How much does Facebook, Google, Amazon pay?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Entry level $200k, mid care $500k

Let’s just say my above relative had trouble affording a house in Silicon Valley for most of his life even on an IT salary. Eventually he was able to buy a basic 3 bedroom house in San Bruno - but only because he happened to be working for a bank at one point.

Op asked about FAANG. If you work in other companies in the valley they top out at $200k; and you will be laid off at some point.

He started at Oracle almost right out of college. He’s since moved around and now works for a company you’ve heard of and uses its product at home and at office. But I don’t discuss his income with him so can’t answer OP’s Q with specificity.

Oh my god. Why can’t you just name the company?


Cuz I don’t have the specific income info. Never discussed it with him. But moving around is the norm in his field, according to him.
I have friends who work at Facebook, YouTube, and Apple. I can name them and nothing happened. Why be so coy about it?

[Anonymous]

It depends on the job and how well you negotiate. Amazon salary maxes out at $160K in our area (some pay more, maybe $180K) but you can get extra bonuses for things like security clearance or specific job skills. The real benefit to Amazon is the stock options but they vest over four years and after 4 years your salary often goes down so you have to leave and come back to get another 4 year contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Entry level $200k, mid care $500k

Let’s just say my above relative had trouble affording a house in Silicon Valley for most of his life even on an IT salary. Eventually he was able to buy a basic 3 bedroom house in San Bruno - but only because he happened to be working for a bank at one point.

Op asked about FAANG. If you work in other companies in the valley they top out at $200k; and you will be laid off at some point.

He started at Oracle almost right out of college. He’s since moved around and now works for a company you’ve heard of and uses its product at home and at office. But I don’t discuss his income with him so can’t answer OP’s Q with specificity.

Yeah, I know a bunch of people at Oracle, Cisco, Juniper, HP/EMC, Adobe, a bunch of old line tech companies. And they make squat and can only live there because of family helping them by buying houses or living with them. They get laid off every 5-7 years, and scramble around for some other gig. They study leetcode constantly, reading books on the Google Interview, etc, desperate to leapfrog into the big 5 and actually have a decent income for living in the BA.

But OP asked about FB, Google, Amazon, and I know many people who work there, and yes, $200k starting for engineer/legal/mba is the norm, and $500k by the time you are 45 is pretty standard.

Amazon is different, they do have a salary cap, but their stock grants have made it very lucrative because of the appreciation in the stock. If that stops it gets to be a far worse deal.

[Anonymous]

I spend a decent amount of my time recruiting for tech startups and they often compete with the FANGs, so I'm very familiar with the salary scales.

The PP who said $200k to start and $500k mid career (by early 30s) is correct.

I'd estimate you have to be in the top 25% of software developers to be hired on and in the top 10% to really excel. If you're closer to the top 5% then they start to pay you really well after awhile.

If you're a top 10% software developer AND willing to move into management then you're breaking into $1m+ year territory. But that's no more coding, just back to back meetings all day long, which is a pretty soul-sucking life unless you really love the project you are on.

Why do they pay so much? Because if they don't, the best talent leaves for startups, where the real money is truly made (but with substantial risk also).

[Anonymous]

Lawyer about 7 ish years out makes like $225k all in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Entry level $200k, mid care $500k

Let’s just say my above relative had trouble affording a house in Silicon Valley for most of his life even on an IT salary. Eventually he was able to buy a basic 3 bedroom house in San Bruno - but only because he happened to be working for a bank at one point.

Op asked about FAANG. If you work in other companies in the valley they top out at $200k; and you will be laid off at some point.

He started at Oracle almost right out of college. He’s since moved around and now works for a company you’ve heard of and uses its product at home and at office. But I don’t discuss his income with him so can’t answer OP’s Q with specificity.

Yeah, I know a bunch of people at Oracle, Cisco, Juniper, HP/EMC, Adobe, a bunch of old line tech companies. And they make squat and can only live there because of family helping them by buying houses or living with them. They get laid off every 5-7 years, and scramble around for some other gig. They study leetcode constantly, reading books on the Google Interview, etc, desperate to leapfrog into the big 5 and actually have a decent income for living in the BA.

But OP asked about FB, Google, Amazon, and I know many people who work there, and yes, $200k starting for engineer/legal/mba is the norm, and $500k by the time you are 45 is pretty standard.

Amazon is different, they do have a salary cap, but their stock grants have made it very lucrative because of the appreciation in the stock. If that stops it gets to be a far worse deal.

Where do you want to be by mid-40s? Work for companies like Oracle, have enough FU-money, and be able to retire - or still working?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at levels.fyi

this is the only answer.

also, for some actual datapoints here: amzn, marketing, 220k (with the stock appreciation)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spend a decent amount of my time recruiting for tech startups and they often compete with the FANGs, so I'm very familiar with the salary scales.

