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Comment by halflings | Hacker News Reader

What do you mean by "senior roles"? Something like a "Senior Software Engineer"? (or more like a Senior Staff SWE / director)

Can guarantee Senior Software Engineers don't make >600K in SF.

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That's high, but not crazy high. A Staff Engineer at a FAANG can make ~$500k. See:

https://www.levels.fyi/# (L6 at Google, for instance.)

I know engineers in Canada who are making similar amounts. There's not a lot but it's not nonexistent.

Potential ambiguity here. Yes, “staff” engineers at google earn very high salaries, but people unfamiliar with titles might think this term means a competent but otherwise unremarkable member of the technical staff.

At google a Staff engineer is a title notably higher than senior swe, and many talented people will not reach this title or pay grade.

The point I'm making in my comment is that "Senior Software Engineers" are not making >600K in SF.

"Senior Software Engineer" is a role you can reach in 3-8 years of experience.

"Staff" is a whole different ordeal, a role many never reach. And even then compensation is closer to 450K; you might find some around 600K but those are outliers (whereas OP made it sound that >600K is something common)

The above was referring to total comp. From what I have read, annual stock/RSU compensation is equivalent to salary. I have read that a $300,000 salary is not unheard of for a senior FAANG engineering role.

It's rather rare, from what I can tell. Esp. in the context of immigration, h1bdata can be useful. Google llc has precisely 1 software engineer certified at a salary above 300k. 250k, more achievable, with very senior status.

What really happens though is RSU appreciation. GOOG has more than doubled in the past 4 years. You are awarded X dollars of stock on hire and every annual review period, but that is converted into shares awarded every Y months. If you achieved a 1:1 salary:RSU vesting ratio, today that would probably be 1:2, a 50 percent pay raise.

I think the RSUs and bonuses aren’t included in those H1B data reports. Anyone L5 and higher (as well as many L4s) at Google is pulling in at least 300k in total liquid compensation per year.

Correct. I was just using that as a benchmark for base salary, and apparently even that is flawed.

Just to be clear, that salary is prevailing wage which is usually lower than the actual salary you're getting (does not include RSUs or stock on top of that). In my case the difference was about 30 to 40% lower.

Salary means the non-equity portion of your pay that you get paid in cash on a fixed interval. Salary by definition excludes RSUs or stocks.

Fascinating, thank you for the clarification.

The PERM / H1B figures only show base salary and exclude RSUs which for most big tech companies is the larger factor at senior and above levels. Netflix pay all cash so their PERM figures are much more representative and match the levels.fyi numbers pretty well, giving me confidence that those self reported figures are broadly accurate.

(When comparing keep in mind Netflix hire only at senior software engineer level and above and have a single level title so staff/principal levels are collapsed to senior just with higher salaries.)

This is why a simplifying assumption was made with the 1:1 ratio of salary:RSUs. Obviously it matters when comparing two companies, but in this case the question was simply "who makes 600k" and the answer is 'probably nobody unless the stock did real gud'

The salary:stock ratio increases the higher Your level. 600k would likely be an L7 offer, though you could reach that at a lower level through stock appreciation.

300 in total comp is not unheard of for senior roles in the SF Bay Area market. 600 is a whole other story short of severe equity appreciation.

I've had offers for 800k.

Where?

I was also talking about total comp, and like you noted >300K is common for senior software engineers, but >600K is unheard of.

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