Wait, are you saying 150-250k is standard and you can get more at FAANG?
Most senior devs I know aren't breaking $130 in a flyover. To be clear, a lot aren't breaking $100,000.
Most senior devs I know aren't breaking $130 in a flyover. To be clear, a lot aren't breaking $100,000.
I lucked into a great job with a good, generous boss that values technical expertise and domain knowledge who also built a growing, successful business with high margin, recurring revenue.
I'm getting close to $250k as the lead dev/CTO. I wouldn't take a FAANG job for $350k. Maybe 2x/$500k.
Though I'd be afraid I wasn't cut out for it, and frankly, I'm not going to put in the work to get an interview and 2x offer from a FAANG so it's a moot point.
I expect if I ever have to change jobs I'll be taking a pay cut.
Our mid-level devs are getting $120-150k. We'll hire a junior - as in their first dev job - at like $70k but they'll be hitting $100k in 2 years. Raises slow down some after that but 10%/year is common. No grind culture, flex schedule & location (we have some people who live out of state).
This is the reason I have a really hard time with the "cost of living" arguments people make when talking about living in the bay area. $2.5k/mon rent is 30k. Even if I'm getting free housing elsewhere, it's generally not worth it.
[0]: https://www.levels.fyi/company/Facebook/salaries/Software-En...
Senior devs don't get those numbers on average in the bay either. Facebook/Google are the top (NFLX too but they only hire senior engineers) and few other companies close behind like amazon, apple and some fintech. I'm saying you can get those numbers because I myself am making 5% below those numbers (245k for mid level) in Chicago for what levels.fyi is showing what FB is paying for their engineers.
As far as I am aware, the data powering these sites (and HN's comments) are voluntary and self-reported, and there is no correction for this self-selection bias. Few people making average or below average compensation really want to admit it or post about it in public, so you're only going to see evidence of above-average salaries, biasing the resulting average figures.
The base at senior typically varies between 160k to 220k where the majority of compensation comes from stock. Seniors at FB tend to make between $300k to $450k. This also includes generous perks like 401ks, health insurance, etc.
At Netflix it can even be astronomically higher.
Levels is a cool site, had no idea how high some salaries can be. Kinda motivates me to get on the leetcode grind.