FAANG is Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet’s Google.

~~~
eXpl0it3r
Thanks! Not even a quick Google search could tell me the meaning.

~~~
solarkraft
The acronym seems to change every few weeks. I saw another one all over the
comments a while ago.

~~~
kerbalspacepro
Friendster Alcoa AmerisourceBergen Nestle Glencore

------
throwaway77296
* What do you do? Software engineer working on the machine learning side of the company. I help research scientists build working large-scale systems that can actually be used in production. Working on production, user-facing applications makes it easy to justify why your salary should be high: if I can show a 20% improvement in performance, I can save the company $X00,000/year in costs. It's also important to work in the area of the company they care about. Your managers (and their managers) will have more power and influence. Working on plumbing doesn't get you paid as much as user-facing.

* What is your job title? Senior software engineer

* What is your total comp? \- 150k base salary \- ~30k bonus / year \- ~100k stock / year (at current stock price) \- [not counted in the above] 60k one-time signing bonus

* Who do you work for? FAANG, don't want to be more specific

* Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)? Live and work in SF

* How long did it take you to get here? \- Undergrad BS in 2009 at top-4 CS school, hired directly into top company at 110k total compensation. Worked on maintaining a large distributed system. Was paid "less" than I could have but the work was technically difficult and I learned a ton. Economy was down and getting a job wasn't as easy. \- Switched jobs and company in 2011 and started making 140k total compensation. Now working a more standard software engineer role on a user-facing application. \- Switched jobs and company again in 2013 and made 150k total compensation at a startup in the AI space (hire #~10). Company did well for the first year, then started to do not so great. I left before it failed to do a one-year MS in AI. \- Went back to school for one-year MS 2015-2016. Didn't learn as much as I hoped, and cost me a chunk of change, but networking and the diploma was critical in landing my current job. \- Hired as a senior software engineer at 240k in 2016. Have stayed with this company and got a salary bump last year (and the stock is now worth more).

* How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)? All of the above. Well-off parents to help me get to a top undergrad school who could pay for my education so I could focus on classes. Was always top-20% of class, but never top-5%. Went to lots of job fairs, negotiated my first offer. Always look for new hard problems. Switch jobs often for a higher salary. Work in whichever area the company cares about.

~~~
godelmachine
May I ask from which school did you finish your MS?

------
LandR
The US compared to the UK is insane salary wise. A good developer in the UK
might make £40-£45k a year ($56k)

According to glass door at Amazon in the UK you can make anywhere from £30k to
£50k.

Microsoft goes a bit higher (in London, but everything is higher in London) to
around £65k for SE2.

I only know one friend who is a developer on £100k+, most of us are on around
£30k to £40k.

I know one Senior Developer doing Web Development on around £25k ($35k)

The fraction of people in the UK pulling in £100k+ in any job is tiny,
nevermind tech workers.

~~~
Blackstone4
Are you including contractors? My understanding is that tech contracting in
London is where the money is at. You can make £400 a day or ~£84,000 a year.
This is with a lower all-in tax rate so your take-home pay is higher if you
take it as a dividend.

I used to be a software engineer but changed to finance (asset management) to
get paid more. I went from £23k a year to £50k.

~~~
zimpenfish
You can easily make £400+ a day with tech contracting in London, yep. I've
been doing it for years and I'm defiantly middle of the road.

If you're a niche expert (MUMPS, KDB, etc.), you can probably make double
that.

~~~
Blackstone4
@zimpenfish do you have any advice on contracting?

I was thinking about going into one day.

I have a diverse background and have been a quantitative analyst, software
engineer, and investment analyst. I have a MEng in Mathematical modelling
(from a good UK uni) and a CFA Charterholder. My current tech stack (about 1
year experience) is React, JS/Typescript, GraphQL, Apollo Server all on AWS
(AWS Lambda, AWS RDS and Docker on an EC2 instance). I used to work with Java,
Linux servers and SQL (2 years experience). Would it be possible for me to
contract? I could leverage my non-technical skills as well like my CFA and
investment experience. :)

~~~
zimpenfish
> do you have any advice on contracting?

