Hoping anyone who was affected is able to find a new role faster than they would've expected :/
Although companies have been running this playbook of "record profits -> layoffs anyway" using the AI narrative, Meta's MCI and employe tracking is wild. Really seems like a stressful company to be at right now.
More details from NYT here: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/technology/meta-layoffs-ai.html
A lot of people think that it's only the engineers that get paid a ton in Big Tech, and while you'd still mostly be right (they get paid disproportionately more, obviously), it'd be incorrect to say that non-tech roles don't get paid a lot at these same companies.
This is self-reported data and some of these data points include stock growth, but it's still worth noting that the company you end up at usually dictates how much you'll be paid more than your title and, sometimes, even more than your experience. These same jobs can get you paid like 50% less even though you're doing mostly the same work, just because of the company you are at.
I pulled new offer data from Levels(dot)fyi to see whether AI chip demand is showing up in actual compensation numbers. Filtered for new grants only (no stock appreciation), controlled for YoE and location concentration:
A note on sample composition: a decent portion of this dataset comes from semiconductor companies like NVIDIA and Broadcom which is part of why this felt relevant to post here specifically. The numbers skew toward larger tech and semiconductor companies, so keep that in mind when reading the trends.
The premium appears concentrated at the entry and mid levels, which aligns with companies competing for early-career hardware talent before it moves into software tracks. At senior levels the market converges.
At the high end, some senior Broadcom hardware engineers are reporting $495K+ in total comp. NVIDIA hardware comp has moved significantly as RSU grants vest on top of base increases.
This is self-reported offer data, so of course there will be some sampling bias toward high earners, but I wanted to hear from people in the industry: Does this match what people here are seeing in the offer market?
Hey all,
We crossed Redfin’s recent home sale prices from the Redfin Data Center with our own SWE compensation data across 20 major tech metros. The trend line came out quite interesting, and along a somewhat reasonable pattern. As you’d expect, home prices rise as compensation rises, but there are a few cities that stand out a bit: Seattle and San Francisco.
SF is minting millionaries faster than any other city on earth right now. AI talent wars, equity windfalls even before companies IPO, and $275k+ median SWE comp. Yet, the city isn’t building housing fast enough to absorb it. The result is a $1.7M median home price with an even higher upper range that people are struggling to rationalize even with these wild TC numbers.
Seattle, despite being another tech hub, is on the other side of the trend line. Median TC is $255k, just behind SF, but median home prices are ~$835k which is roughly half of SF. Most people throw the cities into the same “expensive tech hub” bucket without doing this math, showing that Seattle is actually better deal by far.
Denver, Austin, and Raleigh are the definition of efficient, sitting close to the trend line. But, with tech roles being a bit more sparse than other tech hubs, it’s a less reliable bet. SF and Seattle are the outliers, but it’s interesting how they’re on completely opposite ends of it.
Location is one of the most underrated levers in total compensation! This data makes the gap visible in both directions.
We also have our SWE heatmap, which lets you view SWE comp organized by US metro for a similar visualization. Check it out here: https://www.levels.fyi/heatmap/
Where does your city fall?
Hey everyone!
We're super excited to announce that Levels.fyi is acquiring TechPays. Gergely Orosz and Zsombor have truly built something special for Europe, and we're honored to take that mission forward.
Something you learn when you work with tons of pay data is just how differently pay is discussed depending on where you are in the world.
In the US, everything is annual, but in Europe, the convention is to discuss it monthly, among other things. Not to mention equity structures, tax treatment, pension contributions.
These might sound like small differences, but they really aren’t! It’s important for sites like ours to reflect how people actually talk about their pay.
TechPays has been doing that for European tech workers for years. And bringing them into Levels.fyi is us doubling down on a commitment we've had since the beginning: bringing pay transparency to everyone.
Full announcement here: https://levels.fyi/blog/levelsfyi-acquires-techpays.html