How do u get paid 300K+ out of college 0 exp?
I was perusing software engineering salaries on levels and filtered for only offers where the recipient had 0 or 1 years of experience. I saw in the first 30 or so results 3 people get $300k+ bonus "New Grad" offers in Dec 2021 from Netflix, with 0 years of experience and a Bachelors degree. And that's just 3 examples. There's literally pages and pages of this.
Here I am with a law degree, with several years of experience as an attorney and five years of engineering experience building my own software, and I'm struggling to get interviews. There are some who graduate with 0 experience but have masters or PhDs and still get offered less.
What do u have to do or be to get offers like this?
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I am not from any prestigious university (average 1100-1200 SAT score) and many of my friends had opportunities at FAANG but failed the interviews/coding challenges.
I am top 6% of my class.
I have 2 majors.
I failed 7 consecutive interviews before I got my first offer.
I had many attempts because I applied to pretty much every company in existence which paid more than 140k.
I found cover letters to work very well for getting past screening.
In order to do this you need to do a few things:
1. Pass the recruiter resume screening. I personally had to leverage personal projects to make my resume stand out. This is where having a related degree helps a lot. I personally think having cool projects is just as valuable. *Netflix rejected me here and said they had filled all positions. Facebook/Apple ghosted me. I had no cover letters for these 3*
Once you pass the screening it is often only about technical/behavioral skill and more importantly, luck. Luckily, this part can be passed with enough practice and attempts assuming you prepared properly.
2. Be skilled enough to pass coding challenges / interviews. I got 840+ on codesignal after 3 attempts (for reference) and passed most challenges with ease. High scores usually secure interviews (Roblox ghosted me though).
3. Pass a final round interview. This is the most depressing and difficult part IMO. If you shoot for high compensation you should be prepared to fail many of these. I failed so many… but the more you do the easier it gets.
Finally you need to negotiate. Always negotiate. Even if you are happy with the first offer, are you okay being paid less than a coworker for doing the same work? Most recruiters expect a negotiation attempt. In my case I was able to leverage a FAANG offer to raise one of my remote offers. Timing is very important in this case. I got lucky but I also interviewed the most out of anyone I know.
Another important thing to consider is location. Netflix is in Los Gatos with cost of living index of 340 and high taxes. An offer from Google in Texas for 180k might result in more income. My strategy was to try to get remote positions and live in a cheaper location even if the offer is less (companies adjust your offer but usually you still save money).
Finally, Netflix appears to have a very intense culture. They compare it to being a professional athlete where adequate isn’t enough.