In today’s video I will share with you how much money you can earn when working as a software engineer at Netflix. And since money is not everything, I will also talk about what benefits you could expect if being hired by Netflix as a software engineer. But before we go deep, let me ask for one thing. What would your current manager say if being asked about fighting to keep you if you would resign? Would he or she fight for you at all cost?
Before I share the salary information with you, let’s talk briefly about the culture at Netflix and how the company has reshaped what HR, employee performance, benefits and work looks like. Netflix has seven highly important aspects of their internal culture. 1 — Their values (and what they actually value) —2 — it is a high-performance work environment. They hire the best and they expect that employees deliver their best work at all times — 3 — Freedom and responsibility. They give you all the freedom and flexibility you need to do your work. They also give you the responsibility to decide what to do when and how AND to deliver on that. — 4 — Context, not control. They do not want to control or micro-manage you. They provide you with guidance and context, you are expected to do the rest. — 5 — Along the same lines, everyone is aligned, but structures are loose.. — 6 — Netflix wants to attract the best of the best by offering top of the market pay. — 7 — Promotions and development are a given in their environment. — They live and work by these seven values and show that they adhere to them by showing who gets rewarded, promoted or is being let go. There is a whole lot more to this. As a matter of fact there is actually a 126 page PowerPoint deck online that outlines exactly the entire Netflix culture. I will link to it in the description below. — So, back to the software engineer salaries at Netflix.
Netflix hires only senior software engineers. Only one level of engineering staff. Pay is structured and not everyone gets the same. (cash, cash + stock, stock-only). Below are the averages from a pay-structure perspective
Lowest salary: $420,000 = $16,153/bi-weekly
Mid-Level: $479,000 = $18,423/bi-weekly
Upper Range: $495,000 = $19,038/bi-weekly
Additional Level: $525,000 = $20,192/bi-weekly
If you search on Glassdoor for these types of salaries you will find an average salary of $398,546 which is a bit lower than what I mentioned earlier, but you have to put into consideration that their data includes historical data, which would include pay being reported from the previous years.
No bonus. All regular compensation. Always at or near of the market range. Not just inflation-based adjustments.
Benefits
- Unlimited paid time off, unlimited sick time
- Up to one year off for new parents
- 10 Paid days for child or parent or dependent care (including pet care)
- When onsite, free breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- 401K = 100% match dollar for dollar of the first 4% of your salary – which roughly meets your contribution limits for a 401K on the lower-end salaries and definitely maxes you out at the higher salaries – even before you hit the 4%
- As many companies with a lot of high-earning employees do, they offer a Mega-Backdoor Roth IRA/401K – which allows for additional savings. Not going to explain this in this video. Google it.
- Netflix offers an employee stock purchase plan ESPP where you could buy shares at a 60% discount.
- Every Netflix employee receives $16,000 to cover health insurance premiums. If you’re single and cannot max out this benefit, they will give you up to $5,000 back over the course of the year. One could say, Netflix pays you to have health insurance.
- Generous short and long term disability payouts which start with 12 weeks at 100% of your salary followed by 70% of your salary (maxed out at $20,000 per month)
- High life insurance where the beneficiary receives $1,500,000
- Netflix does pay for your commute cost if you use Uber or Lyft. They want you to be productive during that time. Remember, traffic in the Bay Area/Silicon Valley is notoriously bad. But they also offer company shuttles in certain areas.
- Not necessarily publicized, but Netflix also has a generous severance package – which is not there by accident. Netflix has a certain employee performance review process. All Managers would ask themselves the following: “Which of my people, if they told me they were leaving for a similar job at a competitor or peer company would I fight hard to keep?” If you’re a manager and you have people you wouldn’t fight for at all to keep in the company, then they are likely placeholders at best, blockers at worst. They are taking up a spot an “A” player could be in. Your job is to give them a generous severance package and replace them ASAP. It is the honest and respectful thing to do. — By the way, the reverse is possible, too. The employee can ask the manager if he/she would fight to keep the employee.
- Netflix offers a 200% donation match which is capped at $20,000/year
- Phone bill reimbursement
- Relocation assistance
- Fertility and Adoption assistance
- Gym Discount
- Onsite Laundry
- Pet-friendly workplace
So, working at Netflix pays in many ways. Money is one thing, but what I really want to highlight is the fact that Netflix has a great way to look at employee performance – which many other companies could learn from. — Remove distractions from the life of their people by paying them well and offer a work environment that is a rewarding and intellectual challenge. They empower their employees to make decisions, work in a common-sense environment, without fear of being micro-managed or judged/measured by archaic performance review procedures that are used at so many other places. Imagine the fun you can have at work in such an environment. The barrier of entry is high. Senior software engineers only. Strict hiring and interview requirements you need to survive. Even if you are the brightest software engineer, if you are not a cultural fit you are not going to make the cut. Pretty cool if you ask me. And then let the word spread about this type of work environment. Lots of money to be made, but at that level – pretty much any software engineer is well paid. The difference is in the sauce they serve at Netflix. Or call it their not so secret sauce because it is all public. But to overcome the high barriers of entry … you get the idea.