It's always interesting to hear genuine stories that you can only know by working at a company, such as what the corporate culture is really like and how much they pay. So today, we have a special guest, Lee So-ra, who has worked at Netflix and Meta in Silicon Valley and is currently employed at TikTok. Welcome! 

Hello, everyone, I'm Lee So-ra. Thank you for inviting me to this wonderful event. I am currently working at TikTok, and I previously worked at Netflix and Meta. Many of you might know me from my appearance on Single's Inferno 4, but my main role is as a working mom in the tech industry. I would like to discuss my career journey with So-ra, exploring what the atmosphere was like at Netflix, Meta, and TikTok, what kind of culture existed there, and how much I earned.

I think it would be interesting to compare how much I earned at the same career level. Since the time I worked and the time Sora worked are different eras, I hope there’s no misunderstanding that this is just for fun. Let's start with Netflix. This wasn’t my first job, right? When did you join Netflix? In 2014. At that time, Netflix was still quite young. It felt like it was in the middle of a startup phase. The culture was very famous back then. So, how much was your salary at that time? My salary back then was 000, which was almost three times my previous salary. Wow, it was about 140 million won. Around my third year, I was working at Samsung Electronics, and when I added my annual salary and bonuses together, it came to about 40 million won.

It seems that there is a significant difference in salaries between someone who has worked for three years at the largest conglomerate in Korea and someone who has worked for three years at a mid-sized company in Silicon Valley, with the latter earning more than three times as much. This makes me think that many people want to go to Silicon Valley. When you joined Netflix, did you receive stock compensation? At that time, there was a stock purchase plan called the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP). It's unfortunate that no one around me told me that salary isn't the most important thing; investing wisely is what really matters. There was no Wikipedia back then, right? They said we could buy at a one-minute price. Our manager at the time said he would take the minimum cash and invest everything in ESPP. He has since retired. I was also trying to maximize my stock compensation when I joined Google. I regret not having taken more advantage of that. Netflix has been around for ten years.

I think it has roughly increased about 12 times. If I had bought something worth 20 million won back then, it would be worth 1.2 billion won now. Please stop talking about salary increases and promotions; I think I was really unaware of how to manage my finances. But now I've heard that there is a culture of being extremely focused on performance, especially since salaries are high. I felt really good about that. Many people think the same way, especially those who want to do well at work and gain more valuable experiences. When faced with a difficult challenge, there is a certain thrill in solving it, right? I think that feeling of I'm doing well is really enjoyable. We provide the best treatment in the industry. I am working with the best people in the industry, and everyone next to me is also top-notch. You know, I want to create an environment where you bring in people who are truly exceptional.

We tend to use a lot of phrases that are highly aligned yet loosely connected. What we are aiming for is this, and the purpose is this; the rest, just handle it on your own. This is the atmosphere. However, managers who are not effective tend to create stress for people by not explaining the overall context but instead nitpicking on how to use certain words in a trivial manner. Netflix is very much like that; they say, We are a sports team, not a family. If you can't perform, you have to leave. If someone seems to be underperforming, they are quickly let go. Many companies, especially Silicon Valley firms, do let go of employees who are not performing well, but this doesn't happen as often as one might think. However, I've heard that Netflix does this quite frequently. Defining underperformance is very challenging, especially in companies like Google or Meta.

Companies with a lot of products often struggle to objectively assess what is working and what isn't. It's true that it can be confusing whether it's my responsibility or the project's, and there are regulatory aspects to consider as well. This leads to a situation where one has no choice but to engage in politics, constantly explaining how well they performed. However, here, there was a system in place that equally recognized the ability to successfully manage small tasks. So, I think we didn't engage in politics as much.

I believe that the best benefit is not an espresso machine or a ping pong table, but rather creating an environment where enjoyable work can be done with enthusiastic people. I believe in this, and we try to create numerous small benefits to show that we have this and that. As for Netflix, I noticed that they focus on high salaries.

I think the biggest characteristic of Netflix culture is that you can work hard and do what you want, whether it's getting your glasses fitted or receiving some kind of care. At that time, we were a company that gave you as much cash as possible and told you to handle your own expenses. In fact, Netflix doesn't have a bonus culture. They don't need people who are motivated by bonuses. Instead, it seemed like they wanted employees to avoid wasting energy on unnecessary things. They were quite generous with business class flights and similar perks back then. I don't know about now, but I thought that if the purpose of the business trip is clear and you are doing well, then the rest should be managed on your own.

Well, do we really need to say where we should be at the hotel? I don't think so. It seems that was the atmosphere back when Silicon Valley was booming. Looking back, when I first entered Google, there were no policies regarding travel expenses. It was just, You can take whatever you want and stay at any hotel you like. But as the company grew, rules started to emerge, saying what you can't do and what you can't spend. For example, you can't spend more than a certain amount on accommodations, and flights are capped at a certain price. I think this reflects the transformation of a company from an innovative startup into a large corporation. By the way, the Netflix we're discussing now is based on the company during the mid-2010s when Sora worked there, so it might be different these days. I hope there's no misunderstanding about that. So, what led you to move to Meta at that time?

