Would you take this offer at FAANG with a pay cut and a cross-country move? Forum

[lavarman84]

OP here, just heard from the recruiter that they can move up by five thousand. I think I’m going to respectfully decline this offer on Monday. I almost cried just now -- it's not what I expected and I’m starting to question myself, but hopefully I will be able to recover from this over the weekend. I know time is a rare commodity for us lawyers and I am forever grateful for everyone who took the time to chime in. Have a great weekend everyone.

I came into law school having a dream job. I realized partway through law school that my dream job wasn't actually something I wanted to do. (It would have entailed doing transactional work, and I know that isn't me.) But I can tell you that I changed paths and am very happy where I wound up. I don't think you're going to regret this decision. The grass is very green where you are.

[Bosque]

OP here, just heard from the recruiter that they can move up by five thousand. I think I’m going to respectfully decline this offer on Monday. I almost cried just now -- it's not what I expected and I’m starting to question myself, but hopefully I will be able to recover from this over the weekend. I know time is a rare commodity for us lawyers and I am forever grateful for everyone who took the time to chime in. Have a great weekend everyone.

If the FAANG is Netflix, from what I have heard they do not pay the same (and frankly, I think they get incuded just because it makes the acronym more fun). Regardless, it could also just be the position is not really intended for someone as senior as you.

And I would try and not let it get to you; the reason why you've received the feedback you have is this move seems like a step backwards for you. That might be disorienting if you had this built up in your mind as the next step, but it's a good thing that you are in a better position than you thought. Time to either find something higher to aim for, rather than latteral/lower, or else realize you already "made it" professionally and find some non-professional goals to go after.

[Anonymous User]

OP, thanks for posting updates about your situation. The silver lining: one FAANG wants you, which means others will likely as well. Use whatever magic you worked to get that CA FAANG over to focus on getting NY FAANG offers. Also, would recommend applying to multiple NY FAANGs so you can maximize comp during negotiation time.

[techthrowaway]

Hey OP, your posts have been mainly focused on money and taxes. Are you actually excited about any of this? Are you excited about leaving your current role or this new position/team/culture or living in California?

I think it's perfectly ok to take a pay cut or make a cross-country move to get what you want, but there's nothing in your posts that indicate you want any of this, other than a dream you once had in college.

[SGTslaughter]

OP here, just heard from the recruiter that they can move up by five thousand. I think I’m going to respectfully decline this offer on Monday. I almost cried just now -- it's not what I expected and I’m starting to question myself, but hopefully I will be able to recover from this over the weekend. I know time is a rare commodity for us lawyers and I am forever grateful for everyone who took the time to chime in. Have a great weekend everyone.

As a complete stranger on the internet, I think this is the right call. I know there's a personal sense of accomplishment involved with something like this but look at it as, you're doing so well where you are right now that you were able to comfortably turn down an offer from a company you've dreamed of working for since forever. Congrats on that.

[ksm6969]

OP here, just heard from the recruiter that they can move up by five thousand. I think I’m going to respectfully decline this offer on Monday. I almost cried just now -- it's not what I expected and I’m starting to question myself, but hopefully I will be able to recover from this over the weekend. I know time is a rare commodity for us lawyers and I am forever grateful for everyone who took the time to chime in. Have a great weekend everyone.

If the FAANG is Netflix, from what I have heard they do not pay the same (and frankly, I think they get incuded just because it makes the acronym more fun). Regardless, it could also just be the position is not really intended for someone as senior as you.

Is anyone’s dream really to work for Netflix? Like I can kinda understand google or apple cause they have some interesting secret projects, and apple has a whole image. Maybe Facebook but that’s pushing it. But Netflix just distributes (generally pretty mediocre, If addictive) video content . That can’t actually be anyone’s dream company right?

Also grouping them together kind of makes sense from an engineering perspective, or a financial perspective, but I’m not sure they really share that much in common from a legal perspective. Netflix is going to deal with a hugely different set of issues that Amazon, which will be different than Facebook, etc.

[Anonymous User]

Is anyone’s dream really to work for Netflix? Like I can kinda understand google or apple cause they have some interesting secret projects, and apple has a whole image. Maybe Facebook but that’s pushing it. But Netflix just distributes (generally pretty mediocre, If addictive) video content . That can’t actually be anyone’s dream company right?

As someone whose friends are all software engineers (mostly at FAANG companies), I cannot imagine any of those companies being someone's dream. Obviously the Google benefits are great when you are young and willing/able to spend more time at work, but everyone's individual work scope is narrow enough that you are on a five-person team developing the next life-changing technology. That is why the OP's attitude is frankly confusing, although I guess if they are worried about outing the company/themselves we naturally have less detail.

[Spartan_Alum_12]

I am in the very fortunately position to have received an offer from FAANG in California. It is an offer from my dream company. But taking this offer would require me to relocate from New York and take a pay cut (details below). Would you take this offer?

Current position: in house at a F500 company in New York, all in comp = ~320k; I work very well with, and like very much the legal team here and also like my non-legal colleagues. Up for promotion next year that would bump my pay to ~350k plus additional stock grant (amount TBD).

Offer: in house at FAANG in California, all in comp = ~250k with a 25k sign on; I think I would work well with the legal team based on the interviews, but this job would require me to relocate. My spouse earns more than I do and would need to move with me and be subject to the higher California tax, so take home pay would take a bigger hit (my pay cut + spouse's additional taxes). Would also need to sell our place in New York (~1M ish) and buy a new place in California (~1.5M ish). The relocation package of this company does not cover closing costs on either end.

My heart is telling me to say yes because this is an offer from my dream company, but my head is telling me that it's not worth it. If the collective TLS wisdom can give me any guidance, that would be greatly, greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance everyone!

Living in Silicon Valley versus New York can be night and day. Take what fits your lifestyle most, and don't let the money dictate. And if you and your spouse plan to have kids, I would take the option near family. As someone with a family, COVID has taught me how important this is.

Seconded. Silicon Valley is suburban, a tech monoculture, and very bland IMO (for the same price as the most expensive cities). Polar opposite from NY. I couldn't stand living there as I need city life and more excitement. Others seem to like it however (especially if you're really passionate about tech I guess).

[Anonymous User]

My brother works for Google and lives in SF. He finds the city extremely boring and as someone else said, mono-cultural. Also he's said it's hard to date there as a man. He's spent his entire tenure there trying to get as many assignments to work out of the NY office as possible. Moving 100% isn't under consideration though just because there are still more and better assignments in SF overall.

[CanadianWolf]

No.

[Anonymous User]

Wow, thanks for all the feedback. You guys are amazing!! I tried to put my mind on something else this weekend, so apologies for ignoring this thread a little bit over the weekend. As I noted on Friday, I followed the overwhelming advice here and turned down the offer today (very politely, of course). I’d mostly recovered from this over the weekend, and seeing the weekend posts from you guys above just now made me feel even better. A part of me is still secretly hoping that their budget will change and they will call me back, but I know a lot of people are lining up to join them so that’s just my wishful thinking. I guess some bucket list items are meant to be left unchecked. Thanks again everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.

[Anonymous User]

A part of me is still secretly hoping that their budget will change and they will call me back

Please, please satisfy at least some people's morbid curiosity and give us a sense of what about this singular company is so compelling to you even after so many years!