patrick.net

thomas.wong1986 says

$250,000-300,000 Unless your a VP is just Laugable!

One step below principal engineer in title. Where you might get to after 10-15 years in industry doing significant things without moving into management or taking a non technical job that doesn't pay nearly as well because you've burned out or won the startup lottery and decided something like acting might be more fun.

Many technically qualified people also feel that's not enough to compensate for employment at the big companies that make such grants.

drew_eckhardt says

Many technically qualified people also feel that's not enough to compensate for employment at the big companies that make such grants.

Yup. At some point, people realize that they need to stop trading every moment of life for money & career experience and leave some time for living. A couple of my friends at Apple basically say this, "Well, I just want to survive here for ~2 years without totally burning out. With that on my resumee, I can get a job anywhere I want after that." They are learning world-class engineering skills there for sure, but trips to China every 3-4 weeks & being on-call on weekends gets old fast. One of my friends has it figured out though, and she works 9-5, few weekends & rarely goes to China now (EE HW designer).

SFace says

But when I come back home a fatter ass after a reasonable amount of time, results speak louder than words.

Uh just so you know dude, women like men to have chubby asses

B.A.C.A.H. says

That said, for us non officer kinda folks, at best the RSUs are more like something to get new furniture with, or add to the annual IRA contribution, or (for some, not for us) maybe a DOWNPAYMENT on a car. Just as often, it's less than that.

These comments are more consistent with my 16 year career in technology. My wife is an engineer with a PhD and so I also got to see what her signing bonus and compensation was like when she got a job with one of the sexiest companies in the Bay Area.

The idea that RSUs or ISOs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars are regularly given is mistaken. This is more on the order of what happens during IPOs. Remember that RSUs and ISO are priced according to the market price at the time they are granted. So this type of compensation is at the mercy of the market. This also means that for a company like Apple or Netflix, employees have done very well in some cases. Others, not so well. Look at how much Apple and Google stock have gone up and down the last eight years.

This might explain it. Apple is now bigger than the city of Chicago and the same size as Switzerland
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46606766

FunTime says

The idea that RSUs or ISOs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars are regularly given is mistaken.

Yep.

I work in the trenches, so does my partner. Over the years, year after year (though not every single year) our employers have granted NQ, ISO, RSU. Public companies, private ("pre-IPO" for the Hipsters), big companies, small companies, middle sized companies. Companies on their way up, and also on their way down.

Sounds like you know, and like I know, and like another person (thomaswong86) who (claims to have) actually worked in such organizations knows.

Yep, working on the technology teams inventing, refining, manufacturing the stuff, or in my partners' case, doing the bean counting.

SFAce may be a cheerleader, and may be making Big Talk about the streets of Santa Clara County being paved with RSU/ISO/NQ gold, but those of us who work in the trenches know what is true.

But his cheerleading makes "fun reading", doesn't it?

thomas.wong1986 says

He disliked what he saw back in the early years how people became greedy and childish.. buying expensive toys and getting plastic surgery...

Uh, one of the first things Jobs did was lie to Woz about how much money they made on Breakout, and buying himself a sportscar. Then abandoning his girlfriend and their baby.

Yep. Jobs wasn't the saint some people portrayed him to be.