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I had a google recruiter reach out a couple years back, and I asked for just some ballpark idea of salary range. No dice - they wouldn't discuss even a ballpark range until I'd flown and and given up a couple of days or my time for travel and interviews. I didn't followup.

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If you are in California, the employer is now required by law to disclose salary range.

What law is this? I’ve only heard about the law that says employers are no longer allowed to ask candidates about salary history in California.

Same law.

Great. So if you have ~6 years experience they will quote you a range of 150k-220k for say L4-L6 when your TC (base+bonus+rsu) might be anywhere between 200K-575K[1].

That doesn't sound like a particularly useful answer.

[1] https://www.teamblind.com/article/google-engineer---total-co...

You'll almost always be quoted for a single, perhaps 2 levels.

No one is going to be considered for both an L6 and L4 role.

Before an onsite? That's a reasonable range.

At Google? L5 is a reasonable terminal level there, as in you can have a successful career and never go beyond L5, and no one will bat an eye.

L6 is a senior position, and not just in terms of title.

L4 is now a reasonable terminal level as well, if you, for whatever reason don't want to, or can't push to L5.

Yes, before an on-site.

Your interviewers and and the type of questions asked depend on your potential level.

The expectations and responsibilities of an L4 and L6 differ so strongly that I'd be interested in a hypothetical candidate which could be both.

Isn't that exactly what MTS ("Member of Technical Staff") and "slotting" were at google, at least up until around 2012? They hired people not knowing exactly where to level them, and after an introductory period, they were placed somewhere along L4 to L6.

I had to look this up because I'd never heard of it.

Slotting and MTS existed, but indeed hasn't been done since 2011 or 2012, and hadn't applied to L3 or L4 candidates for much longer, which means it likely was a way to differentiate between borderline L5 and L6 candidates or borderline L6 and L7.

Alternatively, and to show that you know your own market value, you respond back with your salary expectation.

alternatively, to show that they're not wasting my time, they could just answer the question.

you can google the salary range, its not too hard. protip: its pretty low unless you have competing offers then it can be a little larger than your largest competing.

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