r/levels_fyi

Hi all,

I've been at my current company for more than 6 years now. I've grown a lot, but for the past year I've been feeling disinterested in the work.

So I started applying to random companies without any prep, and got an offer at an AI startup of around 30 employees. The core team is in the US, but they're hiring remote in India. I have 10 years of experience overall, and I'm at L6 / Staff Developer level. My current company is solid — probably one of the top Indian startups of the last decade.

I'm thinking of accepting the offer, resigning, and continuing to apply to other companies during my 3-month notice period. If nothing else comes through, I'll join this startup as a backup.

My current comp is little more than 50 lpa. How much should I negotiate, given that the startup hasn't raised funding in last few years and there's no clarity on how it'll perform?

HR is offering around a 20% hike plus some ESOPs. But I'm also getting calls from larger companies that are starting interviews at similar hike percentages.

Should I negotiate harder? How should I approach this?

And more broadly — is joining an AI startup better for the future? At my current company, the most I can do is learn how to apply AI in SDLC. At this startup, I'd actually be building an AI product.

I'm a 39-year-old man, working as a plant maintenance tech and making about $110k a year. I've been with my wife for about 17 years, and we have three kids. We bought our first house a few years ago, and we drive relatively new cars.

I work a ton of hours, usually 50 to 58 hours a week, and honestly I feel like it's all for nothing. No one really warns you that owning a house turns into a never-ending list of repairs, projects, and expensive random problems.

I feel like my life is being eaten up by work just so I can keep paying the bills and maintain all these things we were told we were supposed to want. I'm not enjoying most of it. I don't feel like I'm "living" my life.

All I do is work to keep up with the dream we were sold when we were young. Anyone else feel like the "American Dream" isn't worth it?

Need help deciding between 2 different offers - I have <6 YOE so focus is long-term development still but also considering WLB (no kids yet). The two offers are from a series c start up that is full remote and the other is at Amazon Leo - both roles are similar on paper. . Which is the right choice here? Feel Amazon is more prestigious but start up is remote and might pop off in coming years..

Amazon Leo (Seattle) - Sr BIE
155k base
115k RSU (over 4 years)
65k sign on yr 1, 51k sign on yr 2
5 Days in Office

Start Up (Remote) - Sr Analytics Engineer
145k Base
20% annual bonus
Options useless
Remote 

Quick background: 8 years of total experience across Product and engineering (5 yrs in semiconductors, and 3 as Sr. PM in SaaS). Tier-1 BTech+MBA. Currently at 47 LPA (no equity).

I'm expecting an offer from Microsoft Bangalore for a PM2 role, which I believe maps to L62. The recruiter has said that the level for this role is L62 only, not L63.

Few things I'm uncertain about and would love real inputs on:

1. Is L62 the right level for me with 8 YOE and good role fit? Everything I've read says 8 years sits right at the L62/L63 boundary. Should I be pushing for L63 before the offer is even generated, or is that a stretch? I have even interviewed for L63 in past but didn't get through.

2. How badly does current CTC hurt me? I know Microsoft has fixed bands, but I've heard recruiters still anchor to current salary in practice. My 47 LPA feels low compared to what L62 apparently pays (I've seen 50–70L TC thrown around on Blind/Glassdoor, but with base under 40, which is below my current base pay). How do I handle the lowballing due to low CTC?

3. No competing offer right now. I know this weakens my position significantly. Is there any realistic way to negotiate meaningfully without one, or should I just slow down this process and try to get one? I am planning to say that I am interviewing in other companies in parallel.

4. What TC should I quote when asked expectations, once a 50-60 LPA offers is rolled out? Thinking of saying ₹85–90L total comp. Too aggressive for L62, or reasonable given 8 YOE, and good role fit?

Any inputs from people who've been through the Microsoft India hiring process recently would really help. Especially around the level conversation - feels like that's where the real money is, not the negotiation after the offer.

Hi all,

Got two offers and would like to get your feedback and thoughts.

JPMC: SWE 3 (602), Dallas, TX. 5 days in-office

Base 140k, Annual Perf Bonus 15k

Agentic AI Project

Seed startup with <10 people team. Had one investor from Costanoa VC: AI platform for architects & engineering/construction firms

Role: Software Engineer building AI solutions

Remote (work from anywhere in US)

Base 185k, Sign-on bonus 10k

0.5% equity common stock

Experience:

Bachelor's in CS

* AmEx SWE Intern ~3months (ML/AI team)

* Amazon SDE ~1.4yrs (Backend, Cloud)

* Independent contractor (total 3yrs):

- Scale AI, AI Trainer ~2.3yrs

- Bootcamp Mentor ~3yrs

* Verizon SWE 3 ~10months (GenAI & Agentic Systems)

#Offer Evaluation #offers #tech #jpmc #startup #startups #preseed #dallas #sanfrancisco

Need help deciding between 2 different offers. Still early in career at <2 YOE so focus is long-term development/resume building. More money offered in Seattle and COL is about the same. Work at Qualcomm would be in Software Test versus work at Axon would be focused on Design. Which is the right choice here? Feel Qualcomm is more prestigious but Seattle might have more to offer in future job market.

