FAANG Engineers Report Median Base Salary of $150k to $200k

Read them, and you might just weep.

Many of us have long understood a career in the technology industry can be lucrative, especially for software engineers who can easily command six-figure total compensation packages to as much as .

However, people who work in tech often earn their high pay because of the sky-high performance of their company’s stock, owing to the stock-based compensation many of them receive.Professionals on the professional social network Blind set out to understand what the typical base salary is among tech workers.

According to a , the median base salary of a user on Blind is between $150,000 to $200,000.

In an “” session on Blind, a technical leader at Google explained that directors of engineering and “principal” engineers at top tech companies, such Amazon, Facebook-parent Meta and Google, can earn base salaries of $300,000 or more. The Google director hosting the informal interview said they earned a base salary of $400,000.

One in 14 verified professionals on Blind reported earning a base salary of $250,000 or more.

Pay packages of $250,000 or more are not uncommon at , according to a verified professional at the video-streaming giant, which prefers to hire more experienced professionals and does not typically offer any stock-based compensation.

How are salaries determined?

Salaries are typically determined by a company’s total rewards strategy, which is the combination of compensation, benefits, perks and professional development opportunities it expects to offer.Employers generally set salary ranges for each position based on a professional’s responsibility or job function, level or scope. The salary range sets a floor or minimum rate, a cap or maximum rate, and some levels in between, which often serve as the basis for raises or pay adjustments.Salaries account for the , or what other companies in similar or adjacent regions or industries might pay, plus factors to account for a professional’s education, relevant years of experience or specialized skills or credentials.Companies may also set a budget or benchmark for pay. For example, a company seeking to hire aggressively and stand out as a top employer might decide to pay more than others or benchmark their compensation at a certain percentile.

Methodology

In a u on Blind, 20,180 verified professionals self-reported their base salary between Dec. 27, 2021, to Jan. 17, 2022. Percentages reported may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

This article was also published on the .