My friend is L5 at Google and makes around the same I do (~$380K TC). But he works strictly from 9-6 (with on-call one week a quarter where he works 7-10 for that week). Most of my months are like his on-call week, and he says he'd never be able to put up with that schedule even with the comp. The longer I stay, the more resentful I feel. All of this work, and for what? To take a pay cut and realistically make less than him despite having to get an advanced degree and grinding biglaw for 4-5yrs?

likefunnyhelpful
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I mean yes there are other unicorn jobs out there better than being a junior associate in biglaw (and while yes 4th years are “midlevel”, you’re still only 3+ years into a potentially 40+ year career so you are very junior, we all are).

But did you have the undergrad skills, resume, etc. that you could’ve realistically gotten that job at Google? If so why go to law school?

I’m a 9th year now and just hitting the real value proposition in biglaw. Past 2 billable years now my salary has been $435k and it looks like I’ll get $175k bonus both years based on hours (our firm has a premium for high billers). That’s not quite double, but it is significantly more than your friend at google. If I’m lucky enough to make partner next year, my comp will double and further increase at a pretty good clip over the following 10 years. These are the years where the value proposition of biglaw is going to crush your tech friends if you can survive to this point. This job unfortunately isn’t for everyone, but so far it seems like getting through the midlevel years is the roughest and then things get a bit better.

like

4-5 years of experience. So 5th/6th year.

I'm glad biglaw was the right path for you and you're content staying here for so long. In house was always my goal, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the work and environment more than biglaw. But to your point - the path to get in house in terms of money, time, and effort, was frankly, fucking ridiculous. I have no doubt I could have entered FAANG with the same effort especially back when I graduated during the gold rush. Maybe at L4, not L5. But that's still like 200K all in comp without having lingering anxiety from having to do biglaw. This is just my personal take/rant. Some people thrive in biglaw, and all the more power to them.

likefunny

What’s the problem here? If you want to work less hours, start applying. You can wait for a job with the right comp that has decent hours

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I also used to think those positions looked very attractive. But then I made partner and my comp moved into the seven figure range, all cash. My friends in big tech are still in that 500-750 range, which includes non-cash comp (obviously not as attractive). Obviously a better lifestyle and still tons of money, but it feels like they will be in that range for a long time and (hopefully) my comp is going to increase faster than theirs.

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This is true. I have zero expectations of ever making beyond something like 750 unless my equity goes bananas (I have no aspirations to be a pubco GC)

what exactly does ur friend do? I’m assuming engineering

Go in-house tech. I’m equivalent of L4 at big tech, non-FAANG. Took a few years of bouncing around collecting credentials/exp to land the role, but it’s real good when you get one. TC is around 415k, 9-5 no weekends.

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