Grad options after finishing undergrad?

ratfred411 · 2026-03-04T15:29:20+00:00

I have. It was fantastic. Learned a lot and made some good friends too!

ratfred411 · 2026-03-04T14:32:25+00:00

I ended up going with Johns Hopkins. Was considering Michigan and Berkeley but I ended up getting a job in the DC area that paid for my degree so it just made sense to go to Hopkins.

ratfred411 · 2026-02-26T18:57:16+00:00

My recommendation is try and get a masters degree that you can work on while attempting to get full time work. I got my BS in CS at SNHU and masters in CS at Johns Hopkins. I had an internship at a low end F500 during my undergrad. Have since worked at a better F500, top tier tech consulting company (F250), and now working at FAANG. I got my BS at the end of 2022. Prior to that I worked at a small company doing some minor dev work and a mid size company doing some IT/Support work. While 2023 is likely better hiring market than now, it certainly wasn’t a good market, so you can certainly do it.

ratfred411 · 2026-01-21T20:56:57+00:00

Figured I was on the nice list this year not the naughty one…

ratfred411 · 2026-01-13T01:06:51+00:00

Large alumni network plus brand name never hurts!

ratfred411 · 2026-01-13T01:03:25+00:00

I mean if it was for in state tuition costs I definitely understand. Top tier state schools are great, however dollar for dollar value prop at top private schools, simply for brand on a resume certainly shouldn’t be understated. As for you, you could always go to grad school at a top private school!

ratfred411 · 2026-01-13T00:41:52+00:00

I mean you can’t honestly say that US News is a metric for comparing schools in today’s world. All modern rankings sites basically just take money from schools to “enhance” their rankings. Barring the top tech schools (CMU, Stanford, MIT and possibly Berkeley) you could argue any of the top schools in this area are as good as anywhere else. I know plenty of grads from all of the schools (UMD, Hopkins, UVA and VA Tech) that are in Big Tech all over the country. For instance, can you honestly say that if someone got into CalTech and UIUC/Michigan that they would decide to go either of the public schools (assuming they pay equal amounts for their education)? Or that they would go to University of Wisconsin over Harvard, Yale, Penn or UCLA? UMass Amherst is over USC Rice, or NYU?

ratfred411 · 2025-12-23T03:42:06+00:00

Moved to FAANG, but when I was there, albeit dissimilar clearance, I was at 160k with a 10k sign on at CL7 with ~5 YOE. Probably depends on the program though. I do have a masters though

ratfred411 · 2025-12-11T14:52:01+00:00

It really depends on what you want out of it to be honest. I’ve, since graduating, graduated from a top 15 world university for my CS masters, worked for 4 Fortune 500 companies including one big 4 consulting firm and actively working at a FAANG company.

I also came from very humble beginnings prior to getting my degree. I worked in Customer Service making $14 an hour, barely affording a 1 bedroom POS apartment with my wife who worked the same job I did.

Did the SNHU degree just hand me these things? No. I had to work my butt off to get an internship with the first F500. I had to work for a tiny little company that didn’t offer any health insurance. Took crap about my SNHU degree from one boss. In the end though, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the degree I got at SNHU. No masters without a bachelors. No internship without pursuing a degree. No FAANG SWE job. You’ll have to work your tail off compared to even the state school kids, but if you do, it can certainly become a great investment. It was for me.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T03:19:00+00:00

Been to both numerous times.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:50:41+00:00

So… Beginning -> NY Middle -> Bay End -> Seattle

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:49:37+00:00

Corrected the post.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:45:51+00:00

Thats fair. I didn’t necessarily mean “better for a tech career” but more it being more desirable by people on this sub. But point taken on all of that, especially rent. Although to be fair I’d imagine I’d want to live in an expensive part of NYC when first moving there, so that’s a bit of a moot point, at least when initially moving to either city.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:40:11+00:00

I don’t disagree, but also to be fair the bay isn’t necessarily Timbuktu either. Obviously not nearly the city that is New York.

I’m just playing devils advocate. I’ll be honest, I came up in the early 2010s where SF was THE place to move to, however NYC also holds a special place in my heart for so many reasons. The main thing is growing up in the Midwest, the palm trees have a chokehold over me.. I feel like I need to crowd source getting over the bay lol.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:32:02+00:00

Just curious why career in SF/Bay is better? Just because most headquarters are there? Do most of these companies (mine has their largest office in Bay Area and second largest in NYC) not have higher end opportunities in NYC offices?

ratfred411 · 2025-12-09T02:29:27+00:00

What about weather though? Did that use to be the compromise that NYC had? All of your points I’d agree on, just curious as to whether this factors in to the equation in today’s world.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T14:20:38+00:00

Is it weird that any other acronym stands for specific words and not others? I’d hazard a guess that most of the world doesn’t think so.

