Apple giving $250k signing bonuses & 60% salary increases to nab Tesla engineers

yobigd20 · Feb 5, 2015

Sounds like this fight out there for talent is starting to get dirty. Apple's offering $250k, yes that's a quarter million bucks, signing bonuses and 60% salary increases to nab tesla engineers. Meanwhile many Apple employees have left for Tesla too. Geez. Wow it's like HR hiring wars out there. That being said, I remember looking at Tesla software engineer salaries on glassdoor last year and they were seriously underpaid for the industry in general, let alone grossly underpaid for Silicon Valley. I hope Tesla decides to bump up their engineer salaries to keep the talent they have bc with other companies offering stuff like quarter million dollar signing bonuses and 60% salary increases - I'm sorry as much as I love Tesla and if I worked for them sometimes you just can't pass something like that up. The saying that Money doesn't buy happiness is BS. Uh Yes it does for the most part - you could easily jump ship then nab yourself a fully loaded P85D and MX and maybe even throw a roadster in there too.

Apple trying to nab Tesla engineers as van sightings proliferate

Want Elon Musk to Hire You at Tesla? Work for Apple - Bloomberg Business

http://www.macrumors.com/2015/02/05/apple-tesla-employee-poaching/

tdiggity · Feb 5, 2015

Crazy! We don't need higher salaries in Silicon Valley.

ecarfan · Feb 5, 2015

Apple has so much cash on hand they can afford to offer crazy signing bonuses and not even feel it.

And that in part explains the insane housing prices in my area. The 1,600 sq ft, 55 year old house next door to me recently sold for $1.8 million.

Kofi · Feb 5, 2015

Competition for talent is good for both companies. The Apple watch integrates with the Model S and hopefully they collaborate more on future projects.

Canuck · Feb 5, 2015

yobigd20 said:
The saying that Money doesn't buy happiness is BS. Uh Yes it does for the most part...

No it doesn't. There are a lot of miserable rich people. There are also a lot people who are happy without a lot of money. However, it's much better to be miserable and rich, than miserable and poor.

I doubt the $250k is paid in full upon signing. It's probably a certain amount per year and only if you stay the required time is it paid in full. Thus, if they underpay in the first place, and you space it out over 5 years, it's really not that much.

yobigd20 · Feb 6, 2015

Canuck said:
No it doesn't. There are a lot of miserable rich people. There are also a lot people who are happy without a lot of money. However, it's much better to be miserable and rich, than miserable and poor.
.

lol I'm not going to disagree with you at all. Love trumps all after all. Just having a little money enables one to *easily* travel more and explore more and experience more etc. I highlight easily bc it can still be done without money too, just a lot more difficult. But I'm not going to get into a philosophical discussion on what makes one person happy or to define happiness either.

Just sayin that if I got offered a quarter mil and a 60% salary increase (fyi I'm a 10+yr experienced software engineer who, without trying to sound narcissistic, is very good at what I do, so this stuff is right up my ally and completely relevant) that'd still be pretty hard to turn down regardless of who I worked for.

And on that note, if Tesla is reading this...if your looking to expand compressed media features or voice and video (VVOIP) for the car I'm your guy lol also worth noting that I can't stand Apple either so no worries there hahaha wow I totally just negated my last paragraph.

You know on a more serious note I don't know why many Silicon Valley companies don't set up R&D offices in and around NYC. There's a lot of good talent out here who have no desire to move to the west coast. At least Google set up shop here. I think amazon too. Intel's and ibm is around somewhere too. I'm unaware of any other major tech companies (mostly finance etc) , though admittedly I guess I never looked really hard. Certainly companies like Tesla, Apple, Facebook, etc they should really have R&D offices around too. Anywho, I'm off to work.

Doug_G · Feb 6, 2015

Studies have shown a positive correlation between wealth and happiness, with caveats. If you are poor enough that your basic needs are not met, you tend to be very unhappy. Once you have a roof over your head, food, and clothes you tend to be a lot happier. From that point on additional wealth does increase happiness on average, but with rapidly diminishing returns.

Personally I'd take an interesting job over one that paid more. You spend a lot of your life at work, why be unhappy?

toto_48313 · Feb 6, 2015

Doug_G said:
Personally I'd take an interesting job over one that paid more. You spend a lot of your life at work, why be unhappy?

Fully agree...

wws · Feb 6, 2015

yobigd20 said:
... You know on a more serious note I don't know why many Silicon Valley companies don't set up R&D offices in and around NYC...

The Silicon Valley tech infrastructure/environment is pretty hard to find anywhere else in the world. Taxes and government (over-)regulation are about as bad in NY as they are in CA - so that is a wash compared to, say, Texas. Plus the weather here is almost ideal, so people like it here - if they can find a place to live.

That said, I am glad we bought our house in 1993.

yobigd20 · Feb 6, 2015

Doug_G said:
Personally I'd take an interesting job over one that paid more. You spend a lot of your life at work, why be unhappy?

if you love your job but only get paid $1 vs a job that is just bearable and pays you $200k.

reality check. its not just about being happy at your job.

Citizen-T · Feb 6, 2015

Doug_G said:
Studies have shown a positive correlation between wealth and happiness, with caveats. If you are poor enough that your basic needs are not met, you tend to be very unhappy. Once you have a roof over your head, food, and clothes you tend to be a lot happier. From that point on additional wealth does increase happiness on average, but with rapidly diminishing returns.

Personally I'd take an interesting job over one that paid more. You spend a lot of your life at work, why be unhappy?