If you're ok with employment gaps and the consequent lack of income, go for
it. But if you have dependents and/or mortage and/or other constraints, I'd
definitely put a whole lot of thought and financial planning into it first.

With that list of skills, I reckon you should be able to find some interest in
London, yeah. Might have to lowball the daily rate to start with just to get
going but people are definitely hiring those skills.

~~~
Blackstone4
Thanks for the advice. I would be fine with the lumpy income as I have no
dependents or financial commitments (mortgage etc.).

I not far off affording a small 1 bedroom flat with cash so fairly relaxed.

------
Mandatum
* What do you do?

\- Specialist consulting? I help large organisations migrate systems, develop
API's in-house, train existing staff to use good tools and frameworks.. I wear
a lot of hats, but it's mostly API development. I think most developers could
manage it with a good foundation and knowledge of how things "should be done".

* What is your job title?

\- Often something with "API", "Integration" or "Engineer" in the role. Varies
by client, I let them decide.

* What is your total comp?

$350K/yr

* Who do you work for?

Varies; usually banks, education, government, insurance - not traditionally IT
places.

* Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)?

Australia

* How long did it take you to get here?

5 years from doing an internship where I was made to write VB6. In 2013.

* How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)?

Mix of luck, soft skills, good mentors and really hard fucking work. First job
was a fluke - found a great team who I learned a lot from. Got the right title
bumps at the right times. Was happy to tell people no and give ultimatums on
pay and titles. Didn't put up with bad managers, shit code and toxic culture
during downturns. My resignation is always the same, "right now I don't think
this is the right environment for me at this point in my career, I've found
another opportunity I wish to pursue. It's been great blah blah blah".
Eventually just started selling my time by the hour, now I put up my rate
every 3 months (or at the end of a contract which is usually 6+ months) until
I can't find a job, then I take a holiday and usually land something within a
few months at the new rate.

Honestly, I think most average developers at large organisations are just that
- average. The kind of people who've been writing code for 20 years but still
not using source control properly or in some cases at all. Ask them something
obscure about anything in their code-base and they'll tell you what you need
in under 20 seconds. I think this is usually because they've had a manager in
the past who said no and questioned everything, so they stopped improving and
just maintained.

------
dreaminvm
Not FAANG, but in SV.

* What do you do?

-Product management

* What is your job title?

-Senior Product Manager

* What is your total comp?

-To be super clear:
    
    
      -Total is ~$250k
        -150K base salary
        -50K in RSU (basically equivalent to cash for public company)
        -7-10k from ESPP
        -40k in bonus
    

* Who do you work for?

-N/A

* Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)?

-Bay Area

* How long did it take you to get here?

-Hired after internship. Its been 3.5 years at current company.

* How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)?

-Started as an engineer and quickly took the lead on a high visibility project. Lots of politics in between.

Total comp in the 3.5 years: year 1: 145k year 2: 195k year 3: 225k year 4:
expected to be 250k+

------
j_monroe
Anecdotally I can say that 300k/year is also achievable in Chicago working for
a non FAANG startup.

I've worked for a fair number of high profile startups in Chicago and I've
seen a number of people reach the 300k+ realm.

Generally these people have been highly skilled directors, executives, or
principle engineers and they have an exceptional track record of delivering
results. In general I would estimate most of the ones I have worked with as
having 10-20 years experience and I believe they got to where they are by
having a great combination of raw talent, a great personality, drive, and the
ability to coach and mentor others.

Note that I have also come across at least two or three people at this level
that had gotten there simply by being friends with a founder or early
investor. Usually these types of people don't last more than a year or two
though. Once the company starts gaining traction and brings in real leaders
that expect real returns these types of individuals are usually the first to
go.

Also in Chicago the principle engineers that I have seen hit this level tend
to have a strong understanding of stream processing, real time analytics, the
smack stack, systems engineering, and data science. From my own interviewing
and hiring experiences in Chicago I can also say that if you can demonstrate
skills in these areas as en engineer and have some greenfield experience it's
pretty easy to hit 150k-200k total comp with no more than 5 years of total
experience. I haven't seen anyone under principle hit 200k+ with a reasonable
work life balance, I know a few fintech engineers that approach 250k+ but they
work 80 hour weeks and hate their life.

------
enothereska
[https://www.financialsamurai.com/living-a-middle-class-
lifes...](https://www.financialsamurai.com/living-a-middle-class-lifestyle-
on-300000-year-expensive-city/)

