hey tech late here welcome back to
another exciting episode with your host
X Google X Facebook tech lead today
we're going to be talking about money
how much do software engineers really
get paid and I think that there's a lot
of msconfig win around here the public
perception seems to be that software
engineers get paid some six-figure
salary even 100k whereas in reality is
actually far higher than that a lot of
you guys were surprised when I said that
junior entry-level engineers get paid
200k at Fang companies and they do they
really do by mid-career after three or
four years software engineers are doing
300k razón salary by senior they're
doing about 400 K my last job over at
Facebook was paying 500k and if you
include the sign-on bonus it was like a
600 K income for just one year of work
software engineers get paid a lot and I
want to explain for you how you too can
achieve these levels of income because
there are some tricks involved first of
all you need to realize that there are
two factors at play here
number one is which company you work for
and number two is where you do it the
cream of the crop companies where you
will be able to get salaries like this
is Silicon Valley top-tier tech
companies we're talking about Facebook
Google Apple Amazon Netflix maybe
Microsoft in Silicon Valley because
geography really matters I've personally
checked the internal compensation tables
before and salaries just totally depend
on location the fact is most of the
world doesn't view software engineering
as a white-collar job it's more like a
blue-collar low-class
type of labor I have a brother he was
working 120k programming job in Silicon
Valley moved to Japan because he wanted
to be there and then he had to put up
with like a 60 K job over there and that
first store is like this over and over
again so that's the first thing
geography if you're a software engineer
I recommend checking out Silicon Valley
maybe just fake your address on your
resume and see if you can apply and what
type of offers you may be getting if you
actually get something interesting take
a flight over and do the interview and
just move over because Silicon Valley
just pays better the entire culture
there respect around the profession of
software engineering is just at a higher
level now the other factor is which
company you're working at and you really
have to take a look at these top-tier
tech companies it's like most companies
are paying some amount pretty average
above average and then you look at
Facebook Google and it's like much
higher than that and there's a number of
reasons for this one is these top-tier
tech company
they can just afford to pay more because
they're making so much money and they
have their pick of course you have to be
extremely qualified I think a lot of the
numbers you generally hear about
software engineers make it 75 to 85 K
maybe 100 K those are usually quoted
from say base salary amounts from people
working in startups where the equity is
worthless or from smaller software
engineering firms around the country
which is pretty common now Silicon
Valley may be the most concentrated area
for high-paying tech jobs but there's
also other areas like Seattle la New
York and then some areas like I hear
Switzerland pays pretty well as well now
if you're living in there where else I
might recommend looking into these
global top-tier tech companies because
they still would generally pay higher
because they have that culture of
respect for software engineers so I'll
quickly run over the salary breakdown
for you software engineers they're
generally categorized into levels from
level two three four five six seven
eight and nine level two is like interns
they may get paid 85k or so and they
only work three months or so you really
start in that level three which is entry
level software engineers a standard
package may look like 110k base salary
plus 15 percent performance bonus plus
another 150 KS stock over four years and
then maybe another 50k and sign on bonus
which brings out the total compensation
in the first year to about 200k and
that's not even odd because you also get
equity refreshers the way refreshers
work is when you sign on to a company
usually get stuck over four years but
after four years all of that stock just
dissolves there's nothing left and then
you just quit the company so in order to
retain people companies will usually
continue to offer you about one fourth
of your stock every year so after the
first year usually get another 1/4 of
your stock and so on and your income
just bills such that by the time you get
to your second or third year you're
actually pulling in like two hundred
fifty came even by that time you may
also just get promoted to level four
which is considered a solid individual
contributor somebody who doesn't need
any hand-holding and who can just take
on tasks start to finish completely on
their own
this is mid-level probably the broadest
range maybe 70% or so of software
engineers are in here a standard package
may look like 150 k pay salary 320 KS
talk over four years 15 percent bone
and then another 50k signing bonus or so
which rounds out the package to about
300k income with the equity refreshers
after a few years you could be getting
into 350k and you may notice that this
is a huge jump from level 3 to level 4
it's like a hundred k difference and
that's why a lot of software engineers
are self-motivated to get promoted is
why they push themselves to work hard
and I think it's overall a great system
where you really give people like a
carrot that's worth chasing after
instead of just saying well yeah if you
work really hard to get like a 5% raise
15% raise like this is actually
something sizable that people would
really go after from there you get to
senior level which is l5 at Google or a
5 at Facebook and this is sometimes
considered the terminal level you really
don't need to put yourself much further
than that and many people just say at
the senior level for many years it's a