Yeah, I seem to remember the number in the US is about $70k. Up to that point happiness and salary correlate. Beyond that point they cease to correlate. So, a lot more than just basic needs, but at some point incrementally more money stops contributing to happiness.

ItsNotAboutTheMoney · Feb 6, 2015

Citizen-T said:
Yeah, I seem to remember the number in the US is about $70k. Up to that point happiness and salary correlate. Beyond that point they cease to correlate. So, a lot more than just basic needs, but at some point incrementally more money stops contributing to happiness.

Depends on where you live, presumably because of taxation and cost of living...

Here Is The Income Level At Which Money Won't Make You Any Happier In Each State

I'd settle for my current pay but warmer, less snowy winters. Or a free Model S. I'm not greedy, a 60 will do. I'll even pay out-of-pocket for the Supercharger access.

NigelM · Feb 6, 2015

That's a Model X in the Bloomberg article.

Discussion over here: Model-X-in-Bloomberg-article-(photo-rendition)

JPP · Feb 6, 2015

ecarfan said:
Apple has so much cash on hand they can afford to offer crazy signing bonuses and not even feel it.

And that in part explains the insane housing prices in my area. The 1,600 sq ft, 55 year old house next door to me recently sold for $1.8 million.

...they're not buying the house, but the dirt. The house encumbers the lot. Tear it down, build new. It's really crazy here in NoCA.

ecarfan · Feb 6, 2015

You are absolutely right. On my block a lot sold for $1.2 mil last year. The house had almost completely burned down. I was shocked at the selling price. That is for a 110 x 78 ft. lot, same size as mine.

I live in a modest neighborhood. I bought my house 14 years ago and thought I paid a crazy high price. I was wrong.

bluenation · Feb 7, 2015

Canuck said:
No it doesn't. There are a lot of miserable rich people. There are also a lot people who are happy without a lot of money. However, it's much better to be miserable and rich, than miserable and poor.

you're contradicting yourself

Doug_G said:
Studies have shown a positive correlation between wealth and happiness, with caveats. If you are poor enough that your basic needs are not met, you tend to be very unhappy. Once you have a roof over your head, food, and clothes you tend to be a lot happier. From that point on additional wealth does increase happiness on average, but with rapidly diminishing returns.

bingo.

anyways, as someone who thinks apple has long ago run out of innovation juice (tm) while tesla obv has not, i worry how this will impact tesla's ability to expand its infrastructures and produce more cars.

lets hope more engineers are in it for the passion. even tho, i'd take the money if i were them!

skilly · Feb 7, 2015

wws said:
The Silicon Valley tech infrastructure/environment is pretty hard to find anywhere else in the world. Taxes and government (over-)regulation are about as bad in NY as they are in CA - so that is a wash compared to, say, Texas. Plus the weather here is almost ideal, so people like it here - if they can find a place to live.

That said, I am glad we bought our house in 1993.

Funny you mention TX. Its the next Silicon Valley; more specifically Austin. THere are lots of companies setting up IT there while keeping their corporate presence in SV. Talking to the people from Austin, you can hear the "damage" being done to the local housing markets as Silicon Valley relocators are setting up shop. it takes far less to live a stellar life in Austin vs Silicon valley - that 1700 square foot home mentioned above thats 50 yrs old would probably go for 200K vs the $1.8M pricetag.

Canuck · Feb 7, 2015

skilly said:
Funny you mention TX. Its the next Silicon Valley; more specifically Austin.

BC too, more specifically Vancouver. Facebook, Electronic Arts, Hootsuite, Bench, Mobify, Microsoft and Sony Pictures are already here and...

"B.C. boasts more than 600 digital media companies, employing about 16,000 people and generating $2.3 billion in annual sales..."

Silicon Valley North: Vancouver tech surges as U.S. immigration reform idles - British Columbia - CBC News

But our housing prices are off the chart...

Only Hong Kong has less affordable housing than Vancouver, study finds - The Globe and Mail

paulkva · Feb 7, 2015

yobigd20 said:
You know on a more serious note I don't know why many Silicon Valley companies don't set up R&D offices in and around NYC. There's a lot of good talent out here who have no desire to move to the west coast. At least Google set up shop here. I think amazon too. Intel's and ibm is around somewhere too. I'm unaware of any other major tech companies (mostly finance etc) , though admittedly I guess I never looked really hard. Certainly companies like Tesla, Apple, Facebook, etc they should really have R&D offices around too. Anywho, I'm off to work.

DC, NYC, and Boston all have pretty robust tech communities. Not at the scale of Silicon Valley, of course, but there's a lot out here on the east coast, ranging from startups to giants. (And it's not all defense/government in DC, and not all finance in NYC.) I know because my company competes with the big tech names for software talent; an important part of our recruiting process is knowing as much as possible about the other offers we're competing against.

Bugeater · Feb 8, 2015

Canuck said:
No it doesn't. There are a lot of miserable rich people. There are also a lot people who are happy without a lot of money. However, it's much better to be miserable and rich, than miserable and poor.

I doubt the $250k is paid in full upon signing. It's probably a certain amount per year and only if you stay the required time is it paid in full. Thus, if they underpay in the first place, and you space it out over 5 years, it's really not that much.

A sign on bonus is usually paid within 3 months of hire date. Any longer and it doesn't really get classified as a sign on bonus. For key positions in big companies this is not unheard of. Also look at Google salaries. Ever heard of Golden Handcuffs?

Apple giving $250k signing bonuses & 60% salary increases to nab Tesla engineers

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