- Sandeep Rao is a software engineer who has worked at Meta, Apple, and Oracle.
- When he started his career as a freshman, his compensation was only $15,000.
- He explains how he currently earns nearly $700,000 thanks to his high performance and negotiation skills.
This told essay is based on a conversation with Sandeep Rao, a 32-year-old software engineer based in San Jose, California. Business Insider confirmed his income in writing. This essay has been edited for length and clarity.
My salary journey at Big Tech has increased my total compensation, including base salary, bonus, and stock, from $15,000 in 2012 to $685,000 in 2024.
I'm a staff software engineer and have worked at three different technology companies, going from Oracle to Apple to Meta. Throughout my career, I've successfully led the development of software apps and features from the ground up that millions of people around the world use every day.
I've made career changes primarily based on which area of software engineering I want to work in, but compensation is also important to me, so I've been strategic with each job change to get a higher salary. I've been negotiating.
Technology companies use tools like add-on equity to retain top employees. In my experience, it is certainly possible to maintain a salary above market level and have a rewarding career within an organization if you are consistently a top performer within the organization.
I took a low paying job to succeed
I earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, but midway through college I realized that software engineering was my passion and pivoted to pursue a career in software instead.
My first job was working as a software developer at Oracle in India. Oracle is not generally low-paying in the tech industry, but my salary of 850,000 rupees, or $15,000, was compared to what fresh graduates were making at competing Big Tech companies like Microsoft and Amazon at the time. It was low. Either that or quit.'' New graduate offer.
This job didn't appeal to me because it didn't align with my career interests. I had no desire to continue building expertise in a specific area of software engineering. But I took this job to get my foot in the door at a big tech company. and build trust.
Ultimately, I wanted to end up in Silicon Valley, where all the action is. I worked at Oracle from 2012 until 2014, and during this time I applied to graduate school in the US. I thought a formal computer science degree would help me compete with the talent in the Valley.
I was accepted into the computer science graduate program at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. I left my family and friends in India and immigrated to the United States with just a suitcase and $65,000 in student loans.
Graduate school was tough, but it was worth it because the doors opened for me.
I was really happy to work at Apple.
I finished graduate school and got a job as a software engineer at Apple in Cupertino, California. His base salary there was $115,000.
I was very happy to work for one of the best companies in the world and it felt like a dream come true. However, I realized that I wanted to work on more direct user-facing applications rather than the technology that worked under the hood.
Initially, I thought about looking for a new opportunity within Apple, but between high taxes, high costs of living, and student loans, the likely significant increase in salary meant I had no choice but to change companies. I felt that.
I received a small cost-of-living raise from my base salary at Apple, but it wasn't a huge amount. Not getting a raise wasn't a huge motivator for me to make the decision to change companies, but it definitely made my choice easier.
My negotiation skills increased my salary by 10%
At the end of 2017, I moved to Meta (then Facebook) in Menlo Park, California. I wanted to experience the culture of a young internet-based company whose products are used by billions of people.
When I received the offer, I did some research to get a clear understanding of my market value and desired salary. I also learned which parts of total compensation are negotiable, such as stock and sign-on bonuses, and which parts are non-negotiable, such as base salary and annual bonus.
I was prepared to negotiate and received an offer of $140,000, 10% more than the original offer.
In 2021, I embarked on a large project at Meta. This added a lot of value to the Messenger app and worked with multiple cross-functional teams across engineering, design, data science, and legal.
My accomplishments and high performance at work, such as this one, have earned me promotions, visibility, and leverage to negotiate higher salaries and salaries.
Every year from 2018 to 2023, my base salary increased as did my total compensation through a combination of performance-based annual equity renewals, additional pay raises from promotions, and stock market appreciation.
Compensation in tech careers is typically more about equity than salary, so while my base salary doesn't increase as quickly as equity, my salary and total annual compensation increased steadily.
oracle
graduate school
-
2014-2016: Total compensation $0
-
Student loan debt: $65,000
apple
-
2016: Total compensation of $130,000
-
2017: Total compensation of $165,000
Meta
-
2018: Total compensation of $230,000
-
2019: Total compensation $240,000
-
2020: Total compensation of $350,000 (promotion)
-
2021: Total compensation of $510,000
-
2022: Total compensation: $375,000 (promotion, but total compensation will decrease due to stock price decline)
-
2023: Total compensation of $545,000
In 2024, he is projected to earn $685,000 in base salary, bonus, and stock.
