Why is the compensation so damn poor at Visa? Who in the hierarchy is actually making money? No stock options, mediocre bonus and subpar base salaries considering we are one of the top 20 most profitable companies in the list of Fortune 500. It is so poor that everyday it makes me question my presence here, and so do many, many of whom I work with. What is going on here?
Why did you join if you felt compensation was so damn poor?
We always have one you guys who just are too scared to be challenged. Hence visa being the safe haven for mediocre, complacent leadership. So, see I am here to not talk about myself. Let us have some meaningful conversation. Stats, benchmarking, etc. I aspire to push creative conversation here. Where is the money going?
I am not part of management or HR. I'm just trying to understand your frustration: if you knew comp was bad to begin with, why did you join? The answer probably explains why they don't have any incentive to increase comp. People like you and I still do join.
They interviewed me knowing i was in AAPL and making a descent TC. The topic of TC never came up and i did not bring it up by my sef because i thought they are going to beat it - else why waste each other time in interview. I cleared all the rounds and HR came up with an offer which was 50% less than my APPL TC. I revealed my TC to her for the first time and she was shocked. I did not hear back from her. Why do you even waste time interviewing FAANG candidates if you cannot afford them? Or atleast have the TC discussion first if you are doubtful you can match them!!
Maybe because you can’t spell decent right?
But yes 💯 agree with you. A lot of companies don’t tell you comp and you get to the end and big waste of time for everyone
What's the average yearly increase in pay? How do the reviews work?
How much does a Visa Director make?
I don’t have the numbers. But from what I’ve heard, it’s a joke of a number (around 180k to 200k). Well the directors themselves are let’s say undeserving of their position, except a very, very handful who are solid at what they do.
What, just 200k? Is that the base or TC?
Here is my take on it Visa is a finance company no matter what they say. You are comparing it with tech companies and hence you see the difference in pay. Consider other similar companies: chase, Goldman Sachs, Amex etc, visa pays at par with these companies. Additionally the quality and most importantly quantity of work. Visa employees brag about WLB. I worked there for 3 years and not even a single time I worked more than 20 hours a week. And after realising what I was doing with my career, I switched. You need to do the same thing.
That’s a common reason I’ve been hearing for sometime now. Visa indeed operates more so as a financial institution than Tech. Lucky you wrt WLB. The team I work for, the Manager makes sure you have more than you can chew in a given sprint. It’s quantity, not quality. The worse part is they sell our team as “execution delivery” champions. At what cost? 60 plus hours a week. For that salary they be paying, they should call it “forced labour” is our strength.
agreed, Visa is fintech not tech
I second you on these questions, I have the same and all are legit. No RSU’s/ No counter negotiations/ Mediocre salary/ work>40 hr a week Only thing I find good is 401k match (2:1)…lol
401k is a percentage of your base salary. When your salary itself is off by 20% compared to the industry, doubling that is ensuring subpar older folks never leave.
Visa is not a tech company, just like GS,JP Morgan, Capital One, BlackRock
I hope the leadership hears this loud and clear. The irony is that during day 1 orientation they made our cohort repeat “ Visa is not a financial institution. Visa is a tech company.”
Uber R&D, bruh, missing the point again. Stop corrupting the threads.
Why do they pay so low? Because they can. People are still joining them. Even though that won’t attract the best talent, they really don’t need that to survive as a business. The reality is that visa is a mature, established, legacy player that doesn’t make most of their money through innovation. They just need to hire ok people to keep the lights on. If they all of a sudden spend a ton more on hiring the best talent, their investors would be really pissed cause their investors are looking more for a good deal to generate steady income/dividends as opposed to growth, in which case, you’d just invest in stuff like big tech or smaller tech startups. Also Visa is competing with other finance firms, not tech firms, so they don’t need to pay that much. Also, that whole “we are actually a tech firm BS”? Yeah, everyone says that, it’s a popular recruiting marketing tactic these days cause everyone desperately wants a piece of the pie to be in tech. Believe it or not, your leadership and management actually gets it. They’re making smart, rational decisions based on market supply/demand and competitive factors.
You just described Walmart
Doesnt make sense! Just because you have a string business use case doesnt mean that you can afford to be cool about it. Nokia, blackberry, kodak, block buster also had a good business mode and they were wiped out a decade back. May be we are not comapring apples with apples, disruption can occur any time and it will be too late if you dont work now.
Visa encourages stability over innovation. To be honest, as we mostly attract mediocre talent you probably don’t want them to innovate. Those who join who are top talent realize quickly the back pressure stopping them to make improvements, and in the off chance they get approval to innovate the team to deliver it is sub-par talent or too junior to not require constant hand holding. People who are good burn out and leave. However, the business stays stable and people can be blissfully unaware as they swipe credit cards at POS at Walmart and Costco without worrying if their payments fail. Who really cares if it is backed by mainframes or the latest AI innovation? The spice must flow…
What's the average TC for a SWE with 6 yoe at Visa
Peanuts
150K-160K in bay area with 6 YOE