linkedin or two sigma

LinkedIn ya got to
Sep 7 31 Comments

hi,

yoe 4+, target tc 2020 is 325k currently at linkedin bay area. exceeds.
senior engineer

option1:
offer from two sig rougly 380k tc NY

option2:
internal transfer linkedin remain 323k to Ny

both will probably reset my lv2-3(E5/6/sde3/staff) progress so im not considering that.

i value freefood at linkedin to easily be 25k before tax and two sigma doesnt have free food, so two sigma is really only 30k extra before tax (~15k).

as well, two sigma probably has worse WLB, but im also relatively certain two sigma rewards perf more than linkedin and higher performers can jump over tenure. im down to pull the 12 hours if its worth. i just feel i cant catch up to ppl my age (because they started at linkedin as new grad), and im just perpetually in a wait list at linkedin one step behind.

im wondering from midterm or long term which would be a better decision? should i ask for more and how much? i heard engineers hit a wall and try to go to google at two sigma after ~senior engineer equivalent because fang starts pay more and has more manager opportunities.

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 TOP 31 Comments
  • Bloomberg / Eng F.U. money
    Two Sigma has shittier tech and shittier managers IMO. Few people in fintech know how to do distributed systems form what I’ve seen. They solve shittier problems in general and have to deal with shittier domain models.

    In Two Sigma you’re going to also have to deal with shitty monoliths, which you cannot replace because they are virtually a tar ball of undocumented requirements and business logic baked in.

    To me the food is worth far less, so I would move for the money and the (dubious) prestige. But if food is worth that much to you, just stay at LinkedIn maybe?

    In Two Sigma you might have trading restrictions to consider as well.
    Sep 7 6
    • LinkedIn ya got to
      OP
      I value food at 1k a month. $30 a day, $10 a meal. That’s after tax, that’s how I got around 24k a year. Adjusting for highest tax bracket cuz I’m hurting that
      Sep 7
    • Bloomberg / Eng F.U. money
      Huge assumption IMO, but maybe you’ll be happy regardless. When I asked during the onsite about any plans to move towards micro-services I got a lot of awkward silences. I’m somewhat sure that me dissing Bloomberg’s monoliths is what actually got me not hired. The HM seemed self conscious about it.

      You can’t compare any LinkedIn monoliths with the monoliths in finance. I’m talking files with 1,800 global variables and 4GB executables. Those are real numbers that I got from work. Like I said you cannot break it apart or rewrite it if you can never figure all the functionality it contains, which you cannot given the limited lifespan of people.

      Anyway, I’d be happy to live with the monoliths for 380 @ 4yoe.
      Sep 7
    • Two Sigma smq
      this is disgustingly accurate.
      Sep 7
    • LinkedIn ya got to
      OP
      Which part is accurate? Monolith?
      Sep 7
    • Palantir fixbugs
      yeah the monolith part - interviewed there as well and heard the same thing about their monolithic “architecture”
      Sep 8
  • Two Sigma MkRe68
    Both are great options. TS has top tier WLB in most teams so that's likely not an issue.

    Hitting a ceiling is likely though as TS hires external managers for the large majority of openings.
    Sep 8 3
    • Two Sigma tPekec
      There's an entire org that has horrible WLB and dumpster 🔥's happening all the time. You probably know what I'm talking about
      Sep 8
    • Facebook qysjcn11
      Which org?
      Sep 8
    • LinkedIn ya got to
      OP
      Which org @tPekec
      Sep 9
  • Dropbox / Eng hhdoteb
    Idk if 2Sigma wlb is bad. I have a friend there, left for Google then came back. Another friend has a kid and he likes wlb there so maybe team-dependent? If you’re not a quant it’s just like any regular tech company
    Sep 7 1
    • Dropbox / Eng hhdoteb
      Also DM me if you wanna connect w them
      Sep 7
  • Mesosphere / Eng Onesie
    2 sigma in general has the best WLB balance among most top hedge funds. Also, the comp growth would also be much more than what FANG can offer you but might be slightly less than what you can make at other hedge funds. That being said, you can always go back to LNKD if things don’t work out. Two Sigma is much more prestigious IMO than a mass employer like LNKD.
    Sep 7 7
    • LinkedIn ya got to
      OP
      The debate between you two is the biggest issue so far. I’d hate to start at 2sig and then want to go to fang again due to glass ceiling. This next choice I think I’ll stay for a while
      Sep 7
    • Mesosphere / Eng Onesie
      ^hmm, don’t think there is a way around that TBH. Every new job has a risk associated that it might not work out. So, I guess you need to explicitly figure out what are you worried about? WLB ain’t something you should be worried about since it’s the same. Also, free food is again something that shouldn’t even matter once you spend an year more at 2S and are doing well since the first year hike alone would take care of it.
      Sep 7
    • Facebook qysjcn11
      I’ve known people who’ve moved from TS to FB taking a pay bump and I’m pretty sure LinkedIn pays similarly
      Sep 7
    • Facebook qysjcn11
      My point is I don’t think TC between these is company dependent as much as it’s performance dependent
      Sep 7
    • Mesosphere / Eng Onesie
      ^ Might be if they were mediocre performers at 2S and got up leveled at FB. In general, hedge funds need to pay more to retain talent or else people would flock to Silicon Valley.
      Sep 7
  • Amazon yowsers
    25k for the food is WAY off
    Sep 9 1
  • Bloomberg / Eng F.U. money
    So, did you end up at Two Sigma?
    Sep 13 0
  • Facebook qysjcn11
    FWIW I’ve heard good things about TS and don’t think WLB would be a concern on the right team- you have two great options, best of luck!
    Sep 7 0
  • Palantir fixbugs
    Why move to NYC?
    Sep 7 3
    • LinkedIn ya got to
      OP
      That’s another story hah, just assume I have to
      Sep 7
    • Palantir fixbugs
      well, hope it’s some great life event 😄
      Sep 7
    • Goldman Sachs fake engineer
      It's better here hehe. I'd go two sigma for the extra money, who cares if the tech is worse. At least it's not as bad as a bank >_>
      Sep 7
  • LinkedIn / Eng persi
    What work will you be doing at each? Which do you like more? Actually enjoying the work you do is worth far more than a 10% TC bump.
    Sep 7 1
    • LinkedIn ya got to
      OP
      Both are similar, enterprise backend distributed systems. I have never switched companies due to work or
      Company or perf itself, always due to personal reasons. I can see myself appreciating and enjoying the domain and tech of both choices.
      Sep 7