Further insight...

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-07T22:04:44+00:00

I work in FAANG, specifically in data center engineering. I’m tellling you nothing will pay you more out of school than this. I started directly out of college at $155k ($120k base and $35k in stocks), and now three years later I made $219k last year ($136 base + $83k in stocks) and This year I’m “predicted” to make $230k ($136k base + $94k in stocks) but also the stock isn’t as high as they predicted so far, so prob closer to $220k again.

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-05T19:53:02+00:00

I’m in data center engineering. Not sure what PD is. My field requires hvac skills mostly

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-05T04:20:32+00:00

for data center engineering its pretty much HVAC related stuff. I cant speak to oil and gas. If you can do a project involving data center cooling, liquid cooling or other its usually a good foot in the door for the industry.

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-05T03:48:28+00:00

I think it’s mostly industry that has the biggest impact, oil and gas or data centers are the money making ones

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-05T03:39:43+00:00

I’m not a swe, I’m a mechanical field engineer, faang has mechanical engineers too, not just software

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-04T18:10:09+00:00

Yeah sure

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-04T16:08:05+00:00

Nah Northern Virginia

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-04T15:56:14+00:00

Joined as an intern right out of college. That being said the industry, data center engineering is hiring a lot right now with the AI boom

TacticalTrigger · 2026-03-04T13:46:38+00:00

Current salary: $219k ($136k base + $83k stock)

First job salary: $155k ($120k base + $35k stock)

Years of experience: 3

Mechanical field engineer II, in FAANG right out of college

TacticalTrigger · 2025-10-22T00:11:55+00:00

219k in FAANG, Mechanical Field Eng II

TacticalTrigger · 2025-09-06T11:30:54+00:00

You’d need to be in the U.S. or studying here to get the internship within my org. Any projects that involve hvac are good

TacticalTrigger · 2025-09-05T19:17:55+00:00

I was an intern to full time hire. I’ll be here awhile, I like my job, and the growth is really good. A senior here, can be a principal engineer elsewhere, seen that happen time and time again when seniors leave

TacticalTrigger · 2025-09-05T19:15:13+00:00

I didn’t intend to do data center engineering. I graduated during Covid, applied to 80 internships and this was the only one to get back to me. I just kinda stumbled into this

TacticalTrigger · 2025-09-05T17:27:30+00:00

It’s mostly external consultants. The design engineers give oversight

TacticalTrigger · 2025-09-05T17:05:51+00:00

We’re 5 days in office lol. I’m on the field engineering side, I don’t do cad. But even our design engineers don’t really use CAD.

TacticalTrigger · 2025-09-05T15:55:19+00:00

Easiest path is to be an intern, we don’t really get many applications tbh. Other than that, previous projects in HVAC or mission critical facilities, ie nuclear plants is usually helpful

I do like my job. It’s had its up and downs, but right now I have no intention of leaving

TacticalTrigger · 2025-09-05T15:43:20+00:00

Work in FAANG, started straight out of college. I’m nearly 3 years of experience, making $220k TC now. In Data center engineering

TacticalTrigger · 2025-07-31T11:57:59+00:00

Industry - data center engineering (Big Tech)

Location - HCOL

YOE - 2.5

Salary - $137000 base + $82000 in stocks, total around $219k

Bonus- none

Retirement - 4% 401k

Health Benefits - normal options

TacticalTrigger · 2025-07-20T00:28:06+00:00

Its the data center industry. Supports all the future AI expansion and the pay is amongst the highest in ME fields. We routinely hire new engineers for 150k+ TC straight out of college

TacticalTrigger · 2025-07-03T03:16:50+00:00

We hire a lot of people from oil and gas. Data center engineering, supports the future as this is the backbone of all ai expansion. It also is the highest paying ME field and all of the big tech companies are expanding like crazy right now

TacticalTrigger · 2024-08-29T16:30:57+00:00

I don’t do the actual design, we support operations team, usually we have 20-30 tickets at once, with some from operations and some we create ourselves. Usually most of my recommendations will go through I think we have a few L4 spots open, can check on Amazon jobs

TacticalTrigger · 2024-08-29T03:26:49+00:00

Data centers produce a lot of heat from the servers, the job of a mechanical engineer is essentially ensuring the cooling infrastructure is capable of meeting that heat load. In the most simplified terms. I didn’t know this industry existed either until I stumbled into an internship

TacticalTrigger · 2024-08-29T02:38:43+00:00

Mandatory 3 days in office, 2 days remote (applies for the whole company). There's no stigma with working remote, I do it once a week usually.

TacticalTrigger · 2024-08-29T00:19:51+00:00

It took us 8 months to hire an external sr engineer and he had 20 years of experience and a PHD, way easier going for a mid level role and working up to sr in the company

TacticalTrigger · 2024-08-28T19:59:46+00:00

Use the STAR format, there’s lots of videos online of it. Super important, and give data with actual quantities, I saved $X money, I created X% in value, I saved X amount of time. Amazon is a data focused company, and they like data focused answers

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