The PP who said $200k to start and $500k mid career (by early 30s) is correct.

I'd estimate you have to be in the top 25% of software developers to be hired on and in the top 10% to really excel. If you're closer to the top 5% then they start to pay you really well after awhile.

If you're a top 10% software developer AND willing to move into management then you're breaking into $1m+ year territory. But that's no more coding, just back to back meetings all day long, which is a pretty soul-sucking life unless you really love the project you are on.

Why do they pay so much? Because if they don't, the best talent leaves for startups, where the real money is truly made (but with substantial risk also).

I would disagree about startups. They don’t pay as well anymore and only founders & VC make money from IPO now, so you can read on Hacker News how no one wants to work at a startup anymore. But that level of talent is happy to found a startup and there is a huge sloshing bucket of VC money, so they may leave to start a company. But they compete with each other on salary so that’s what sustains it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Entry level $200k, mid care $500k

Let’s just say my above relative had trouble affording a house in Silicon Valley for most of his life even on an IT salary. Eventually he was able to buy a basic 3 bedroom house in San Bruno - but only because he happened to be working for a bank at one point.

Op asked about FAANG. If you work in other companies in the valley they top out at $200k; and you will be laid off at some point.

He started at Oracle almost right out of college. He’s since moved around and now works for a company you’ve heard of and uses its product at home and at office. But I don’t discuss his income with him so can’t answer OP’s Q with specificity.

Yeah, I know a bunch of people at Oracle, Cisco, Juniper, HP/EMC, Adobe, a bunch of old line tech companies. And they make squat and can only live there because of family helping them by buying houses or living with them. They get laid off every 5-7 years, and scramble around for some other gig. They study leetcode constantly, reading books on the Google Interview, etc, desperate to leapfrog into the big 5 and actually have a decent income for living in the BA.

But OP asked about FB, Google, Amazon, and I know many people who work there, and yes, $200k starting for engineer/legal/mba is the norm, and $500k by the time you are 45 is pretty standard.

Amazon is different, they do have a salary cap, but their stock grants have made it very lucrative because of the appreciation in the stock. If that stops it gets to be a far worse deal.

Where do you want to be by mid-40s? Work for companies like Oracle, have enough FU-money, and be able to retire - or still working?

Yeah of course all the Valley wants to work at Google not Oracle. They just don’t make the cut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I spend a decent amount of my time recruiting for tech startups and they often compete with the FANGs, so I'm very familiar with the salary scales.

The PP who said $200k to start and $500k mid career (by early 30s) is correct.

I'd estimate you have to be in the top 25% of software developers to be hired on and in the top 10% to really excel. If you're closer to the top 5% then they start to pay you really well after awhile.

If you're a top 10% software developer AND willing to move into management then you're breaking into $1m+ year territory. But that's no more coding, just back to back meetings all day long, which is a pretty soul-sucking life unless you really love the project you are on.

Why do they pay so much? Because if they don't, the best talent leaves for startups, where the real money is truly made (but with substantial risk also).

What determines top 5%, 10%, or 20%? In short, what does it take to make the cut at FAANG?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at levels.fyi

this is the only answer.

also, for some actual datapoints here: amzn, marketing, 220k (with the stock appreciation)

+1,000 look at levels.

Anyway my experience

$200K to start is normal
$500K as mid level manager normal
$700-$900K for a senior role normal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lawyer about 7 ish years out makes like $225k all in.

Really? that seems low. Why not just do a fed job at that point?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lawyer about 7 ish years out makes like $225k all in.

Really? that seems low. Why not just do a fed job at that point?

Well, frankly, becoming a lawyer at these places is just like any other large company in-house exit job from biglaw for people who either want to leave biglaw or are forced out due to up-or-out (e.g., never going to make partner, so they hint you should probably start looking)--like other typical exit jobs, you are going to take a pay cut from what you made in Biglaw.

[Anonymous]

My brother is a developer at one of the FAANGs. He was extremely lucky in that he is 40 and joined pre-IPO when his classmate recruited him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lawyer about 7 ish years out makes like $225k all in.

Really? that seems low. Why not just do a fed job at that point?

Well, frankly, becoming a lawyer at these places is just like any other large company in-house exit job from biglaw for people who either want to leave biglaw or are forced out due to up-or-out (e.g., never going to make partner, so they hint you should probably start looking)--like other typical exit jobs, you are going to take a pay cut from what you made in Biglaw.

Should have mentioned - that stat is for Facebook. In the Bay or NY.

I think people enjoy all the fringe benefits (paid mat leave, meals, cache of workin the tech). Because with the high COL, you’re not ahead of the in house lawyer in Chicago making $200k too.