
2015 Engineering Salaries Reviewed - seattle_spring
http://rivierapartners.com/engineering-salaries-reviewed-3/
======
timr
If this data is anywhere near reliable, then a large number of engineers are
taking positions in the Bay Area with a horrible financial outlook.

The median one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is something like $3,500 a
month now. To keep that at 30% of _gross_ income (which is still pretty bad),
you need to be earning $140k a year. And yet, these graphs suggest that only
"senior" engineers make $140k. And they top out soon after that (the "lead"
roles are only making ~$160k).

If a company is asking you to move to the bay area, demand a salary that will
allow you to live here without having to take roommates or go into debt. If
not, make sure you're making a _calculated_ gamble, and be sure you're getting
some other concrete value for the financial sacrifices you're making -- career
experience and reputation, for example.

If you're starting a startup in San Francisco...well, don't do it. Unless your
customer base is here, you should go somewhere cheaper.

~~~
optimusclimb
What's unspoken is that their list is probably all startups.

If you work at established companies, or late stage startups, the total equity
package is going to be higher.

That is, I'm pretty sure that if you work for Uber, Twitter, FB, Netflix, etc,
you will be making well north of 200k+ a year if you are senior+.

~~~
ryandrake
This comes up time and time again on HN. Due to the demographic here, everyone
seems to know at least SOMEONE who makes $200K+, but there's no evidence that
these compensation packages are anything but outliers (even including equity),
no matter the age/vintage of company.

~~~
usaar333
There's plenty of evidence. Just look at glassdoor:

Google senior eng total comp is $252k annually:
[http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Senior-Software-
Engin...](http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Senior-Software-Engineer-San-
Jose-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,31_IL.32,40_IM761.htm)

Google Staff engineer is $350k annually with base salary over $200k:
[http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Software-
Engine...](http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Staff-Software-Engineer-San-
Jose-Salaries-EJI_IE9079.0,6_KO7,30_IL.31,39_IM761.htm)

~~~
ryandrake
Outlier employees of an outlier company

Editing my curt response:

The original poster asserted that he/she was "pretty sure" that if you work
for [established companies], you "will" be making well north of 200k+, as if
it was a certainty or at least a high probability. I don't deny that some
outlier companies have some outlier employees that make that much, I'm just
questioning the claim that it's usual to make that in these companies.

------
minimaxir
Why are they using a Hardware Engineering motif (blueprint) to represent
Software Engineering salaries?

The unnecessary theme makes the chart extremely difficult to read regardless,
especially when you try to use _lines of differing directions_ to
differentiate categories for a stacked column chart. Also, unlabeled charts
because _minimalism_.

And then _unlabeled pie charts using lines of differing directions to
differentiate category_.

This infographic is the definition of chart junk.

~~~
busted
I wonder why anyone posts anything on hacker news when this is the kind of
comment that results.

~~~
minimaxir
I have absolutely no problem with stylized data visualization (see my
submission history). But when someone designs a visualization that _makes the
data harder to read_ for no reason other than "kewlness," it can be very
annoying.

------
asteli
This is a very narrow segment of the engineering market.

Maybe the title should read "2015 Bay Area Software Engineering Salaries
Reviewed."

~~~
bGriz
Yep, this report is highly contextual and it would be nice if they were more
transparent as to how the data was aggregated.

While the last infographic implies the Bay Area it's not documented as a
certainty.

------
pyrrhotech
this is pretty terrible compensation for such high impact work in such a high
cost of living area. 150k is less than many Bart workers make a by the time
they are senior level ([http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-
area/2014](http://www.mercurynews.com/salaries/bay-area/2014)). Many of these
companies are making billions, further increasing the wealth gap of the
founders vs. the ones who create their fortunes on the ground level.

The companies have even been proven to collude to suppress wages. Software
engineers are in desperate need of unions

------
coldcode
Clearly only applies to the Bay Area. I guess they don't invest far from home?

~~~
jessedhillon
Riviera is a recruitment firm, not an investment firm, so I'd assume their
data comes from positions they've been hired to fill.

------
jchendy
Where are all the $250K+ offers we hear about new grads getting at FB and
Google? It would be interesting to see more detail than just the average, and
to see stock options accounted for.

------
jjwiseman
I recently got an offer from a Series B company in San Francisco that claimed
their compensation was calculated to be the median offered by "Bay area
startups funded by top-tier VCs" I turned them down because it was about 2/3
of what I would have needed to keep the same quality of life that I have
living and working in Los Angeles.

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jcsnv
Would be nice to see non-sf salaries..

