Hi all! I really appreciate this community for all the help here. I currently have multiple offers and have wittled my choices to two companies: Spotify and Apple. I would love to get your opinion because I am torn between the two. 3 YOE, non-technical bachelor's degree. Current TC was $206k. Apple: - Title: Machine Learning Engineer - Location: LA (Preferred), NYC, Seattle, Austin - Base: $175k - Stock: $36k/year - Bonus: $20k first year, annual performance bonus averaging 10% every year - TC: $231k/year Spotify: - Title: Senior Data Scientist on insights - Location: NYC - Base: $175k - Stock: $58.75k/year - Bonus: None - TC: $233k/year What I’m indexing for: - Company Product/Mission - Interesting Problem Space/Skills (I prefer working on ML, but also considering PM path) - Manager - Technical Growth - Location (preference for NYC, been in Cali all my life, both SF and LA) The team at Apple is stronger technically, so I’d likely grow technically more. The team at Spotify is less technical, but stronger business, so I’d grow more in the leadership, managerial side. 3 YOE, so not super experienced, but not super junior. I know this is ultimately dependent on my personal goals and interests. But I would love to get people’s opinion, both on Apple and Spotify. Thank you! #spotify #apple
Go to Spotify. You’re young; this is the time to explore and take big swings. Can always come back to the familiar later. Bonus: NYC is a better dating pool.
Update: Based on the new info from the Spotify insiders below I’m changing my recommendation to Apple. The options-instead-of-RSUs revelation is particularly damning.
Hm I’m not sure that’s what’s in the offer. They are offering me a choice of a mix. Ie i could choose the stock as a mix in the form of options, rsu’s or cash.
Take Apple, stay there until retirement. Don’t have to worry again in life about interviews etc. refreshers are great as well.
What happened to “Stay hungry, stay foolish”?
Is apple tc the same for all locations? Then go to apple austin.
Apple Austin if you want to get the most bang for your buck
I heard apple gives refresher as much as 100% base... not sure if that's the case for DS position
100% pick Apple 1) your Spotify “stock compensation” is misleading. I promise you, you won’t be getting 58K of RSUs a year. It’s much closer to “an option package could yield 58K a year in profit assuming similar growth of the past two years”. Much riskier and less likely to continue. 2) ML at Spotify via data science is no where near comparable to ML on an actual ML team at Apple 3) be technical now, get into leadership later 4) Spotify won’t give you raises. 175K is really high for that title. You likely will get 1-2% raises for a few years. 5) NY is kind of a shithole during covid 19 and we are WFH until next year at least
Do you have any idea of which specific team you’d work on at either? ML on a team working on something boring would probably still be boring at the end of the day
Good point. The space on the Spotify side is more interesting to me (ads vs product latency). It’s a new team so higher potential for impact.
I wouldn’t go to Apple for the same pay to be honest. Love the people and culture here. But as a remote it may not make that much of a difference.
You need to consider RSU refreshers as well.
Can you relocate back to cali if you get sick of nyc? Most californians come back from nyc after some time
Of course. Worst case, if i want to re-locate back, i find a tech job in Cali with more YOE, which should be more plentiful than other places. My parents are also here, so it's easy landing.