Refreshes exist but this is a total lie. I'm staff at Google. Nobody at L6 is making $1M in annual compensation, even if they have their sign-on equity and three refreshes. Let alone $2M.
The point is that 3-4 years tenure is enough for significant appreciation in equity, especially in the earlier grants. Let's work an example, for someone who started 3 years ago.
- May 2019. -
Base: $225K.
Equity: $880K grant = 785sh @ 1120/share = 220K.
Bonus: $60K.
Total: $500K.
- May 2020. -
Base: $236K.
Equity: 196sh @ 1428/share = 280K.
Equity: $220K grant = 154sh @ 1428/share = 55K.
Bonus: $63K.
Total: $634K.
- May 2021. -
Base: $247K.
Equity: 196sh @ 2411/share = 473K.
Equity: 39sh @ 2411/share = 94K.
Equity: $220K grant = 91sh @ 2411/share = 55K.
Bonus: $66K.
Total: $935K.
Trust me, if they've been there for 3-4 years, they're making more than 1M in total comp. If you back my example out to someone who started in 2018, those refreshers easily push them into 1.2-1.4M, and factor in promo grants?
And Google wasn't giving $880k sign-on equity grants for L6 in 2019. You can't use todays numbers for past cases. And then you are choosing a peak pay before it drops dramatically after the sign-on grant ends. And after all that, you aren't even at 1M, let alone "easily 1-2M". With literally everything being used to pump numbers up, you don't get to where you cite.
So yes, there are people at loads of companies who make way more money than advertised because the stock ballooned. But this is a completely useless way of analyzing compensation.
I couldn't disagree more. If half your total compensation is derived from stock, then you better be looking at yourself not just as an employee but as an investor. And part of that means making projections.
It's about bringing an investor mindset. Do your own analysis, make your own projections. It's literally half your paycheck, you owe it to yourself. It won't perform the same, sure, but your job as an investor is to analyze the quality of that investment. Will it go up or down? How much?
Whatever you vest is ordinary income. It's your compensation. Just because it's not fixed in advance doesn't mean it's not total comp! Don't pretend otherwise! :)
So while you're saying one thing here, you're actually doing another.
Disc: Googler.
Note that Facebook certainly was.
And even if you managed to hit your sign on grant at just the right time, you still were below the proposed “easily 1-2M”.