Hi everyone, I'm potentially going to be getting an offer at Datadog in the near future as a security engineer. The level in my understanding and per my years of experience is comparable to the Software Engineering II compensation scale on the levels.fyi site. The recruiter asked me to do my research and prepare for a conversation regarding what level of compensation [base/stock/bonus/etc] I would be willing to sign on for. That would allow her per her words to go and make the case to management that such and such a candidate is willing to immediately sign on for such and such compensation structure. My questions are as follows: 1) My research from levels.fyi tells me that Datadog doesn't do any bonuses whatsoever. Is such the case? 2) And what kind of relocation assistance does Datadog offer in your experience to help people move to one of their offices? What should one expect going into negotiations? 3) If you all stated a target compensation to a recruiter that you would be willing to sign on for, to what extent was it in your experience that the recruiter tried to negotiate you down? My recruiter said that she doesn't want to have an adversarial relationship with her candidates and given that she has helped me a lot throughout this process (coaching me through interviews), I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. She does have a vested interest in my signing on so that she can meet her hiring targets/get a bonus. Thanks in advance! #Datadog #tech #negotiation
hey man, how were you able to land an interview with Datadog. I've been thinking of joining
Cold Teamblind referral, lol. I just DMed someone on here who previously publicly offered to refer someone else and he was willing to do the favor. Apparently they didn't do any layoffs and the company management is very careful to thread the needle between costs and product improvements -- to the point where company is growing. The recruiter bit back and things got rolling. Granted, I'm a security professional, not a SWE, so I have less people to compete with. And 4 years of prior professional experience and a top 10 masters degree in cybersecurity I did on the side while working. That helps too. Just because there was an interview, it doesn't mean that an offer is to be extended though. So that caveat is out there
When I joined 5 years ago they had a sign on bonus of 30k for a new grad. Guessing they still do. No yearly bonus tho. Relocation for me was $10k cash grossed up, not sure if this has changed. You should definitely try to get them to give you numbers first. NYC median SE2 base salary is around 180k. The SE2 upper band overlaps with senior lower band. The company is not transparent at all about pay, so be cautious here.
Makes sense. Does Datadog also shut down for Christmas/New Years holiday season, and if so, how long is the shutdown?
No shut down, but office is pretty dead. Christmas Day and New Year's Day are the holidays.
Did you end up getting the offer? Going through a similar loop now and have a meeting scheduled with the recruiter at the end of it. Wondering what to expect.
Not yet, hiring committee will make final decision next week
How did it go?
1. No bonus 2. Unsure 3. SE 2, asked for 260, negotiated down to 240
How recent was that negotiation of yours? 2022 or 2021? Are you in Denver/Boston/NYC location?
2023, not NYC