Scope or money?
Would love to get your thoughts on when does one lean towards more scope, lower TC (eg. People management responsibility, non-tech business that impacts millions of lives) vs higher TC, lower scope (eg. Facebook, Google, Apple). Usually if one switches to FAANG, they are typically down levelled but receive higher TC. Contemplating if it's worth the extra money (say 50K year) to work on a smaller scope? Has anyone done this in the past and in hindsight, do you recommend this?
Which one leads to the other?
Money. Scope and jobs change all the time that are not in your control. Optimize for what is and is fairly constant (like your paycheck)
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I'm actually a fan of scope, but I'm not sure the two are always mutually exclusive. The downleveling you are referring to in faang companies doesnt necessarily correlate with a decrease in scope - there is no real globally accepted standard for the scope of a level 5 or 6.
+1 to this, while getting downleveled sucks my experience is scope didn’t really go down which set me up for fast track for promo and opportunity for faster scope growth
Thanks. The challenge that I am facing is whether I should make a move to a smaller company but higher level (and continue with people management) or move to FANG as an IC but earn higher. My assumption is that a Group PM or Director of Product in smaller companies such as Zillow wouldn't pay as much as an L5 in FANG
Focus on scope and impact early in your career and the money will follow.
Perhaps you should ask yourself what is more important at time of your life? Do you need money? Or do you want the experience? With experience, you will always be able to make more money in the future. But if you need money now, then your option is limited.
In general I think higher TC is almost always better. Scope, learning etc is often a lot more nebulous than you think and you don't always know what you've signed yourself up for until you actually start the job and even then things can always change i.e. reorg or projects being cancelled. TC is really one of the only things that you can clearly evaluate and so far in my long career I have never regretted taking the position with the higher TC.
Wise man here
Thanks. Wise words indeed.