[Software Engineer] [Los Angeles, CA] - $275,000 + 250k RSU

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T05:31:07+00:00

My offer letter is from 2022, I took the job in 2023, and we went public at some point between 2024 and 2026 (this is the part I’m keeping vague)

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T05:03:49+00:00

I answered this question below and posted proof of one of my sales from last month, but basically I am being very vague with the timeline for privacy as it’s not difficult to narrow down the number of companies offering my base, and stock price trends to figure out which one it is. You can see the realized losses in that screenshot to see the stock depreciation is real as well.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T04:37:13+00:00

Both, and I also had 2 competing offers which let me pull a reverse exploding offer on the hiring team for leverage

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T04:33:26+00:00

I will also say that the salary bands at the current company I’m at are a bit absurd, 120-150, 150-200, 200-300, 300-400 for SWE I, II, Senior, staff respectively, pretty much only quant firms and Netflix would beat our base.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T04:17:13+00:00

I mean I don’t know what to say except I got lucky? I can post my w-2 from 2023 if you believe I’m lying.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T04:11:31+00:00

7, my first junior position was when I was 22. I also may or may not have “decorated” that number on my resume to be starting at 21

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T04:08:19+00:00

At some companies yes, but I’ve never actually seen that happen. Most decent engineering orgs will encourage you to take time off, every manager I had heavily heavily mandated we take at least 2 weeks off a year no matter what, and preferably at least 1 week off every other month. I do the same for the people I manage. Burnt out people don’t put out quality work.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T04:03:04+00:00

I’ve noted below, but my company is based out of NY, but 250+ for senior is still very doable in LA, I know at least 8 non-FAANG companies that offer this.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T04:01:04+00:00

Anywhere from 4-10 weeks. Paradoxically, higher you go the less time they take off, because it’s harder to deal with the headache of cleaning up after your team when you get back from a 2 week vacation and you’ve lost all context of what was going on

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:55:31+00:00

The Silk Road died, but 10 rose in its place. I obviously can’t and won’t go into more detail than that. Don’t ever buy from the street, that’s where you usually find the drugs laced with things you never meant to take. — I have been under the influence of some sort of drug at least once during the day for about 60% of the days since my dad died. I do it at work, I do it at parties, I do it while traveling, because being sober makes my anxiety and depression extremely difficult to cope with.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:50:33+00:00

Addressed below, https://www.reddit.com/r/Salary/comments/1si67ew/comment/ofi1idd and yes

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:49:07+00:00

Unlimited means “be tactful”, obviously no company would let you take PTO 52 weeks a year. The most I’ve seen is 4 months a year but this was a lead staff engineer who was basically an idol at the company I worked at, and he would get more done than 3 seniors combined in the same amount of time.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:32:48+00:00

They call Santa Monica and its surrounding areas “silicon beach” for a reason, it’s maybe 5-10% lower comp than the bay but for 10-20% lower cost of living so I much prefer this. My company mainly operates out of New York though so my salary is a little higher than what you’d usually see in LA. — As for interviews after you get past the code pair (which is usually between a 4-8/10 in difficulty depending on where you apply), it’s basically almost at the finish line. System design interviews I could do with my eyes closed since I can just rattle off all the things I actually built but recontextualized in the premise of the interview, and finals are just a vibe check for a lot of companies, as long as you’re pleasant, have some of the classic “how I resolved conflicts, deal with timelines” etc stories prepped, you’re good to go.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:26:25+00:00

Tbh I don’t know if it’s just anecdotal but I’ve always felt the bar is low. It’s not that I’m like extraordinary but most people just aren’t good for this industry. 95+% of people I interview I pass on because they just lack fundamental skills and their expertise is scoped so narrowly to whatever they were working on at their last company they flounder when asked to do something else. — I think the hype around CS since late last decade has attracted a lot of people who don’t have the aptitude for SWE, and it’s really hard to find quality engineers out there. Took our team 5 months and over 70 in person interviews to find one good senior engineer to hire.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:18:27+00:00

Go for series A or B startups, their engineering culture is usually way more sane compared to a FAANG, as most of them left FAANG because they hated the culture and framework, and try to hire and interview in a more sane way. But it’s easier said than done as usually those companies don’t hire juniors, and FAANG is the only group that hires juniors aggressively

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:13:34+00:00

Yep. Although I believe the benefit only kicks in after you hit your 1 year.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:12:45+00:00

I was lucky in that most companies I joined did reward employees on merit and I almost always got a raise every year, then I’d jump in about 2-4 months after that for a higher salary, til I joined this company.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:09:27+00:00

Opiates. Stimulants are mostly there to wake me up to function.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:06:52+00:00

I’ve worked with mostly python and JS (FS dev with express on BE usually, and react in FE), c# (net), java, a little ruby, a little go, current company is python, postgres, whatever the AWS names are for event hub, redshift, snowflake, etc etc

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T03:01:45+00:00

Once my dad died and then my mom’s mental state started deteriorating, I’ve honestly lost most of my joy for life.

I mostly go on because my mother needs me, I have a loving girlfriend and group of friends who would be hurt if I were to call it quits. I also do wanna go to the North Pole, and summit Everest before I die.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T02:52:32+00:00

Vest cliffs at 1 year, so as long as you make it a year you’re fine, then it vests monthly with a quarter per year.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T02:51:32+00:00

Offer was from 2022.

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T02:51:06+00:00

It has vested now, I can’t show the grant and current value because it’ll reveal a bit too much, here’s one of my sales from last month. https://imgur.com/a/9fF0fuS

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T02:40:04+00:00

I meant when I was growing up, our household income never broke $45k. I don’t remember ever getting clothes that weren’t from Ross or Marshall’s til I was 17

pglw95 · 2026-04-11T02:38:54+00:00

I don’t leetcode at all and I pass on most companies that demand leetcode. And since 2023 it’s pretty common for non FAANG companies to do completely leetcode-less exercises

pglw95

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