sweet spot you have a decent amount of
responsibility you lead small teams you
generally have learned to multiply your
impact beyond yourself a standard
compensation package is 180 K pays 20%
bonus target 500k and stock thrown some
equity refreshers put in a signing bonus
and you're looking at 400 to 450 K in
total comp and then if you wanted to
push it some more you can get to level 6
which is where I was at staff software
engineer and you really need an
excellent opportunity for this sometimes
opportunities just don't exist you just
can't make enough impact generally
though you need to be leading teams of
people down complete projects that are
impactful that are delivering results
that impact the company's bottom line
you're responsible for coordinating the
success of a project cross team
collaboration and coding while it is
still important begins to take a bit of
a backseat people may do it say 20 to 30
percent their time only or even less I
know some level 6 engineers they barely
even code anymore most of the time
they're just right in design Docs
they're still responsible for
understanding the technical design and
architecture and implementation of a
project they're not necessarily a people
manager but they do a lot more
delegation a typical salary here is 220
K base salary 20% bonus a million in
stock over four years 75 K signed on
thrown some equity refreshers you're
looking at 500 K to 600 que todo comp
when you get to level seven or eight
these are usually distinguished software
engineers well-respected in their
industry is well known I've met a few of
them myself
and they're generally impressive
all-around great technical skills and
communication skills so I hope that
rundown gave you an idea of what it
takes to succeed in software engineering
it's not just all about coding in fact
coding ability pretty much peaks at
about level four and then after that is
really about multiplying their impact
leading people mentoring cross team
collaboration taking the initiative
leading projects to success and this
doesn't even include all the other perks
and benefits you might get like 401k
matching health insurance medical dental
vision computer equipment free food
parties and offsites and best of all
free coffee okay so let's take a step
back I remember when I used to be
running my own apps and websites I would
think that software engineers are making
about 100k and if I could only be a
hundred K then I would be good and I'd
be happy and that served me well for a
few years until I realized later on when
I got into Google that most engineers
there are making 200k if not way more
than that and now I realize and my
overall recommendation is that most
software engineers try to land the job
at one of these top-tier tech companies
it's like a marathon and it's something
that you might try year after year
honing your interview skills
so overall the biggest mistake I see a
lot of software engineers doing is that
they somehow convince themselves that
they don't need to work in Silicon
Valley at the top-tier tech company
they'll say things like oh the cost of
living is too high there or yeah I don't
want to work at the corrupt company like
Facebook these are just giant monopolies
I'm good with my current job I like my
co-workers and that's all good that's
great and quite frankly I used to be
like this as well I would be jaded and
bitter at those Googlers writing their
Google their buzzes and I still kind of
am but overall I would still recommend
that you give it a shot because it's
going to change your life it's going to
open so many doors and you can still
quit after say a year or two and just be
on your merry way with that brand name
equity on your resume the last thing I
want to know is I think a lot of us are
focusing too much on salary and what
we're really choosing is a lifestyle
because no matter how much you're
getting paid if you're working in a
company no matter if you're junior
mid-level senior staff or the CEO you're
all living a very similar lifestyle you
live in the same city you're eating the
same food to go into the same bathrooms
drinking the same coffee go into the
same company events living in the same
city working in the same office under
the same working and the
for the same eight to twelve hours a day
that you may be there and the higher
paid people are actually working even
harder and maybe they just have a nicer
car or a nicer house or family vacations
and that's pretty much about it at the
salary range everybody can have
organized things anybody can go buy a
Porsche everyone can go out to nice
restaurants everyone can take nice
vacations taxes eat up half their
salaries and everybody is still chained
to their jobs for health insurance
because health insurance is so
ridiculously expensive in our country
that if you decide to quit you just be
paying through the nose for some pretty
poor week coverage retirement is just
pretty difficult in this country and the
funny thing is any additional income you
make it may not even be for yourself
right it may just go into your house
with your pass on to your kids and into
your kids kids will just squander over
in Vegas so that's the funny thing a lot
of us are busy working away our lives in
our nine-to-five jobs to save up to buy
a bigger house which is just going to be
passed on to somebody who we don't even
know and my piece of advice here is to
just remember to enjoy that journey pick
a lifestyle that you enjoy don't work
yourself to death over a job it's not
all about the money because that game of
chasing money it's always going to be
there there's no end
even today I continue to chase it so
they'll do for me over I just hope I
inspired you to continue applying to
these top-tier tech companies I think
it's going to be a worthwhile move
especially for software engineers to
think a little bit about your lifestyle
to enjoy your journey if you liked the
video give it a like and subscribe and
I'll see you next time
thanks bye