The salaries on glassdoor and payscale are not random numbers pulled out of thin air, those aren't estimates by some analytics algorithm, they are salaries as reported by actual employees. The salaries of the SV engineers are pretty clear. Most of them pay about the same salaries as I could get in the Seattle area. Most of my colleagues are making 60-90K a year, with the vast majority at 70K. Amazon engineers can expect 100-130K on average. Housing here is not nearly as expensive as SV, 500K buys you a nice house, not a tear down like SV. Usually what I get is 125 or so, though I can get other offers in the 150-170 range, there are much fewer employers with those positions here, and some of those positions are brutal. I've seen one heavily recruited for over the past year, and no one is touching it. Either that or people keep turning over there.
I worked at a company that was a "start up" and has been a "start up" for 15 years now. I got my phantom shares, but left because I hated it there and they didn't seem to ever be able to go public. Those fools are still there and apparently the company is really struggling now, and all the recent reviews for this year say it's a sinking boat, one star ratings...
I only count salary as compensation. Benefits are about the same in this area from employer to employer.
To answer your question drangoncar, I don't think I will get a severance. At best they won't contest my unemployment claim and I'll get 6 months UE.
It would be a nice break, but that's a lot of savings I'm leaving on the table, though I likely would not have to dip into savings while looking for work on UE.
I guess it doesn't hurt to keep an eye out for the right opportunity. I'm super burned out on technical work, and have been wanting to get back into management. I'll take a pay cut doing it (when I went back into hands on, I got a pay bump) but management is where it's at for me now, in the right organization.
Anyways, I don't want this thread to turn into a salary debate. I'd much rather have the 125K salary that is easily replaceable if I don't like the job and walk, than the unicorn jobs in the area. Heck, I'm at the point where I'd be happy with a desktop support gig for 80K a year, or a 100K a year Director of IT Support gig. I view these as coasting jobs. Same with being a recruiter. Sure, it's work, but it's easy work with little responsibility.
To think some of my colleagues are making 70K a year to build web applications, when they could make the same amount of money as a recruiter...