Cisco offer eval

“Asking for a friend” 😂 so much shame to go to Cisco!

Isn’t 128K entry level Bay Area salary?

That's new grad base salary. Ask your "friend" to negotiate hard

Also they get paid way more in their current job

My SDE4 salary was $122k (after promotion) with 15% target bonus.

Ask for joining bonus

Yeah, that's grade 8 but on the high end, salary ranges can only go so far on a grade, so his next hike should include a grade change which will bring a higher bonus target. No stocks seems typical, you can get some RSUs depending on the group. I'd say that's average for the grade and yoe.

Dude I am Grade 8 SE3 with 146k base in Bay area. Recently joined a high impact BU which had a specific requirement and my tech stack kind of matched with excellent interviews. But 128 is too far away, its more like top of range grade 6. Also ask for Sign On bonus

grade 8 should have RSUs. base depends on what team you join coz the team may not be working on something that is not high impact. had it been high impact, it would be 140+ and some RSUs, not much. tell them to negotiate now coz Cisco is not good with increments

Seems like a fair salary to me but i am on the east coast. If this is the best/only offer your friend has, this is what he will get. If he has a better offer, he should take the other better offer. All engineers are not created equal and what someone gets at the highest end vs what you get offered is a recipe for a lot of heartburn. No grade 8 has access to salary info so take the band info brandished here with skepticism. Ask for higher base, rsu, sign on but if they say this is as the best offer, he may just have to take it. Cisco has a lot of intangibles like wlb, wfh, decent benefits etc. good luck.