Negotiating Block L6 with competing offer
Expecting an offer from Block/Square for L6 software engineer (just passed team match). From my research, I see that the standard offer prior to this year was TC 475K but it dropped to 400-420K in 2025. I have a competing offer from an RTO company (one of Snowflake, Coupang, Snap) in the low 500K's. I much prefer Block because it is remote with good WLB and I like the team. How much will they budge in response to my competing offer in this bad job market environment? Will they give me 475K at least? TC at Meta: 480K (want to leave because I've had it with the toxicity of this company) YOE: 9 Location: Bay Area (HCOL)
Don’t go to Block unless you’re ready for a layoff any time.
Hasn't the layoff rumors been going on for years? In 2023-2024 I kept seeing people doomsdaying Block and sure there were layoffs but they mostly affected non-eng and the side businesses like Tidal.
Sorry sir you need to fix your research. Block has been doing small layoffs since 2022 and there was a huge one where they reduced headcount to 12k after laying off thousands engineers, managers and everyone else including VP and above. After that, they’re back to small scale layoffs that don’t make it to news outlet. The company has been restructuring like crazy. It’s not the same Company it was before pandemic. Very negative culture and wlb is relative to the team and you can enjoy while your job lasts. Don’t think if you’re an L6 SWE at Block you’re immune to layoffs. I understand Meta is a shit hole right now but so is 90% of the tech industry. If you’ve a safe job there, stay put please. Good luck whatever you decide!
Meta even with the grind is a much better place to be than Block. You would be taking a huge cut in impact, reputation, and career growth.
Leaving Meta for Block? Are you serious? Avoid at all costs unless you're highly skilled in office politics and manipulation—and willing to endure a painfully slow career downfall
I can't imagine it could be worse than Meta... Block's Blind rating is pretty high for that to be a company-wide issue.
What’s so bad about rest and vest lol?
Too much rest and vest means when you get laid off you basically have nothing to showcase in your interviews
Now is a good time to join because the stock is in the shitter
DM me. I negotiated for a really good offer for Zone C. Also, I might take other offers than Block because it really is a shit show inside. The only thing left that is food of them is WLB which I am not sure can be sustainable.
Thanks, DM'ed
It depends on how many other qualified candidates they’ve found, how many roles they have, and how much they want you. You can’t control that, but you should still negotiate hard. From your recruiter’s standpoint, why would you take a pay cut from Meta? Hopefully you didn’t say you’re desperate to leave. Pitch it as you really want to join, but that’s a much larger pay cut than you were expecting. You literally have Meta + one other offer which both beat them. Push hard and be willing to walk away. Worst case you make more money and tolerate RTO for the next year or two until you find a better remote job. Your recruiter’s job is to pull whatever strings they can to convince you to join. Convince them to fight for you. Don’t settle with this kind of leverage.
i'm working crazy hours at Meta so it would actually be a pay bump when considering the hourly wage...
Depends on your interview. Don’t think they’ll go above 450k.
Darn but thanks for the heads up
Leadership has been pretty bad but Block is a pretty nice place to work 🤷♂️
Leadership as in executives at the very top?
Why would you go from Meta to Block? Major downgrade. This is from someone who's at Block.
What's bad about Block? Coming from Meta i want to escape the PSC/grind culture and the backstabbing that comes with it. I heard the WLB at Block is so good that people complain about laziness - tbh I would love that for a change from 60-80h weeks.
The coasting culture rubs off on you. You won't grow and learn here and will become a worse version of yourself. It will hurt your future prospects for when you eventually leave Block. But yes, you will have amazing WLB. People can contribute less than 10 hours a week and easily get by in meeting expectations. It's a very low bar. The failure mode is that you get too comfortable and Block becomes the peak of your career.