Today I’d like to share a case study of a software engineer who had received offers from both LinkedIn and Google. This case study is based on proprietary data I have collected. I have changed the numbers slightly to protect confidentiality, but the data are consistent with multiple offers I have seen.
LinkedIn Job Offer
- Job Level: Senior Software Engineer
- Base: $160,000
- Annual performance based bonus: 10%
- Restricted Stock Units (RSUs): $200,000 worth of stock, vested over 4 years
- Sign on bonus: $40,000
Google Job Offer
- Job Level: T4 engineer
- Base: $159,000
- Annual performance based bonus: 20%
- Restricted stock units: $175,000 worth of stock, vested over 4 years
- Sign on bonus: $40,000
The table below compares the two job offers:
Key takeaways:
- Google’s known for having very competitive total compensation. For this case study, LinkedIn’s offer is competitive — its total compensation is only 3.5% less than Google.
- In base compensation (i.e. salary), LinkedIn actually offered a little bit more than what Google offered, but the difference was VERY small ($1000/year). Therefore, the base salary is essentially identical.
- Google has higher performance based bonus (20% vs.10%) while LinkedIn offered more stocks.
- If I’m evaluating these two offers, I’ll focus on 1) the project I’ll be working on and 2) the hiring manager and team 3) career growth potential. Financially, these two offers are comparable.
- One might argue that Google’s stock might appreciate more than LinkedIn (now owned by Microsoft) or vice versa. You’ll have to make your own judgement call on that. I’m not a stock picker.
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