Software Engineering is a goldmine; reminds me of the Gold Rush in the 19th centrury. The location to be is California, again.
Although the salaries can be pretty high in many other companies other than Google, why would we take a look at top-notch companies and see how much their employees earn?
Thankfully, all that data can be viewed publicly because of great people at levels.fyi.
The massive salaries are prone to high taxes, and that's why they are always divided into 3 parts: base salary, stocks, and bonuses.
Let's dive in.
Junior Engineers
Even though most of these people have 0-2 years of experience, the numbers can be pretty big.
The average salary for Google engineers is $190k. Base salary is $130k, stocks are $40k, while bonuses are $20k. Pretty good, right?
Guys on Facebook get a little less money, with an average of $180k. The base is $121k, stocks $43k, and bonuses $15k.
Mid-Level Engineers
Things slightly change for more experienced roles. The average experience is 2-5 years, however, that's not the rule. Some people have 1, and some of them 10 years of experience.
The average salary for this role in Google is $266k. The base is $156k, stocks $80k, bonuses $30k.
You can see that base salary raises slowly compared to the stocks and bonuses, which were almost doubled.
Facebook is quite similar here, with an average salary of $263k. The base is $161k, stocks $84k, and bonuses $18k.
Senior Engineer
Ok, now we're already in the quite high league. People here have 5-20 years of experience, and most of them stop at this level.
Google engineers earn $351k on average. The base is $187k, stocks $125k, bonuses $39k.
You can see a huge raising trend with the stocks; again, tax is the reason here.
Facebook engineers win here, by earning $384k on average. The base is $197k, stocks $154k, and bonuses £33k.
Staff Engineers
If you're a top-notch Facebook or Google engineer, you will pass the senior role, and become a Staff Engineer. You need to have at least 7 years of experience and can have up to 20+.
The average salary for this role in Google is $483k. The base is $223k, stocks $208k, bonuses $51k.
The highest salary is $580k.
Facebook absolutely smashes Google for this role. The average salary is $590k, more than Google's highest!
The base is $232k, stocks $305k, and bonuses $53k.
The highest salary is up to $725k.
Senior Staff Engineers
It's not enough. You're a top-notch engineer in the world, and you deserve the highest possible compensation. People here have something from 10, up to 35+ years of experience.
Just a few engineers will come to this role.
The average Google salary is $700k. The base is $264k, stocks $353k, bonuses $83k; while the highest one is $800k.
Facebook smashes again with $874k as an average salary. The base is $269, stocks $528k, bonuses $76k.
However, the biggest salary here is a bit more than $1MM!
Conclusion - start coding
The demand for software engineers is massive, and you don't need to have a degree in Computer Science to do it.
You won't end up working in Google or Facebook, but there are many great companies that will pay you $100k+.
You can self-educate yourself, and change your life if you're interested in it. This period will last for some time, and if you're interested in it - give it a go.
As you've just read, the prices can be astonishing.
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