You shouldn't be surprised at all. The higher up you go the wider the range is.
The range for a senior SDE at my company in my city is 250-400 (according to blind).
So you absolutely can have some people making $250k and others $350k for the same position at the same company.
Having said that.......by and large.....it's deserved. It is INTENDED to be merit-based.
But how fair is that merit-based system? Are people being shafted? Absolutely. International transfers. Those that don't negotiate well, or don't know their worth.
Well, again, if that’s total annual comp, sure, for the reason I gave (vesting of previous grants biasing toward longer tenure at level, signing cliffs). But as a one-time manager at a FAANG, in my experience, the ranges for comp in terms of base+bonus are rarely that wide.
Anyway, I’m sure there are counter examples, but my point was that if you are at a FAANG making $250k and you find out someone at the same level is making $350k, it’s unlikely to be merely that you didn’t negotiate well enough.
The range for a senior SDE at my company in my city is 250-400 (according to blind).
So you absolutely can have some people making $250k and others $350k for the same position at the same company.
Having said that.......by and large.....it's deserved. It is INTENDED to be merit-based.
But how fair is that merit-based system? Are people being shafted? Absolutely. International transfers. Those that don't negotiate well, or don't know their worth.