1) Got into FAANG early in my career. I thought to myself “holy shit! I made it to FAANG”. I accepted an offer for L2 non-tech operations role. Pay was shit but I was naive and thought it’s standard… but it wasn’t! New hire coworker came in as L3 with similar experience and was making 30% more. I also discovered blind at this point. My TC was about 120k. 2) Left FAANG for a startup where I was miserable. Bad WLB and bad leadership. TC was 130k. Got an offer from (FAANG)MULA+. Tried to negotiate and was also scared shitless to not mess up the offer because I wanted to GTFO. Offer budged only 5k more lol! Accepted the new offer at 137. Once I joined and made friends I figured out people with my experience were a level above and making 180k or more. 3) Spent a few years at (FAANG)MULA+. Focused on learning. Solved difficult problems. Practiced technical skills on the fly whenever I could. Once I felt that my learning peaked I then applied to Google. It was a relevant non-tech job and I heard back and I prepared as if this was my only shot I would ever get at google. I ended up kicking ass in the interviews and getting to the offer stage. This is where the fun began! I was fucking done being a clown 🤡. I remembered a comment on Blind saying something like “negotiate hard. worse case you’ll continue working at your job”. I stood my ground and asked for what I thought was the right range. I was ready to loose it all too. I was offered 220k but I said no fucking way. Negotiated on stocks and after a few back and forth got 260k. Progression 85k->120k->130k->137k->260k L5 non-tech (7-8 yoe) Base: 170 Bonus: 15% Stocks: 196k (33,33,22,12) Next time you get into negotiation… stand your ground! Also, recruiters can’t ask you for your current salary. This depends on state. Please leverage this. Good luck =================== Edit: A lot of you reached out and ask me about interview and/or how to get such a role. 1) First of all, this wasn’t an overnight process. I have failed so many damn interviews that I have lost count. But! All those failures a) helped me overcome the fear of interviewing and failing and b) helped get better at interviewing. I have failed 7 FAANG interviews and over 50 non-FAANG. 2) FAANG is big on data and analytics. A lot of non-tech roles require some level of proficiency in data analysis. So, having a strong data background not only makes you an attractive candidate but it also helps you approach problems from a data-driven standpoint. I would highly recommend getting comfortable with SQL and also understand and challenge metrics or measures of success whenever you can.
Congrats! I’m in a similar path at 140 for my second role (5 YOE). Are you in ops, strategy, marketing ?
Strategy/Ops
very high comp for a S&O role (5yoe)
Lfg op! whats your yoe?
7-8 depending on if you count internships
Would u count internships when you mention your yoe
Congrats! Which role btw??
Strategy/Ops
OP were they asking leetcode for ops?
Great story. Kudos on the negotiation. What made them change their mind about increasing your salary. Did you put another offer? Just trying to learn when I get in that position.
I told them it’s lower than what I was making at the time.
Hell yeah, people like to say fake it till you make it but here's what that actually means- the secret to negotiating is lying. Not being sarcastic. The company will lie to you and say it's the best they can do and then magically they do more.
Good shit op. Congrats
Congratulations. You used any competing offer? I know G won't do much with competing offer. I was also played like you. Now trying to come up with a plan
I did not have a competing offer. I told them the offer was lower than what I was making mainly due to the stock appreciation.
People on visa don’t have any such leverage, OP. They are in a lose-lose situation.
Congrats, any reason you didn't ask for signing bonus, or they just don't give that to non-tech?
I kind of forgot about sign-on bonus because I never had one lol. It’s more common for tech roles I believe but definitely exist for non-tech. I might have gotten it if I had brought it up from the start. The sign-on hit me once they gave the good offer, at which point it was too late.
It’s not as common for non-tech
Great progress OP…. if you done get the right offer on entry then it won’t happen later so it’s a big milestone to clear. Well done!
Thank you..and congrats. Looks like my advice worked.
🙏
Fuck yeah you did that! Gotta love a ballsy negotiation dance, that shit amps me up for real lol. Congrats!
I mean you’re a god damn 2 trillion dollar company and paying me my worth is a problem?
Yaaas OP