Axon (Seattle)
135k base
21.5k RSU
13.5k bonus
10k sign on
Hybrid 4 Days in Office

Qualcomm (San Diego)
121k Base
25k RSU
10k bonus
40k sign on
5 Days On-site 

Trying to decide between one of these and another FAANG offer. The FAANG has a way more employee friendly set up with low layoffs, guaranteed refreshers, amazing 401k match, just seems like a better place to feel comfortable or even rest and vest if I wanted to. Downsides are slower albeit consistent growth, path to promo seems impossible (super rigid systems), and less excitement about being a small ant in a massive colony.

The overall comps are essentially equal so really comes down to stock performance as a differentiator. Considering the above 2 are not public is a major risk but also just the current valuations seem super frothy not sure how much more room there is to grow before things correct.

I understand if you're doing it for the money. Same goes if your job involves being on call, constant travel, or randomly staying up late, and that's part of the nature of the work. But I'm talking about people who choose to work 55, 65, and even 75 hours a week of their own accord, when technically they don't have to. Is it usually so they can get promoted faster? And if that's the reason, why has that become the normal standard in certain places?

I'm not trying to criticize; I'm genuinely curious to know what the motivation is. For me, I need a decent amount of time away from work, otherwise my mental and physical health starts to suffer. But it's clear that a lot of people get something out of working extra hours, something bigger than just the salary.

Honestly, I find it hard to understand. Do companies expect these extra hours from you if you want to move up, or is it more like everyone has silently agreed that this is what "serious" people do? And if you work this much, how do you keep up with the rest of your life? Your friends, your family, errands, exercise, hobbies, or even just sitting around once in a while without doing anything?

For anyone who works long hours by choice, what keeps you going? I'd genuinely like to hear how you think about it.

This is a niche question but if anyone has any insights I would appreciate it. First off, some might say that I need to focus on getting the offer before worrying about comp, but I'm asking this question for a specific strategic reason.

I'm in the loop at Anthropic and about to schedule my onsite. I'm feeling rusty and would like to schedule it as late as possible to give myself more time to prep. I've read the reports of Ant raising a new round at a $900B+ valuation. If right now Ant is still issuing RSUs at near the $380B valuation from February then it probably makes more sense for me to rush the process and see if I can squeeze in. Does anyone have insights into what valuation the Ant RSU grants are based on for new offerees right now?

My understanding of how this usually works is that each equity grant has to be approved by the Board after the person starts the job. That can happen on the start date or maybe even weeks later. The offer letter typically has a target dollar amount for RSUs over four years, and the denominator used to calculate the number of RSUs the employee actually receives is based on the 409A valuation of the company on the grant date when the Board votes to approve.

While it seems no term sheets have been signed yet for the new round, my understanding is that sometimes a company pauses grant issuance when they're deep into a fundraise and then approves all new grants once the funding round is finalized. I also understand that sometimes even between rounds a 409A valuation can be updated if material changes have occurred in the business (such as Ant's exponential ARR growth or the fact that they've received multiple offers valuing them at much more than $380B). All this to say there might not be much of a gap between the current 409A and where Ant lands in this latest funding round. If anyone has any visibility here it would be really helpful. Please feel free to DM me if preferred. Thanks in advance.

Current CTC is around X LPA. Recently my company introduced a reward/retention structure and initially communicated that rewards could go up to ~135% of CTC over time. However, so far I’ve only received less than ~50% of my current CTC as payout.

Breakdown so far:

• ~46% of X as reward bonus — paid in installments every 6 months (1-year clawback)
• ~8% of X as retention/certification bonus (1-year clawback)

The issue is:

• The ~46% reward bonus has a 1-year clawback
• The ~8% retention amount also has clawback
• I additionally signed a 2-year bond recently in January worth ~46% of X, which needs to be paid back if I resign

So if I resign now, I’d effectively need to repay almost ~100% of my current annual CTC because of clawbacks + bond conditions.

Based on my current financial condition and family situation, along with what feels like a misalignment between the original commitment and the actual structure, I strongly feel mentally pushed toward switching. Right now it feels more like a financial lock-in/trap than actual compensation growth.

At the same time, I may also need to take family-related loans in the next few months, which makes this decision even harder. I feel this may be the only window where I can still take some risk before bigger financial responsibilities begin.

Wanted advice from experienced folks:

• Should I switch early before liabilities increase further?
• Or stay for stability and wait out the clawback period?
• For someone with ~1.5 YOE in AI, what’s a realistic target CTC while switching from this situation? I wanna risk & switch immediately as I am capable now for 3 months

Would appreciate guidance from people who’ve dealt with retention bonuses/bonds before.