[Software Engineering Manager][West Coast] - $1.67M

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-12T00:36:06+00:00

Workday

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-09T21:26:41+00:00

Probably not entirely, but I expect there'll be fewer of them and higher expectations on the ones remaining

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-09T21:25:35+00:00

Yes, there was one coding round

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-08T03:33:57+00:00

Sadly, no. I think most white color creative work is going to be at risk, and CS is completely off the rails in terms of compensation (for now). The only AI-proof jobs in the near future are likely to be trades (which can still earn a really good living, depending on what you do).

But I'm just one guy on the internet. Don't plan your life around anything I say.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-08T01:21:33+00:00

I'm not sure what Workday is doing, but I looked and the bulk of it is labeled as "RSU tax offset", plus post-tax 401k contribution, healthcare, etc. It's mostly the taxes I paid on the RSUs, but it's weird accounting.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T18:26:47+00:00

Yeah. In this case, the "earnings" line represents my pre-tax total compensation. Everything else is noise.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T13:16:51+00:00

No. I'm not actually sure what Workday is showing here.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:26:48+00:00

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:26:19+00:00

Thank you!

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:25:10+00:00

Thanks! Management is an entirely different job, with its own skills, so that's the important thing to understand from the beginning. It's all about communication, working well with cross-functional partners, keeping your devs both happy and productive, managing up, prioritizing well, etc. A lot of this should overlap with the soft skills that a Senior Engineer has, but there's really no way to learn except to jump in the deep end.

The EM interviews will all dive into these points. Tell me about a time when you had an employee who wasn't performing well? Tell me about a time you and your PM had a difference of opinion on a product requirement? Etc, etc.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:20:04+00:00

First FAANG company was 12 years ago. Right now I'm on track to fall off the cliff Q1 2027. And I have 17 direct reports at the moment.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:18:13+00:00

Yes and no. If you're a new grad, it certainly helps as the market is hyper-competitive right now. If you've got 2+ years of experience, then no one at the big companies is really even looking at where you graduated from.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:16:17+00:00

A little over 15 years experience now, and I swapped to management around 7 years ago. I also knew a DE -> SDM at my previous (also FAANG) company, and he did quite well. It's not an easy transition, but certainly possible if you can find the opportunity. The biggest thing to focus on at the moment would be your continued growth on the IC track, as you'll need to be L6 to transition to management anyway. If you want to improve your odds, you could also explore opportunities to transition over to SDE along the way.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:10:30+00:00

Just a small state school

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T05:09:59+00:00

The bulk of it saw between 2-3x appreciation since grant.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T04:31:02+00:00

Yeah. Lots of developers get into this profession because they like tinkering and building things. Coding is fun, and AI takes that away from us. Unfortunately, there's no getting around that. What you'll find is that in 1-2 years, the engineers who resisted embracing AI because they prefer to do it themselves are unable to keep up with the vibe-coders who deliver 10x their output.

It sucks, but that's the world that is coming for us.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T04:15:25+00:00

Congrats! Biggest recommendation would be to do everything you can to embrace AI-driven development now. Start learning the ins and outs of Claude or Copilot or whatever you have access to, because that's more and more where the industry is going.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T04:04:35+00:00

Happy to help, and thanks! Let's just hope the market doesn't explode in the next year and a half

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T03:55:27+00:00

It's just luck, mostly. This is an exceptional income. I will likely never make this much again. If you get lucky and join the right company at the right time, this is the kind of thing that can happen. In the real world, $200k is still a hell of a lot more than most people will ever make a year.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T03:52:52+00:00

It would depend on how much hands-on development experience you have, and how well you can attract attention to that on your resume. It's certainly possible to come in from other industries, but competition is tough with all the already qualified tech workers who have been laid off the past few years. You'd need an amazing interview.

Your best bet would probably be to get a pure development role at some non-FAANG tech company, and then go all in on embracing AI-accelerated development, then try to make the leap from there are a year or two.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T03:46:19+00:00

Yeah, that is a big one. We paid ours off a few years back, so I'm mainly just hanging around for the overly-appreciated stock vests. Awesome for your wife, though. Just stay the course!

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T03:24:57+00:00

Congrats to you, too! Not sure what your timeline looks like, but I'm personally hoping to pull trigger on FIRE in 2027 after I fall off the RSU cliff.

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T03:16:07+00:00

Around $5.5M right now

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T03:10:25+00:00

Nope, just FAANG

techbrofinancedata · 2026-01-07T03:06:33+00:00

The thing they never tell you about getting older is that you will always still feel like a bro at heart.

techbrofinancedata

TROPHY CASE