Offer Evaluation Adobe MLE 3 vs Google SDE L4
Posting for my roommate who is wrapping up (getting kicked out since his boss ran out of funding) his applied math postdoc. Honestly I think both companies are lowballing and down-levelling him given his experience but he's just grateful to get a job given the economic conditions. TLDR: He doesn't care about prestige, but wants to know if refreshers and such can close the TC gap between the two offers even if G does not budge from their initial offer. Both roles are MLE type of work, with the Adobe team leaning more towards data science tasks, while the Google team is more infra focused from what I could understand. They are both mid-level (P30 ~= L4) Google's vesting is front loaded so TCs assuming no refreshers is: 282.2k 252.2k 235.9k 221.2k Adobe's is 350k 1st year followed by 315k I'm no longer at Adobe so I can't look up the team he's being hired into. I also have no friends at Google so I can't help him on that end too. Major financial pull factors that might affect his decision to go for G despite the TC gap -Adobe's refresher policy being an unknown (possibly none) -Google's refreshers might close the gap -Unsure about promotion policy at both -Room for negotiation still possible? He is done with prestige chasing so he just wants to optimise for TC trajectory. His TC: 5K/month, soon to be 0 His YOE: 10 years (not counting his time in academia) #google #adobe #swe #mle #offer #negotiateoffer
Your friend would be better served going to Adobe rather than Google, especially since he’ll be doing more direct work over there. As someone who works a lot with Adobe products, I can genuinely say that there’s a lot of opportunity over there in data, and he could make more of an impact there as opposed to doing infrastructure work at Google. Google promotions are unheard of, and it’s highly unlikely that your friend will do interesting work over there—if it does come along, it’s likely to be shelved or otherwise deprioritized. Take Adobe and run; in a few years, try for a better company or stay at Adobe for a decent promo. Good luck to you and your friend! TC: 90K, work with Adobe products frequently
My dude, I see you in every thread speaking authoritatively on every issue when it’s clear you have no firsthand knowledge of these companies, why not just be honest and say this is an opinion based on things you read on social media?
Meta, it’s implied that every comment of mine (and on Blind) should be taken as opinion and speculation, and not fact. I don’t know everything and don’t claim to be an authority when it comes to certain companies, but I try to be as helpful as possible based on the context provided by OP. Should I add a disclaimer to every post I make giving advice?
Damn, that Adobe offer is pretty good! So it seems that my friends weren't bullshitting me when they said Adobe MLEs are paid well. Google does give refreshers, but unless they changed their policy, he's not going to get any for his first year. Assuming Adobe gives no refreshers (following this cause I'm interested), he can only match Adobe's TC if he gets like extremely good performance ratings. A bit off tangent, but since you said he is optimizing for TC, you can ask him to consider trying out for quant research roles in finance.
Oh good, I'll let him know. Do you have the numbers and performance multipliers? I saw some on Blind before but not sure if they have been revised. I actually asked him the same question, and he told me that he wants good TC, but doesn't want to kill himself from overwork. He is seriously burnt out it seems.
I don’t think it is easy to get into the QR role in fund. The interview questions are way too different. I hav been trying for a while but no luck
Wait Adobe pays that well for MLEs? What about data scientists and software engineers?
SWEs are paid much lower than MLEs in Adobe.
Has he tried negotiating the adobe offer with Google? That’s a pitiful l4 offer. Not even for MLE standards
Google, but show the other offer to the recruiter
Google is day 3 (yes day 3 not 2) Google employees themselves have realized that they will not be able to building a moat with generative AI. Search for the leaked memo. Adobe is gonna kill it with productivity tools.
Adobe refreshers for MLE roles are better than FAANGs in equivalent roles. You won't get them if your performance is not satisfactory, though, which isn't a high bar. At your level, you can easily expect 100-150k in refreshers based on past data.
That’s really good offer for level 3. It’s within level 4 range. In fact I have not seen level 3 rsu of 400k and I’ve been here for 5 years mle
Why is your friend not on blind?
Adobe pays really well for MLEs. Refreshers are not guaranteed every year but is usually achievable for most of the years depending on your performance. MLE refreshers can be up to 100k range unlike SWE refreshers which are just half that number. This is an year of efficiency at Adobe and the management will tightly monitor your performance under microscope. Be ready to slog your ass off and don't expect rest and vest kind of environment.
Why his tc soon to be zero . 10 yoe working as what
His PI ran out of funding and is kicking him out. He was a computational modeller for a petroleum company before he started his PhD.
How are you sure google gives refreshers but Adobe doesn’t