u/michaelnovati replied · ★ FEATURED
I have the same questions and the distributions based on experience, but I can give objective answers to some of those other questions.
1. 120K is the median, not the average, so it doesn't mean you are likely to get this salary. It means of all the people who join there is a 50/50 shot making over 120K and a 50/50 shot making under 120K. But it's more important to narrow it down by people of a certain background. Like I know at Formation, the average first year TC for people with 0 experience is $134K and for 1 - 2 years is $181K, so I have to hypothesize that people with less experience are on the lower end, but need data to test that.
2. The Codesmith numbers in CIRR do not include any kind of options, bonuses, etc... they are just base salary. This is a criticism of CIRR, but it's also very hard to compute TC fairly. At Formation, we EXCLUDE all TC that is not objectively measurable (most options and private company stock). They would need to have very clear rules on this. All of that said, Codesmith claims midlevel and senior outcomes, and if people are getting stock, they are sandbagging their own results by marketing CIRR results and talking about base salary only.
3. This is counter-Codesmith advice that I give to Codesmith alumni (they help you create a more cookie-cutter resume based on your Codesmith projects). You can have a leg up by leveraging whatever about your background is unique. A lot of Codesmith students were amazing in some other field and telling that story and tying it to your job hunt is my main advice.