[MacsHeadroom]

>which means total compensation for the first year is actually closer to $123,000

No, $172,000 is the median for year 1. Even $200k+ total comp at year 1 is typical for Google in the bay.

The significant increases in bonus pay for higher levels reflect stock vesting for year 2/3/4/5 employees.

Edit: "Google" in the bay

[ryandrake]

This "fact" keeps getting repeated here. While it may be typical for Google, it is in no way typical for "the bay". Median salary is around $110K for sw developers, and I highly doubt people are getting 100% of their salary in RSUs and bonuses their first year.

[Bahamut]

Huh? $110k is low. $90k is the starting salary at a lot of companies in the Bay Area for an entry level software engineer.

Myself, I make $160k base salary at a small company in Palo Alto (was offered that at 2.5 years of experience), and know I could've gotten a lot more elsewhere.

[MacsHeadroom]

Typical for _Google_ in the bay, is what I meant.

At any rate, I've received more than my fair share of $200k+ 1st year total comp offers for _start ups_ in SF for positions that only wanted 2-3 years experience. So, I wouldn't be so surprised.