patrick.net

By management do you mean leads, middle managers, directors, VPs and/or C-suites.

it really varies by company/industry. But the higher you go, the base salary becomes a footnote-more like pocket money :)

Yeah, all of the above. But mostly for my team, which has a half a dozen managers in it. I know that bonuses are usually some sort of secret sauce, but I can never really figure out what they use for their formulas. Is it based on uncompensated OT? Projects? That's why I thought any good estimates on math may help (i.e., is it usually related to their salaries).

anonymous says

@CL - Have you tried any of the following links ?

I did. Hard to get a solid idea of the industry though. I seem to recall talk about 10% as being the norm right after the tech bubble burst though.

Thanks gang!

In my last job, I was a principle engineer, whatever that really means, and got a 15% bonus annually.

CL says

Is it based on uncompensated OT? Projects? That's why I thought any good estimates on math may help (i.e., is it usually related to their salaries).

It depends. Some standard bonus is a percentage of salaries-but the percentage varies by performance and/or reviews or some companies just give a percentage. Then there are stock options or stock grants-again varies by performance. Big projects generally tend to have a bonus-but most workers involved get a portion of the pie. Other companies will give cars, very low interest mortgages ,vacation pay and a multitude of other structured benefits that increase as you go higher.

rando says

In my last job, I was a principle engineer, whatever that really means, and got a 15% bonus annually.

Never quit that one! :)

lostand confused says

It depends. Some standard bonus is a percentage of salaries-but the percentage varies by performance and/or reviews or some companies just give a percentage

Any idea what an acceptable range would be, based on your experience? My firm is more of a financial type, so our product isn't technology exactly. But the environment is fairly complicated, and I'm confident the billable types get larger bonuses.

I want to know if it's reasonable to expect more. My guess (since I haven't been notified) is that I'd be at 5% or so. With unemployment in SF tech being so low, I'd be concerned my team could get poached or otherwise lured away.

Most people I know have a range from 7-20%, with that being the "bonus". The other stuff is extra :)

5% does seem on the low side. but when I started out in IT, I was in one of those start ups and received 10s of thousands of shares. but the company never went live and folded up-so no use. Very low bonus, but tons of stock and I thought I would be a millionaire in a few years-LOL.

lostand confused says

I was in one of those start ups and received 10s of thousands of shares.

Thank you very much! At least you got a lifetime supply of toilet paper, or maybe digital toilet paper isn't quite as effective. :)