throwaway_goog

6 ms·

1.
by throwaway_goog 4y ago
L6 @ Google, personal AGI last year (not counting capital gains or spouse's income) was just over $900K. You forget the massive stock-price appreciation between 2020 and the end of 2021. If you were granted $400K/year in stock c
2.
by throwaway_goog 4y ago
There probably is a plateau, but I was surprised at how high it is. My first job was for $8/hour. Next was for $20/hour. The one after that was $32K/year. Then I went to college. Then it was $66K/year. Then I did a
3.
by throwaway_goog 5y ago
I've doubled my compensation every time I switched jobs, plus doubled once through internal promotions, and another 50% increase through stock appreciation since most recent rehire. It's been about 5 doublings over a 20-year care
4.
by throwaway_goog 5y ago
It doesn't. I semi-retired at 33 and then spent the time since then doing 20+ different startup ideas. Still no success. Bank account is bigger now than when I retired, but startup dreams are effectively dead. Bottleneck is that the
5.
by throwaway_goog 6y ago
I doubled my salary each time I changed jobs, from internship -> first job out of high school -> first job out of college -> Google. When I got to Google I said, "I guess that's the end of the doubling." Nope, my c
6.
by throwaway_goog 6y ago
Yes. $500K+ is roughly L6 at Google or the equivalent at another FAANG. It's quite a bit easier and less risky to get to that level than to start a business that nets $500K+ annual profit. (Believe me, I tried.)
7.
by throwaway_goog 6y ago
Not better ones. Self-employment leaves you more exposed to the randomness of the marketplace, not less.
8.
by throwaway_goog 6y ago
> Would your experienced well-being have been higher in 2008 with half-million in income? Probably not by much. All I really wanted was a basic place to live, enough food on the table, and a reasonable expectation that that'd conti
9.
by throwaway_goog 6y ago
Could also be that the environment has changed since the original studies were done in 1999-2002. I know that my subjective well-being was higher with an income of $100K in 2008 than it is with a half-mil+ in 2020. Why? Because the social
10.
by throwaway_goog 6y ago
I did that and found that I hated it. There's a lot of bullshit that you have to deal with in a small business: incorporation papers, taxes, staying away from the zillions of people who try to scam or extort small business owners, sal
11.
by throwaway_goog 6y ago
So I "retired" at 33 in the sense of having investment income > monthly expenses. Didn't own a house, but could've bought the Mississippi one you link to for cash easily. What'd I actually do? Found a series of
12.
by throwaway_goog 8y ago
Roughly $700K between my wife (ex-bond-trader) and me. We are a couple years past 32 but had about $600K then, at which age I'd already quit my Google job and she'd quit her finance job.
13.
by throwaway_goog 9y ago
(Reactivating my long-term throwaway for this. Salary history is in past comments.) 5 years at Google, plus living cheaply (at least as much as possible in Silicon Valley).
14.
by throwaway_goog 10y ago
Doubled (total comp) every time I switched jobs, and then once without switching. It's hard to measure exactly because college & a couple startups were mixed in there, but averaged about 2-3 years of work experience per doubling.
15.
by throwaway_goog 11y ago
Since I've already got this throwaway and already posted my numbers: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10761173
16.
by throwaway_goog 11y ago
I was employee # ~45,000 and my stock options were still worth ~$400K. Not exactly a startup, but startup employees stand to gain even more. Stock compensation benefits anyone who holds stock in a company that grows unexpectedly. The meme
17.
by throwaway_goog 11y ago
Startup thing.
18.
by throwaway_goog 11y ago
Not to my knowledge. I started in frontend but had touched every part of the stack (including infrastructure and some ML) by the time I left.
19.
by throwaway_goog 11y ago
By unexercised I mean unexercised. Stock options vest continually (well, usually monthly or quarterly usually, after the 1-year cliff); when they've vested, you have the right to exercise them, and they're considered your propert
20.
by throwaway_goog 11y ago
Throwaway because I don't want my salary history to become public. I spent 5 years at Google. My AGI (as measured by the IRS) during my time there went $130K, $200K, $280K, $280K, $300K, $356K (for my last 5 months there...it also inc