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Comment by decafninja | Hacker News Reader

Speaking as someone who was recently outside of FAANGMULA type companies, but now finally got in...

Right now I'm just thankful where I am now. My compensation quadrupled coming from an investment bank. I actually suspect my compensation might actually be a bit lower than my peers at this company or those like it, relatively speaking, but at this point I don't care.

Combined with the fact that the work and project are super interesting, I could live with this compensation and title until I retire (in my late 30s now). I'm certainly in no hurry to put myself through leetcoding again, though to cover all my bases I probably ought to follow the principle of "a leetcode a day keeps unemployment at bay" sooner rather than later again.

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How do you reconcile that your peers likely earn more than you, and perhaps then, you were underpaid for your (negotiation) skills of the same position?

I don't imagine the delta is extreme. I know the delta exists because post-hire, my manager implied it, and that he would do his best to close it. Part of it is my lack of negotiation skills as you say (also implied by my boss), and part of it is because my background is coming from an unsexy non-tech company (implied by the internal recruiter).

But even if the delta remains, I'm just plain thankful*. The amount I'm earning now is jawdropping for my wife and I. When I was interviewing around, we were half-joking how awesome it would be if I could replicate those stories you see on Blind about people doubling their compensation. That it quadrupled instead is shocking.

* Probably not a popular thing to say in tech circles, but my wife and I are Christian, and suffice it to say we are mindblowingly thankful to God for this. I don't endorse prosperity gospel, but I'm now earning more than we know how to utilize. We've committed to using at least some of it for good causes - my first month's salary was given wholesale to a charity trying to rescue/resettle/support Afghan refugees.

I'm astounded that FAANGs would want people who had already done a major, intensive leetcode interview to get in the door and had been working for 2-3 years would be asked to do another similarly-intense interview. I've commented on this before, but it seems as if there's not much trust or standardization in interview processes across the top of the industry. If there were, they wouldn't be asking engineers to grind leetcode again a few years later after already proving their mettle.

I believe the original intention of the leetcode interview is to let the employer gauge the thought processes, communication style, and problem solving approach of the candidate, more so than strictly the candidate's ability to get the absolute hyperoptimal solution.

But it has been corrupted. Demonstrating your thought processes, communication style, and problem solving approach is still a factor. But being able to quickly get the hyperoptimal solution in 20 minutes usually trumps everything else and often becomes the single make-or-break factor.

Sounds like your in a good place, contentment is better than chasing a never ending comparison to others.

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