What is the median salary of a Data Scientist versus a Software Engineer at Google, Microsoft, or Facebook?
Using salary data from the Salary Project, we see that the median base salaries and total comp (TC) for Software Engineer vs. Data Scientist at Google vs. Microsoft vs. Facebook are as follows:
Software Engineer
Data Scientist
It looks like in general, Data Scientists have a higher median base salary than Software Engineers. Much of this is likely due to the fact that companies like to look for Data Scientists with experience (and sometimes advanced degrees), whereas there are a lot more entry or junior level Software Engineer positions.
The trend reverse a little when looking at total compensation, which is base salary plus annual bonus plus annual stock RSU grant value. It looks like Software Engineers at Google and Facebook have a higher total compensation than Data Scientists at the same company. At Microsoft, Data Scientists still have a higher total compensation than Software Engineers.
Interestingly, the total compensation for Facebook Software Engineers looks much higher than the total compensation for Facebook Data Scientists.
Comparing the additional compensation data for Facebook Software Engineers vs. Facebook Data Scientists, it looks like while the distribution of annual bonuses is roughly similar, with a median of about $20,000 a year.
The distribution of annual Stock RSU grant value is much wider for Facebook Software Engineers than it is for Data Scientists at Facebook. In other words, Facebook Software Engineers tend to get larger stock RSU grants than Data Scientists, for whatever reason. Concretely, the data on the Salary Project shows that the median (annual) stock RSU grant value for Facebook Software Engineers is $100,000 a year, while for Facebook Data Scientists it is $45,000 a year.
Also, Facebook pays the most out of the three in both base salary and total compensation. Facebook is known to offer the highest pay in the market for its Software Engineers and Data Scientists.
Note: this is not an ad to work for Facebook. Besides, money’s not the only thing that matters in life :)
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This post is also on the Salary Project blog, and is powered by anonymous salary data contributions, from people like you!
