Meta E4 good benchmark
I interviewed with Meta last July. I have 10+ years of experience but not in big tech so got down leveled to E4. They said it was a close call to E5 but want to set me up for success. But since they were not hiring E4 at that time I just let it go.
Heard back from a recruiter that they are now hiring E4 so picked up from where we left. I got team matched this week. Took the advice from the Taro discussions to take the first one which feels right, so after two team match calls picked one.
Checking on blind and levels.fyi shows a varied band for E4 from 300 - 400. I am interviewing with 2 other companies one startup another public. Things are going well at my current company and I have a EAD so not in a time crunch. I would love to work at Meta and hit the ground running but the offer should feel like I am being valued. If not, I am willing to try again in July when chances of getting E5 would be more since I have gone through this once or I can proactively time interviews to have competing offers.
So after doing Rahul's insightful course on negotiation, taking the opportunity here to ask what is a good benchmark for Meta E4 SWE, full stack for Menlo Park location given my case?
Thanks for your time!
Discussion
(3 comments)- 1
a month agoTech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course HeroIs this for comp? $300k - $400k is exactly correct. If you can get $375k+, that would be quite good.
At less prestigious companies, even Staff Engineers won't make that much. At my first company of PayPal (still a well known $50B+ tech giant), Staff [MTS 1] is only around $275k TC. Meta simply pays an absurd amount of money.
The main downside of being E4 IMHO is that you still need to deal with up-or-out, which will be very stressful and annoying (especially given the current climate + harder promotions at Meta). However, with Taro and your wealth of experience, you are very well positioned to make the E4 -> E5 promotion in 1 year by following the advice here: Grow From Mid-Level To Senior Engineer: L4 To L5
- 2
a month agoEmployee @ RobinhoodThe window for up-or-out is 3 years, which isn't as bad IMO compared to the <1 year generally given for E5s (senior) to land on their feet. Senior expectations is multiple times higher than mid level. The money is higher, but the expectations are even higher. I've talked to a few folks who are being pressured for not meeting senior-level expectations (often with a threat of PIP): it is very stressful and the feedback is ambiguous. (A lot of feedback at senior level and beyond at FAANG is very indirect because they expect you to be skilled enough to figure out the action items.)
If you get a high mid-level offer, take it. If you were underleveled, you will get promo'd very quickly.
- 1
a month agoSenior Software Engineer [OP]Taro CommunityHi Alex,
Yes its for comp. Ok makes sense. Hope they come back with $375k+. Will get back on this thread with the offer they come back with.
Hmm, true. Even I am a bit worried about the up-or-out culture, but the manager is good, the work is interesting and same tech stack which I have used.
I totally agree with you! With Taro and all the amazing helpful people here, I am well positioned.
Hi Jonathan,
Very helpful insights. Thank you for sharing! I agree, if its a high mid level offer, I will take it.
Thank you both for your time and insights! Much appreciated!!
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