This is the first of three articles devoted to compensation. This one breaks down the key components of a compensation package, ensures you prioritize what’s most important, and helps you negotiate.
Hi Nikhyl, thanks so much for this article it’s super helpful. I wanted to ask how can we as candidates do reliable market research on a fair compensation package.
To be more specific, I was interviewing for product role for a startup that just raised a great series b. During the process they’ve asked me to interview for the head of marketing, which would sit directly below the Gm on a team of 17
When interviewing for the product role I had a good handle on a fair market rate. But with the change in role and responsibility I don’t know how to go about doing research for the role.
I’m trying to get a handle on it before they make their offer and was wondering how you would research?
Interesting article as always Nikhyl. Can you please elaborate on this line in bonus section - "You’ll model your future earnings very differently if the company has paid 100% of the bonus each year versus 40%.". Thank you.
Thanks for these insights! You mentioned here that "if you take multiple short-tenure jobs, you might actually move backwards in your career.". Could you please elaborate on this a bit more? What would be considered short and how does this impact interviews (especially for director/vp type of roles)?
Let's say you join Google in 2021 after you just started to manage people at your last company, a startup. Google offers you a senior IC role (not management) as is common when joining a late-stage tech company. You end up leaving in 16 months and you join a growth company. That company needs ICs and you take the role. But the company doesn't quite grow their team fast enough, and management roles are rare in the 35-person team.
You spend three years there, but when the company goes through layoffs, you decide it's time to leave. The hiring climate is a bit more conservative than it is today. Late stage tech companies don't see enough management experience, growth companies don't love the brand, and early stage aren't interesting for you at this stage of your career. So you feel like the choices you once have are now dramatically smaller.
To avoid this slide, you want to ensure if you go through a down-level, you don't have a quick exit. Or if you are on the cusp of management, you don't get stuck by a team that grows slowly.
Nikhyl, are you using "management-level-impact" as the best-long-term-indicator to grow your salary? The reason I ask that is that I have been an IC for quite sometime and not interested in transitioning to more management (I do ~20% in my senior IC role). I subscribe to the thoughts Ken Norton shared on this area - https://newsletter.bringthedonuts.com/p/dual-product-management-career-path
What is your recommendation for someone like me (interested in staying in IC) to keep growing my salary/impact?
Hi Nikhyl, thank you for all of this great advice. How can I go about contacting you about how to evaluate compensation?
Hi Nikhyl, thanks so much for this article it’s super helpful. I wanted to ask how can we as candidates do reliable market research on a fair compensation package.
To be more specific, I was interviewing for product role for a startup that just raised a great series b. During the process they’ve asked me to interview for the head of marketing, which would sit directly below the Gm on a team of 17
When interviewing for the product role I had a good handle on a fair market rate. But with the change in role and responsibility I don’t know how to go about doing research for the role.
I’m trying to get a handle on it before they make their offer and was wondering how you would research?
Interesting article as always Nikhyl. Can you please elaborate on this line in bonus section - "You’ll model your future earnings very differently if the company has paid 100% of the bonus each year versus 40%.". Thank you.
Hi Nikhyl,
Thanks for these insights! You mentioned here that "if you take multiple short-tenure jobs, you might actually move backwards in your career.". Could you please elaborate on this a bit more? What would be considered short and how does this impact interviews (especially for director/vp type of roles)?
Thanks!
Let's say you join Google in 2021 after you just started to manage people at your last company, a startup. Google offers you a senior IC role (not management) as is common when joining a late-stage tech company. You end up leaving in 16 months and you join a growth company. That company needs ICs and you take the role. But the company doesn't quite grow their team fast enough, and management roles are rare in the 35-person team.
You spend three years there, but when the company goes through layoffs, you decide it's time to leave. The hiring climate is a bit more conservative than it is today. Late stage tech companies don't see enough management experience, growth companies don't love the brand, and early stage aren't interesting for you at this stage of your career. So you feel like the choices you once have are now dramatically smaller.
To avoid this slide, you want to ensure if you go through a down-level, you don't have a quick exit. Or if you are on the cusp of management, you don't get stuck by a team that grows slowly.
Nikhyl, are you using "management-level-impact" as the best-long-term-indicator to grow your salary? The reason I ask that is that I have been an IC for quite sometime and not interested in transitioning to more management (I do ~20% in my senior IC role). I subscribe to the thoughts Ken Norton shared on this area - https://newsletter.bringthedonuts.com/p/dual-product-management-career-path
What is your recommendation for someone like me (interested in staying in IC) to keep growing my salary/impact?
Thanks for the insightful reply! Can definitely see how easily it might be to fall into a situation like this.