5 strategies to increase your compensation package
Over the years, I've learned five pay strategies that can help you increase your salary and overall compensation.
1. Always do your homework on market rates for your role, level, and location, especially when changing jobs.
Changing jobs is a good way to increase your income.
Even if money isn't the main motivator for changing jobs, I research salaries and always try to be conscious and strategic about compensation so I don't leave any money on the table.
When I started doing salary research during my move to Meta, I realized that my market value was much higher than what I was making at Apple at the time. This allowed me to start negotiating with Meta at market rate rather than the salary I was making.
I used Levels.fyi, Blind, and Glassdoor to search for salary information and get a clear understanding of my market value. Even if you don't plan on changing jobs anytime soon, keep these benchmarks up to date. That way, you know you're on par with the market and that the difference in salary is offset by other factors, such as a better work-life balance.
2. Don't carry the “baggage” of your bad pay into your new job.
If your current salary is not up to market standards, don't let it affect your salary in your next job. If you don't, you'll be stuck in a cycle of low pay for the rest of your career.
An employer or recruiter may use your salary history to give you a small raise, but your actual market value can easily double or triple your most recent salary. There is a gender.
In California, labor laws make it illegal for employers to ask about your current salary or salary history. You can also ask the employer about the salary range for the position you are applying for.
If your state has similar protections, just knowing this law can help you fix your salary during negotiations. This allowed me to start negotiating based on market value rather than current salary.
3. Sometimes you need to take the plunge and make a 10x impact on your career.
That could include switching from a non-technical job to a technical one, or taking a short-term hit for a long-term gain. For example, I chose Oracle for my first job in order to build the credibility to get into a Tier 1 graduate school, despite the low pay and unattractive job.
I also took out approximately $65,000 in loans to attend Carnegie Mellon University, even though I could have attended a less expensive public university.
It took me a few years and a lot of debt to work at Oracle and decide to attend Carnegie Mellon University, but doing so opened a door unlike any other and I haven't looked back since.
4. Negotiate to avoid lowering your base salary
If you work for a company, especially in the technology industry, for a long time, it's inevitable that your salary will be lower due to the restricted stock unit (RSU) cliff.
Most RSU packages offered to new employees in the technology industry have a vesting period of two to four years. Total compensation typically decreases after this vesting period unless the employer offers a significant salary increase along the way. Many companies also offer annual performance-based equity renewal plans to reduce this pay gap, but they are usually not as large as the initial grant.
If you love working for your company and feel you have to move just to get a raise, you can ask senior leadership for a “fix.” After all, it's much more costly and time-consuming for employers to hire new talent than to retain good employees.
Most Big Tech companies have employee retention programs such as additional stock or discretionary stock. Additional equity programs are primarily used to retain high-performing employees and are therefore typically very selective.
This way, I was able to keep my compensation above market level despite spending 6 years at Meta. As I neared the end of my fourth year of vesting, I sat down with senior management to see if there was room to modify my salary so I could focus 100% on my work without worrying about it. I did. .
Having the projected reduction in compensation and market data at the ready really helped us build a compelling story. If you are consistently a top performer within your organization, it is certainly possible to maintain a salary at or above market level and have a rewarding career within your company. your company.
5. Don't expect people to reward you for your work or anticipate your needs. Please ask.
Always ask what you want, whether it's a raise or an interesting project that came your way recently. In the worst case scenario, you will be told “no”. If you don't ask, no one will know, and worse, they might think you're happy with what you have and move on.
When I heard about the new company's initiative, I wanted to adopt this strategy and have more impact in my role, so I asked to be a founding engineer. Despite high risks and ambiguity, I successfully executed the project, which ultimately led to a promotion. None of this would have been possible if I hadn't asked.
At the end of the day, you are your biggest advocate when it comes to pay and career. There is no substitute for hard work, but being strategic about how to achieve your goals can go a long way. Sometimes you have to take big risks and step out of your comfort zone to land your high-paying dream job.
If you would like to share your career progress and salary trends, please email Jane Zhang. janezhang@businessinsider.com.