~~~
dx034
> * A 26 year old middle school teacher making $55,000 a year plus her
> $250,000 a year VP of Marketing wife

Strange article. It's a creative way to connect a teacher's salary with a
$300,000 income but in the end, this kind of salary remains the exception and
is only normal in small pockets of the US.

~~~
thrwwyphdsalary
TBF $2k minimum rent and $500,000+ minimum housing prices are also only normal
in small pockets of the US. I have _no idea_ how teachers survive in expensive
coastal cities.

------
faangthrow
* What do you do?

"Internal Tools & Automation". String together data pipelines (source and
sink), write system tools, rapid app development for small and time limited
tasks, review and optimize code for the team at large, public API reviews for
usability / sanity.

* What is your job title?

Whatever I want :^). But my card currently says Lead Automation Engineer

* What is your total comp?

Amortizing my RSUs, it's about 300K/Y, with about 50% stock in a public
company.

* Who do you work for?

FAANG

* Where do you live (assuming you don't work from home)?

Moved around the Bay Area a bit

* How long did it take you to get here?

2 years at a low volume / high value / esoteric material semiconductor foundry
4 years here.

* How did you get here (networking/raw technical skill/job board/dumb luck, etc.)?

Cold call from recruiter after passively posting my resume on a job board
(never asked which one). Once here, just through performing well and getting
exposure to other teams and how the OS works through experience.

~~~
nexus2045
Can you talk more about your experience, or what sort of projects you worked
on in previous roles to become a "lead automation engineer"?

~~~
faangthrow
Anything in particular? I touched on this a bit in the description.

In short, I would say it has felt like a straight forward progression after
performing well yet being aggressive with pay negotiations. The latter becomes
easier when you realize it’s not money out of your managers pocket, just a
spigot guarded by HR.

~~~
pm90
> The latter becomes easier when you realize it’s not money out of your
> managers pocket, just a spigot guarded by HR.

Hah, I like this characterization. I've often walked away from lowball offers
only to be contacted by hiring managers with much better offers. I can't say I
agree with a company's policy of trying to bring in engineers at the lowest
rate possible. I'm still somewhat Mid-Level though, when I do get to play a
more important part in hiring decisions, I will most certainly try to change
these shitty policies.

At first I kinda felt that I deserved the higher comp. because of how firm I
would be in asking for what I wanted, but lately I've come to realize that
most engineers don't really want to negotiate hard but they do need a good
compensation to be happy (lets not fool ourselves here).

------
conanbatt
Its noticeable to me that FAANG companies get to this heights because of their
stock compensation. An economic downturn or hit to the tech sector will
immediately drop the compensation for its worker significantly. (Not to say
that they are still noticeable salaries).

I wonder outside of FAANG how easy it is to get 300k salaries.

~~~
wyldfire
Does it normalize -- will you get granted more shares at the lower share
price? In which case the only risk is when the share price drops during the
time it takes to vest. Certainly a bummer for that year (or years) they're in
a down trend, but seems less likely that a "plummet" kind of slope would
happen year over year.

