Snap L4 Seattle Offer Eval
4.5 YOE. Relatively happy at Square but not seeing a lot of learning opportunity to grow as an engineer. I want to do more and learn more. WLB is super chill though, so that's nice. Current L5 TC at Square: 180/125 (500 @ 4yr vest) = 305 L4 Snap is 170/178 (534 @ 3yr vest) = 348 I've been told the meets-expectation bonus is 10% on base, which would bring me to 365 TC. I don't like counting "maybe" numbers though. Questions: 1. Do I have room to negotiate? I was hoping for 385. IIUC top end of L4 is ~400ish. 2. I'm meeting HM's in the Growth org. How's the WLB and the org in general? (Users & Friends). 3. I'm more interested in infra than product. How hard is it to switch teams? 4. I heard of some unhappiness after an influx of ex-AMZ managers at the Seattle office. Any truth to that recently, or was it overblown? 5. I'm a little unsure about joining Snap at all-time-high. What's the internal view on this? Stable, probably going up, probably going down? Worried about future performance w/ Tiktok hype etc. Thanks for the help Blind!
Can you share your snap interview exp ?
I would recommend joining Snap if you care about good TC. Also a really fun place to work
Definitely hoping to optimize for that TC + WLB, but I find that Square is really skewed to the latter. Which would be fine if there was more learning opportunity, but there really hasn't been. What's your experience been like at Snap as far as the standards for WLB go? Any consistent death marches? I'm not hoping to rest and vest at 20 hours a week, but also hoping to avoid working 12 hours a day as the norm. Guess it depends on the pace of the org
Iβd say Snap is worse WLB than somewhere like Google or Microsoft but better than Amazon or FB.
βI want to do more and learn moreβ Sounds like you know what you should do! Join Snap! All 4.5 YOE at Square? If so, then for sure try a new company and tech stack!
Around 2 years are at Square. I just quickly found that there isn't as much in the way I hoped for interesting work, and there's a lack of engineering leadership and seniority to learn from in my org. I'm definitely leaning towards Snap, but I don't HATE being at Square, so I'm waffling on whether I'm making the right call!
Congrats on the offer! I got destroyed by Snap when I interviewed some years ago lol. When did you do the interview?
I interviewed right after the holidays
1. Signing bonus will be your best bet (previously, it was a vest over six months or a higher vest over four years). Aside from that, there's a new comp structure - that sounds to be right where most people are positioned. Just talk about your next square vest as a concern. 2. Can't comment. 3. They have a new program for moving internally, however I do not know the requirements or have looked into it. 4. Likely overblown, but entirely depends on the team and org. Honestly, I don't see an Amazon style manager lasting long at Snap. 5. Trying to get trading info haha Its a funny breakdown - work is hard, high visibility, potential for massive impact- in the same vein, you'll be doing a lot of work as a single engineer and slogging through some of the tooling. Also, bonuses don't go out until after performance feedback is concluded in March - so, there's no data around bonuses as of yet as that's a part of the new comp program.
5. πππ - kidding, more that it's been a quick jump and I'd rather not switch if my TC will end up being the same as now in 6 months. That's great, thanks for the info!
Also concerned about #5, the stock went down 5% yesterday and another 6.5% today. See my post: https://www.teamblind.com/post/Thoughts-on-Snapchats-80B-market-valuation-f5XBC6zE
Does your square tc account for stock appreciation?
Sadly yes. I'm in a LCOL area so my initial grant was approx. 1/4 of a new hire grant in the Seattle area. So after appreciation, I'm at around the level of what would be expected coming in. Had I been offered an RSU package not based on region from the get-go, I couldn't rationally consider leaving. But, I know that isn't how most companies manage their compensation.
Not much related but I just remember the new grad offer in 2015 was 540k stock options with fmv $16. But the bar was rather high at that time
Why join Snap when you can join TikTok?
Maybe if you don't speak chinese and want better WLB? I went through the interview loop with TikTok and found it very difficult to communicate even during the interview with the hiring manager and engineers in China because their English was not good. Even a US-based non-Chinese speaking engineer who I spoke to admitted that there were communication barriers.
Actually did get an offer from Tiktok but it was a downlevel and I didn't have as good of an impression of the team. Also was very product oriented, and I'd like to more towards infra. I'll probably make another post so Blinders can get visibility on what those offers looked like, but yeah. Wasn't a good fit this time around.
Weβre you told anything about relocation? Iβm in contention for a non tech role and the recruiter said relocation is dependent on level so she claimed she didnβt have an exact figure.
I was told that they would cover relocation but I wasn't given further details than that. Something I gotta ask about :)
https://bit.ly/3qk0KjY Is that the person you want to make even more rich?
well, hiring A instead of B hardly affect anything, unless itβs senior director and above
People change you know. Are you the same person you were since college? If you are you got lots of self reflecting to do, kid