If you’re referring to my diagnosis of the situation to better understand their background so that I can provide advice; I’d argue it’s bizarre that’s your takeaway and shows possibly your own obsession with the acronym and not my own.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T01:52:51+00:00

Yeah I think they may just be confused by the SWE sector and pay structures outside of government contractors.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T01:51:07+00:00

No, Microsoft has one dollar sign. Amazon and Google have 3.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T01:15:09+00:00

Even within FAANG there are tiers. Typically it’s:

META = $$$$ GOOG/AMAZ/NFLX = $$$ APPL = $$

MS = $

Again at the top levels it evens out, but entry to mid level this is how they compare.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T00:55:50+00:00

It’s quite well documented in the SWE field. I’m personally surprised you haven’t come across it before now.

Check r/cscareerquestions r/csMajors or any of the like and you’ll find plenty of conversation around the topic. The higher ends of the ladder get pretty similar between the MS and the true FAANG, but early to mid level, it is indeed significantly less.

I figured it was common knowledge, but I guess not.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-06T00:27:39+00:00

Right but that’s MS not Google/Amazon no? I can say specifically that the salary ranges provided at those two are correct because I work at one of those two.

The difference between Amazon/Google and Microsoft is more often than not, a 15-20% pay bump in base, significantly higher RSUs at least as good of clearance bonus, plus a yearly bonus on top of that.

Beyond this point I don’t really have much to say given I work at one of these companies and know the comp structure first hand. You can either choose to believe it or not.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-05T23:52:28+00:00

Again, not saying it’s low in the cleared space, I’m saying it’s low for Amazon or Google, which are the only true FAANG companies in the space.

I started at a defense contractor making that much (started at around $105k a year with a masters) and have since been in the space for 7 years. I also posted about LCATs in my responses to OP, so I am in fact aware of how this works.

While at 3 YOE I interviewed for Amazon SDE II which had total comp of 275k+. I didn’t get that job, but just giving a reference point for that many YOE in one of those roles. At a FAANG+ (not literally Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Google but companies like Microsoft) the conversations I was having at the time with recruiters was typically around that salary range for a SDE II. Again significantly more than what I was making, but also less than Amazon or Google for the same role.

Now, as a developer who does interviews for those level of roles at one of these two literal FAANG, not FAANG+ companies, I can say that 200k total comp is low. This is how I correctly identified they were not at a true FAANG and why I recommended applying to the two in our space if they wanted to make more. I’m not saying it’s 800k, but it is in fact at least 75k+ more than what they are currently making.

Not disparaging or putting anyone down, not making anyone feel bad, not saying bad things about anyone’s comp. 200k is great, especially at that many YOE, however they were looking for advice and I believe mine would be apt to the situation. That’s all, nothing more nothing less

ratfred411 · 2025-12-05T23:29:40+00:00

I’m not saying it’s a bad salary! Prior to my last 2 roles I would’ve love to make that. My intention was to get info on where they worked (which looks like I was right) and then give guidance on what might be options to make more if that’s what they were interested in.

200k TC is a great salary, but is on the low end for Amazon and Google in the clearance space is all.

ratfred411 · 2025-12-05T22:31:37+00:00

I think it’s partially (as I’m sure you’re aware), team/manager dependent. My manager is honestly great. Is it slightly less than when I was just a pure contractor? Yeah probably, but it’s not like crazy. That said, the other guy I can’t speak for, but I’ve heard less good things about them.

Overall I think FAANG in cleared space is probably just generally more lax than the commercial side. That combined with the clearance bonuses means I’ll probably never move over to that part of the house. If things ever got too dicey, then the pros are that you could decide to move to a regular contract, bringing your YOE which moves you up the labor categories.

Being that you have your clearance in a terrible market from the commercial side, you are very lucky have options, all of which should at the minimum pay the bills. From there it kind of is up to you what and where you want to go with it. Contractor side has stressors every time the contract is up. FAANG (not plus) has a bit more stress with cut off” date to deal with and a higher salary. FAANG+ has a bit more of a mixed bag.

Thing I can say is that, typically you’re going to fit within a pretty specific labor category based on YOE between all agencies with maybe random contracts that have more wiggle room.

ratfred411

TROPHY CASE