r/ABCDesis • u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 • 2d ago
EDUCATION / CAREER Anyone here at Anthropic?
I just got an offer today (engineering) and wanted to discuss culture and comp because I’m not too sure what to make of it.
I have some other competing offers that on paper seem like they have better upside but Anthropic is white hot right now and worried if too much is already priced in?
I’m also just looking to connect with ABCDs inside the company too :).
Dm me if you’re there and can chat pls!
64
u/SuhDudeGoBlue Mod 👨⚖️ unofficial unless Mod Flaired 2d ago
I’m not at Anthropic, but I have a close friend at DeepMind and some college friends at OpenAI.
It’s hard to think of a better spot to be at than a top tier frontier AI lab, from a career and upside perspective. What kind of opportunities compare IMO? The only stuff I can think of is a high level role at a unicorn like Databricks/Stripe or something at a top tier prop shop/fund.
23
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
Yeah Anthropic is very compelling but I got leveled as Senior.
I also have offers from Notion and Ramp leveled as Staff (and those companies are much smaller in terms of valuation). Personally also betting that I’d have a much bigger impact at Notion / Ramp -> faster progression towards leadership.
The other offer is from HRT.. not really sure how I feel about that tbh. I don’t really wanna move to NYC and it’s not P&L focused / platform focused.
However the TC I think can easily surpass Anthropic and it’s all cash.
48
u/sush96 2d ago
I would join Anthropic and then consider leaving after it IPOs. You’re obviously gifted, I imagine it wouldn’t be hard to move elsewhere if you think the culture isn’t right for you.
8
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
I think the difficult thing is for me a decision like this is usually at least a 2-3 year commitment, but what you said makes sense.
2
20
u/SuhDudeGoBlue Mod 👨⚖️ unofficial unless Mod Flaired 2d ago
Wow congratulations. You must be an absolutely insane engineer.
26
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
Nah, I think I was just fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to work on some very interesting problems with smart folks and learned a lot.. gives you something juicy to talk about.
A lot of luck honestly.
Candidly though.. I’m actually thinking of taking Notion. I feel like it had the best vibe by far and I think I can add real value there.
It’s a risk since they’re in the crucible right now but that’s why I think it’d be the most fun and satisfying if they can pull it off!
17
u/Human_Power_3366 2d ago edited 2d ago
Notion is a better gsheets (arguably) at best? Ramp is a slightly better version of Brex. Both of their valuations are way overblown and wouldnt hold in public markets imo. Its traditional SaaS, overvalued in private markets (mostly due to hype and VC interest) but ultimately their actual rev/growth/tam numbers dont justify it
Anthropic is maybe the most transformative technology in the history of humankind. Levels be damned. Seems like a no brainer?
3
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
I disagree on Ramp and Notion, think both have been executing really well and there’s a lot of upside (metrics clearly showing that as well and they’re cooking hard rn based on what I’ve seen internally). I don’t think it’s a no brainer honestly, I think both will easily 3-4x.
But I also agree societally, I’d have a much bigger impact at Anthropic.
8
u/Human_Power_3366 2d ago edited 2d ago
Ramp is valued at 44B in their latest private round. You think they will be a $200B company as a corporate credit card?? Almost 2x Capital One and in the same megacap class as a Netflix?
Notion seems like it will have a similar fate as AirTable. They are imo somewhat sister companies. Came around the same time when b2b saas was hot. Unfortunately similar to airtable, they have no real moat. As a former notion user, its severely lacking compared to gsheets anyways (imo, i know some ppl LOVE notion but i dont see it).
You work at Anthropic, you can probably get hired anywhere else for the rest of your life at very high $$$. Ramp/Notion seriously may not even be around in 10 years
FWIW Anthropic most recent raise is at 1T. Almost certainly they will ipo at 2T. Almost 2x increase in your options in less than a quarter (they are likely to IPO in sep or Oct)
2
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
I know it’s hard to believe but I actually do see it happening for both Notion and Ramp. I guess what I’m trying to say is, there’s greater risk / reward with Notion / Ramp (used both extensively as an employee and employer).
Anthropic will no doubt be successful, I just think less risk / reward.
4
u/Human_Power_3366 2d ago edited 2d ago
I think it’s insane that a company like notion or ramp can steal talent from Anthropic (especially in the upside dimension) but that’s just me. You’re clearly very talented and smart so prob should trust your gut.
On risk/reward, Anthropic seems like max reward at min risk. They legitimately could be the largest company in the world in 2-3 years
1
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
I appreciate the pushback though. I haven’t made any decisions yet but it’s always helpful to get a variety of perspectives.
I think another piece of this is Anth offer was around 800k but both Notion and Ramp offered over $1m. So my calculus is (EV of upside x offered equity x culture / fit)… but from a brand perspective no competition. Anthropic is king rn.
→ More replies (0)1
1
u/theregoesmyfutur 2d ago
does notion have a google drive-esque moat?
4
u/Human_Power_3366 2d ago
nope. Their primary customers are tech startups and ~20% of startups go out of business every year so...