~~~
conanbatt
If the company gets a 30-40% stock hit, its not going to still be generous,
and of course salaries across the board will drop. Netflix has the most solid
business model that could keep up the salaries (they give little to no stock i
hear), but the rest would take a hit before anything can be thought of.

------
Apreche
Here's the real question. If you are pulling that much, why are you still
working? Why not head straight to the beach and live a wonderful life of idle
luxury?

~~~
manacit
Because you wouldn't be earning $300k+/y if you headed straight to the beach?

You have to do it for many many years to build the amount of wealth you'd need
to live a life of idle luxury

~~~
jerguismi
What I know about those who make $300k+/y or more, money is just one part of
the motivation that makes them work. The reason they make loads of money is
that because they aren't the type that wants to go to the beach to live idle
life.

------
throw20180411
> What do you do?

Quantitative strategy research and trading. I own all aspects of my
strategies' research and development, and also fill in as architect for some
components that are owned by other teams.

> What is your job title?

Analyst.

> What is your total comp?

$1.5mm ($200k base) cash. Last three years have ranged from $1.25-2.5mm.

> Who do you work for?

A hedge fund.

> Where do you live?

NYC tri-state area. I go to the office two days a week.

> How long did it take you to get here?

Similar roles with less upside after college (4-5 years). Current role since
2015

> How did you get here

Superior technical skills, having developed 10 or so "unique" ideas that have
been profitable over several years and zealously guarding the IP. Being
intimately familiar with another 100+ (from academic/practitioner literature,
information leakage) that I can layer on and tweak. And in this industry, luck
always helps.

~~~
crispyporkbites
Where does the 1mn USD come from, and how do you keep ownership of it? e.g.
why doesn't your company hold say, 700k back? as 300k is still a massive 150%
bonus.

~~~
throw20180411
It comes from a profit-sharing agreement. Mine is roughly formulaic but not
contractual (keep X% of profits). Contractual agreements can have X ranging
from 10 to 50.

------
wyldfire
Does anyone have this kind of compensation at FAANG but outside of those
megalopolis, ultra-expensive real estate cities?

~~~
thrwunderpaid
I've read previously of machine learning specialists in Atlanta reaching this
level of compensation

~~~
yespleasethrow
I am one of these Atlanta-based machine learning specialists, here to confirm
that we do exist. But I think it is very rare, and I am not sure many at all
are doing $300k+. Since the cost of living is comparatively low, though, I am
doing way better than I ever could dream of doing in the bay.

~~~
throwaway713
What on earth sort of companies? I grew up near Atlanta and can’t think of any
that would pay $300k for machine learning expertise. (I’m just curious because
I will probably be living there again at some point in the future and I have a
background in ML).

------
tastyham
Denver area.

10-15 years experience coding, ~3 years experience in leadership/management.
Currently in webdev, spend 50/50 time coding vs management work.

$165k base, ~$190-210 total comp depending on year. Work 35-40 hours a week.

Mostly feel that I got here by being in the right place at the right time
(luck), and being able to evaluate opportunities and accept a little risk
chasing promising, but uncertain companies/positions when they become
available. Also learned the importance of self-marketing and how to make
yourself valuable.

------
chrisper
What is a FAANG?

Edit: so many responses at once!

~~~
devy
Facebook, Apple, Aamzon, Netflix, Google

[https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/faang-
stocks.asp](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/faang-stocks.asp)

~~~
eugeniub
Why is Netflix in there? Seems like an unusual addition to the other four?

~~~
David
Netflix pays exceptionally well and is very selective, and I understand they
are quicker to fire underperformers than most. So it is fairly prestigious and
ranks at the top in compensation.

------
Maven911
Wont necessarily follow the template since this is anectdotal: many "director"
level (equivalent to a manager though some don't manage and purely program)
make 200-300k in banking technology on the markets side in NYC, they usually
have at least a decade of experience

------
throwaway713
Also, not to hijack your question, but is it true that data scientists at
FAANG companies earn significantly less in stock than software engineers?

~~~
0xB31B1B
Yes, but some Algo and AI researchers earn way way more.

