I’ve been hesitant to add more into this discussion as many of the topics are hitting close to home. But I guess if I keep it pretty high level I’ll be ok. I’m not basing this post on surveys or postings on other websites but rather on what our S is experiencing now. For context, he just finished the first week of his senior year as a CS student.
I’m not sure about the job market in other areas, but the market demand in SV is high. He now has 3 offer letters in hand and is expecting another next week. All the offers are in locations bounded by San Francisco to the north and mountain view to the south. The companies range from the very large publicly traded, to privately held unicorns, to a small well funded startup.
On the topic of base pay, I’m not sure that what’s been described here as an outlier is, in fact, that uncommon. However, I do need to say that my S has very specific knowledge of a niche technology within a larger, in-demand CS field. Once stock options/RSUs and bonuses are added-in the total compensation package is impressive. Signing bonuses are in all offers and the benefits (meals, transportation, vacation, etc) are are attractive.
With offers in-hand, our S is still weighing the benefits of grad school for an MS. I’m not sure which path is better, but his decision making has been pretty sound so far, so we’ll see.