[jedberg]

Work life balance was great. Sure there were crunch times, but for the most part it was 40 to 50 hours a week. If you were at the office at 7pm, you were there pretty much alone.

When I started at Netflix, I asked for what I thought was a crazy salary, almost double what I was making previously. My boss said, "No, that's not high enough, lets give you 10K more". Every subsequent raise after that, my reaction was generally, "oh, that's more than I expected".

Netflix knows that there is no point in low balling you, because you will soon find out and then be upset/leave. They never want to lose someone over a matter of money. They only feel good about losing someone because they no longer enjoyed their work.

[zerr]

Thanks, really interesting. One more thing to clarify - on top of that "$400K" salary, does Netflix also pays for social/health insurance (including family)? If not, how much you normally pay for such insurance?

I mean, I've heard many times that while NET base salary e.g. in Microsoft or Adobe might be lower, when you add up all the benefits, bonuses, stocks - it becomes quite competitive to Netflix compensation. Also factor in the job security and family-friendliness and it becomes much more attractive... What do you think about this?

[jedberg]

Basically they either cover your health insurance, or you can opt to just get paid extra and not take insurance (if say you have it from a spouse's job or something).

And yes, the other big companies total comp does come pretty close to Netflix. The difference is Netflix gives you cash to spend however you want, and those other companies force you to consume benefits that you may not want to get your "full comp".

[steven2012]

If you're worried about job security then Netflix is not the place for you.

But no, .NET jobs do not compare to a job at Netflix. Not even remotely close. Unless you are being paid 300k and get 100k in bonus/stock every year.

[manigandham]

He's talking about net salary, not .net jobs.

[IshKebab]

I would describe 40-50 hours a week as "ok", not "great". Great is 35-40 IMO.

[morgante]

40-50 hours for a salary over $300k is great. It's practically unheard of in any field.

Usually you have to make a severe tradeoff between good pay and good culture. Not so with Netflix.

[jedberg]

I don't think you'll find a company in the bay area where people work less than 40 hours a week as an engineer.