For this scenario, let’s pretend we are at the Staff / Principal level with 12–15 years of experience and are individual contributors who don’t manage anyone. Managers’ packages tend to be a little different than the scenario below.

Comparing offers

After a successful interview loop, we got offers from Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.

The factors these companies play with to create your total compensation (TC) are base salary, bonus, restricted stock units (RSUs), sign-on bonuses, and cash benefits (non-taxable reimbursements on certain items like gym memberships and internet—these do add up in tech).

We look at TC over four years because you’re negotiating a four-year RSU schedule with these companies. Most companies like Google use a nice and easy formula for RSUs and give you 25% of the total lot every year. And other companies like Amazon only give you 5% the first year, so it’s important to clarify this information with your recruiter.

Vesting schedules

There are multiple ways companies hand over stock to employees, and at a yearly level, it may look pretty similar, but there are important details to consider. For instance, Apple has two documented schedules on levels.fyi, one that vests stock every six months, and one that vests stock every month after the first year. Vest means you can sell it as long as you’re not in a lockout period. So if you’re vesting every month, you may be able to sell every month, which leads to consistency.

My pay right now isn’t very ‘consistent’ because I have a bonus payout twice a year that is tied to…