~~~
throwaway713
What would an example of one of these people’s background be? And what job
title? Individual contributor or director?

“Research Scientist” perhaps, with a PhD from Stanford in NLP would be my best
guess, but I have no clue.

~~~
inmyunix
you're exactly right. they're top phd's from the very top schools. hand-picked
and referred out by professors who have relationships in the pvt sector.
that's not to say there aren't guys who don't fit this description, but this
is who gets recruited.

------
syntaxing
Any MechE here in the states that makes over $300k?! I rarely meet anyone that
makes over $200K even if they are a principal engineer or management in the
MechE related positions. Maybe high level engineering management will reach
this salary but even then it's rare (I'm on the East coast if that matters).

------
aylons
May not be the best place to ask, but I'll give a try: is this salary range in
SV only for software (web and mobile)? Is there any chance an electronics, RF
or DSP/FPGA engineer to reach these values?

Asking for a friend...

~~~
someguy12
I'm an FPGA dev making more than 300k in NYC working for a trading firm.

~~~
aylons
Thank you.

Any tips on how to get in these markets? Also, do these trading firms also
design their own custom equipment?

~~~
someguy12
Yeah. The trick is getting your foot in the door. Equal amounts of expertise
and luck are helpful. Most jobs you'll find online or through a recruiter
aren't going to be the $300k+ jobs. I found a job opening at an investment
bank on monster.com (of all places) after having worked for tech companies for
15 years. I started at $150k. However once I was in finance, I was able to
make connections and acquire skills that made me more valuable. After almost 5
years I was able to land a job that pays (much) more than $300k.

In my experience these firms do not do true hardware design. We purchase FPGA
boards from 3rd party vendors and then do the FPGA development in house.

~~~
aylons
Thank you for your tips. I see myself in the same situation you were a few
years ago: After several years of experience, I'm a bit of tired of doing
great stuff for so-so pay, also, I'm looking for a relocation.

I'll certainly put finance as an alternative, now.

------
aws_ls
After reading all the answers, have an observation. Not many startup founders
have replied. Most are FAANG employees. Some similar roles in other product
companies. One/two consultants. And one hedge fund guy.

------
yeahhhhsry
FAANG, Boston, 3 years, engineer.

160 salary, 40 performance bonus cash, 120 equity

------
flashgordon
Lot of Leetcode!

~~~
flashgordon
Now as glib as that sounds, let me clarify. In the valley hiring has become
extremely focussed towards attracting "talent" but in the FAANGs there is
really no way to qualify experience unless you are a brand (inventor of X, co-
founder of Y, author of framework Z). Unfortunately also in the FANGs the
stacks are extremely customized (after years of picking and choosing what
works for said companies), so even if you had a lot of experience you may not
be aligned (perception here) with the companies' venerated stacks. This leads
to the situation where there is not much room for specialized folks (unless
you are again the branded ones). In this situation there are very limited ways
of judging candidates in a standardized way. Lo behold puzzles and leetcode!
Many companies (in the FANGs) routinely reject experienced candidates who
cannot solve leetcode problem # (put in your favorite problem here).

This is for the FANGs and FANG wannabees. At startups the scene is different
as you dont have a scaling problem with recruitment so leetcode is not the
focal point of your judgement. But you asked how to make "big" bucks and not
quantum money!

------
csomar
It is sad there isn't a single serious answer. If you are making $300k+, you
should be able to write a decent and detailed answer as long as it doesn't
expose your anonymity.

Another important question: What is your take-way home amount vs. what you pay
in taxes. $300k is cool but if you are paying $100k of it to uncle Sam, then
it is not really $300k.

~~~
lolsal
> $300k is cool but if you are paying $100k of it to uncle Sam, then it is not
> really $300k.

Sure it is.

