j_monroe

-A perspective from Chicago-

Early stage engineer at startups (including a unicorn):

pros: Fun work, you learn a ton, unlimited PTO (if you can actually use it), lavish benefits like free lunch, decent company culture, opportunities to try new things.

cons: Poor work life balance, low chance of a bonus, low equity if any, poor management/leadership, lots of hand wavey bs about being number 1, poor career progression, lots of over selling of what you'll be working on, Chicago isn't big on "cashing out" so most startup equity wont really net you much if anything.

compensation: Average for the market in Chicago, depending on where you land as far as talent and skills you can probably get 100k-200k base.

Big tech companies:

pros: great work life balance, annual bonus from 10-20%, decent career progression, more opportunities to specialize in something if that's your thing.

cons: Lack luster tech, no equity, lots of red tape, lots of mediocre/bad engineers, occasionally have to work with legacy code.

compensation: 100k - 250k base salary based on skills/talent/position.

From my experience in Chicago it really comes down to stability, work life balance, and trust. From what I've seen the big players are usually a lot more upfront about what you will actually be working on day to day and they provide a level of stability that others can not. On the other hand though you can grow a lot more as an engineer at a startup if you put in the effort.

Anecdotally I can say that 300k/year is also achievable in Chicago working for a non FAANG startup.

I've worked for a fair number of high profile startups in Chicago and I've seen a number of people reach the 300k+ realm.

Generally these people have been highly skilled directors, executives, or principle engineers and they have an exceptional track record of delivering results. In general I would estimate most of the ones I have worked with as having 10-20 years experience and I believe they got to where they are by having a great combination of raw talent, a great personality, drive, and the ability to coach and mentor others.

Note that I have also come across at least two or three people at this level that had gotten there simply by being friends with a founder or early investor. Usually these types of people don't last more than a year or two though. Once the company starts gaining traction and brings in real leaders that expect real returns these types of individuals are usually the first to go.

Also in Chicago the principle engineers that I have seen hit this level tend to have a strong understanding of stream processing, real time analytics, the smack stack, systems engineering, and data science. From my own interviewing and hiring experiences in Chicago I can also say that if you can demonstrate skills in these areas as en engineer and have some greenfield experience it's pretty easy to hit 150k-200k total comp with no more than 5 years of total experience. I haven't seen anyone under principle hit 200k+ with a reasonable work life balance, I know a few fintech engineers that approach 250k+ but they work 80 hour weeks and hate their life.