Each move was an opportunity to get a better role and better pay, the Bay Area-based engineer said.
“I jumped around quite a bit. I optimized for money and career growth,” he told Business Insider.
He shared his compensation journey since graduating from college in 2017. His career path has taken him to Tesla, SAP, Salesforce, and his current role at Meta.
You’re here
Pandey joined Tesla in February 2018 after his master’s degree in computer science. He received a standard new graduate offer for software engineers.
He was offered $150,000 a year for base salary, restricted stock and an annual bonus. He negotiated his sign-on bonus from $8,000 to $12,000.
Five months after starting, he was laid off along with 4,000 other employees.
Since he needed a work visa To stay in the United States, he had about three months to find a new role. He started applying and landed a job at SAP in late July, seven weeks after he started looking.
SAP
Pandey joined the company in September in a new graduate role, as he did at Tesla.
“I didn’t have a competing offer, so I didn’t have a lot of leverage,” he said. “But I negotiated a base of 6% and signed at 20%.”
That worked out to $165,000 a year, plus a $12,000 sign-on bonus. Pandey spent the remainder of the year at SAP and received a 5% performance-related annual review, which increased his compensation to $173,250.
Friends praised Salesforce’s company culture, and he thought he could be paid better there. After a little over a year at SAP, he decided to apply for a job.
Selling power
He joined Salesforce, taking a slightly more senior software role than his last role at SAP.
Salesforce offered Pandey a 30% increase on his total compensation, bringing the package to approximately $190,000.
His base salary was around $150,000, his stock would be worth $17,500 per year, and his annual bonus was $15,000.
Before accepting the offer, he negotiated with Salesforce. That earned him a $10,000 sign-on bonus — the company hadn’t initially offered one.
“I always make sure to negotiate because there’s always room from the moment they give you the initial offer,” he said. “Most of the time they’re willing to go up 15 or 20 percent, so you don’t want to miss that.”
He suggests that all candidates negotiate, especially if they have leverage.
“If you have competing offers, if you have pending interviews, all those kinds of things, then definitely negotiate. You can increase compensation between 20% and 30%,” he said.
Pandey was promoted to Salesforce after 15 months and got a 20% raise over his previous salary, bringing his total to around $240,000.
This new role took him from software engineer to senior software engineer. He led projects with two to three engineers and worked with product managers and customers. He also found that his work had more visibility.
After two years at Salesforce, he applied to Meta in 2021.
Meta
He joined Meta the same year where he became a senior software engineer. This was always a vertical movement due to the different ways Salesforce and Meta set the tiers.
“The biggest thing happened in my career when I left Salesforce for Meta, which resulted in a salary increase of almost 80-90%,” Pandey said.
At the time he applied to Meta, Pandey also applied to TikTok, LinkedIn and two other companies. He used offers from these companies to negotiate his compensation at Meta.
“Be very transparent that you have other offers, even if you have ongoing interviews that mention them, because that’s also leverage,” he said. This signals to the recruiter that they need to act quickly and work within your parameters.
Having other offers meant Meta recruiters were trying to match base salary and restricted stock units among the highest offers.
In addition to being transparent, Pandey said it’s important to be proactive and research how compensation works at different companies. For example, candidates should compare how stocks are refreshed, he said. A recall is when the stock option portion of an employee’s compensation is updated.
“I also negotiated my sign-on bonus and said, ‘Hey, at Salesforce, I’ll leave my 30-40,000 annual bonus if I join you. Can you help me manage this? »
Pandey was offered $520,000 in annual salary in this 2021 move.
He is currently a senior software engineer in Meta’s Menlo Park office.
Business Insider verified his offer letters, work history, and Meta compensation.
Do you work in technology, finance, or consulting and have a story to share about your compensation journey? Email this reporter at shubhangigoel@insider.com.
businessinsider