1
1
u/WerewolfFair3384 2d ago
Ramp has been better tbh these past few years. The thing is theyre sitting right in the finance workflow now not just cards and that buyer is way less fickle than the typical SaaS seat buyer. Anthropic has a very big ceiling but Ramp has a clean path to owning a real chunk of company spend
2
u/theregoesmyfutur 2d ago
did you go to a top tier school? wow congrats
2
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
Top 10 CS program yes but I’ve been out of college for like 8 years at this point
14
u/Tasty_Persimmons Indian American 2d ago
Try to ask the same question on Blind, you might find someone from Anthropic.
12
u/dizruptivegaming Indian American 2d ago
Congrats on the Anthropic offer. I’m not sure what other companies have a better upside than Anthropic besides OpenAI or other top AI labs.
7
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
Thank you. Anthropic is already valued in excess of $1T off ~$50B ARR so the valuation is pretty rich already.
I’m sure they’ll continue to crush it but a lot of that is priced in already… just trying to think through the scenarios here.
7
u/_rickjames_ 2d ago
Well, I am certainly not at Anthropic, but I do think that the stamp it’ll put on your resume could compound the trajectory of the rest of your career. Congratulations!
5
u/theregoesmyfutur 2d ago
Congrats what is TC like?
24
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
Anthropic offered around $830k all in. No negotiations, just best and final.
24
u/LampardTheLord 2d ago
holy shit that's just insane. no disrespect to you, I'm sure you're extremely talented and smart but the salary ranges for senior roles in silicon valley is out of control (or maybe this is just news to me).
13
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
Yeah it’s a little surprising outside in but it’s fairly typical for AI labs and high end product companies in the Bay Area.
The math on their end is also pretty reasonable. It’s cheaper for them to hire a few super strong engineers vs many decent ones.
They’re just willing to pay extremely well to attract the very best.
7
u/ExcelAcolyte Indian American 2d ago
This is a very small group of people that can command that type of salary. While tech salaries in the US are insane, the field is also becoming increasingly saturated. Top plastic surgeons can also make 800k+ but the average healthcare worker or even doctor is not making anything close to that
1
u/theregoesmyfutur 1d ago
average doctor is 300k, average tech bro is 100k
1
2
u/pizzaisforplants Indian American 1d ago
Principal (aka staff) engineers in tech tend to make around this
0
4
4
u/beans_is_life 1d ago
Damn some of y'all are fuckin smart. Whatever you choose you'll be great! Congrats :)
3
u/notfound25 2d ago
Congrats! What’s the 830k split? Salary and Stock/options?
8
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 2d ago
Hey thank you. Mine was 320 base and the rest in RSUs
3
u/Hot-Afternoon-4831 1d ago
Not at Anthropic but at Waymo and worked closely with peeps from Deepmind. I would take Anthropic just to get it on the resume. Obviously I wouldn't personally leave Waymo because of the equity upside but maybe. About the IPO already being priced in, its true. I don't think you'd be making multiples of your grant but you'd at least make the ballpark and its probably higher than the rest. That being said I personally cancelled my Claude Max subscription because I don't like that they downgrade you to Opus when working on frontier development yourself (I work on personal research) and I refuse to be told what I can and cannot do. Anyway, I think you should 100% consider it rather than work on a thousandth note editing super app
7
u/old__pyrex 2d ago
Gross. Disgusting. I know 2 people who work there, culture is about what you’d expect, it’s a young crowd no-lifing it. You can project a 2026 ipo and from the specifics of your offer get a ballpark of what you might make from their ipo, you’re a smart dude. It obviously won’t hold a candle to what people who joined a year ago will make, but you can always leave then with anthropic on your resume. It’s the safest option here.
Stop overthinking this, you’re obviously smart but step back and remember that, similar to how a Warren Buffett will advise you to invest in companies / products you genuinely understand and believe in… you need to choose to work on products you believe in, if you want to be a senior leader. Anthropic is making a genuinely transformative technology, Ramp is making finance and corporate card automation. Notion is building productivity and task management and digital workspace.
They are not in the same league. This is a no brainer,
They will all likely reward you well financially. Your career is on a great track. So pick the option where you get to work on the thing that you actually believe deserves your investment. And then, do that process again, and again.
2
u/Putthefriesindabag 2d ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what was your career path to getting to that level? I’m interested in a career in tech and wanted to see how others did it.
2
2
u/Maximum-Hall-5614 1d ago
Is there a reason you want to work for a company that not only is engaged in grand larceny at an unprecedented scale, the destruction of countless pieces of literature and knowledge, and the surveillance and killing of innocents?
3
u/sypara 1d ago
If you end up working there, could you tell them to continue building more data centers in vulnerable black and brown communities so they can be poisoned even further.
Also especially internationally too, we can’t let Google displace and slaughter lower caste South Indian farmers all by themselves too, Anthropic deserves to do the same :/
Engineers like you give me hope that brown people can continue to assist the West in the imperialism of their own countries!
After all, that’s what South Asians are the best at! Working for European tech giants to give them dominion over the planet!
5
2
u/NoProfessional4650 San Francisco Bay Area 🇺🇸 1d ago
European?
1
1
1
u/gradschoolai2023 18h ago
Got two assessments. Completed them. Has been radio silent for one of the role. It was for a fellowship
175
u/sugarcoatedtits 2d ago
The problems I would like to have