Comment by faangthrow | Hacker News Reader

Comment by faangthrow | Hacker News Reader

* 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.

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

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.

> 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).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com