I get along really well with my manager, but they tend to want to review everything in between and act like a micromanager. I want to send things quickly, but they say they will look at it a few days later, and there’s no feedback. There are just too many of those situations. I’ve been trying to move to another team, but it’s been really difficult. So my plan is to receive a decent offer from Confetti and see if that works out. To be honest, I really enjoyed working at Netflix. I had an interview, and the person I worked with before, who was the engineering lead at Meta, referred me. Luckily, I ended up at Meta. That was before Facebook became Meta. It was a great opportunity. Initially, I was planning to use this to transition to another team, but I just ended up at Meta. I started in January 2017.

In January 2017, you entered at level 5, right? Just for reference, in Silicon Valley, the ranks are numbered from 1 to 9, and level 5 is right in the middle. I also joined Google at level 5. When did you get promoted to level 6? I think it was in early 2020. How much did you earn at Facebook during that time? Typically, at level IC6 or M1, the salary is around the high $200k range. In Korean won, that's around 300 million won in the early 300s. The base salary was probably just under $200k, around the low 200s in Korean currency. Then, there was a bonus of 20%, and stock options as well. So, the annual salary in won was about 250 million, with a bonus of around 50 million, and stock options worth about 70 million won. By the ninth year, you were earning quite a lot, which is certainly impressive by Silicon Valley's standards, especially in a successful tech company. I, too, was in my ninth year.

When I compared what I received with what Sonna received, I found that my base salary is a bit lower, and my bonus is a bit higher, but when combined, the total salary and bonus are similar. However, I received more than double the stock options. I thought about why there is such a difference. For stocks in Silicon Valley tech companies, you need to enter early when the company is still young. If you join when the company is struggling, you tend to receive a lot more stock options. They often say, We are still small and uncertain about our future, but if you believe in us and join, we will give you this much stock as a reward for taking that risk. When you joined Meta, it was already a fairly large company, so they probably didn't feel the need to offer as many stock options at that time. On the other hand, companies in data science and related fields tend to provide much more.

I want to give more, and I am the marketing engineer who receives the most. As for stocks, yes, I want to talk about the culture of working at Meta. I think the term that expresses the culture at Meta is move fast and break things. I believe I experienced that culture, but since I am not in engineering, and at that time, I was new to B2C marketing, marketing was not a highly respected group. Back then, product engineering was at the top, and the role of product marketing was to connect marketing and product as a supporting function. However, I was more of a media entity that received tasks from product marketing. If it were advertising, the strategy would be set, and we would be told to execute it. Unless you achieve tremendous results, you can't even enter the room with the decision-makers. But now, what we hear is move fast and break things.

PMM takes a long time, so we throw the work at you and ask you to do it quickly. That's the kind of loyalty we feel. But honestly, I thought it would be really slow by the time I came out. Since it's such a large corporation, I expected there to be a lot of interesting culture and benefits. Meta also gets asked a lot about their benefits, which are said to be really good. One aspect that shows this is that there are sometimes people who undergo gender confirmation surgery from male to female, and the company supports that. I think that’s really great because how many people actually benefit from that? Still, we are a group that conveys the message that you don’t have to struggle alone; we care about these things. I think it's a very meaningful action. The fact that the company supports gender reassignment surgery itself is one of the reasons why Silicon Valley is often referred to as a black hole for talent.

It's one thing, and it seems like he's still doing it now. Mr. Zuckerberg holds weekly one-hour sessions with employees. I don't know about these days, but during the pandemic, he kept doing it. Back then, he would clear out the big cafeteria for town hall meetings, moving all the tables and chairs to take questions. I think that was a really good culture. In my opinion, Mr. Zuckerberg wasn't very good at public speaking at first; he's much better now, and I think he's doing great. I feel that by making such commitments, he was stepping out of his comfort zone for the sake of growth. While doing that, he spoke a lot, and the theme of connecting all of Meta's products emphasizes the importance of community. That's why, even within the company...

There were really active clubs, so there could be a wine club or a cycling club. When a club is established, there's a support system where each full-time employee gets $100 per quarter based on the number of people who join the club. So, I created a Korean club on Facebook because they said they would give us money, and I thought we could use the company funds to have some galbi. We had a few meetups and it was a really fun culture. I believe that mixing people who are not in the same group leads to diverse ideas. We talked a lot about Korean topics since we were all Koreans, but there were also other groups, like a gaming club, and the connections made there definitely help enhance the sense of belonging in the company. After all, for those working in a foreign environment...

When foreign workers gathered together, it felt really nice to have a family. During holidays, when everyone came together for a meal, we would make rice cakes and enjoy them. I have beautiful memories from my time working in the U.S. that remain with me. In a way, that had an impact as well. We jokingly formed a group called Korean Gen Marketing. Then, during our marketing summit, we decided to invite Asian creators as speakers. I played a significant role in bringing in Asian creators, and since it was an event related to Asians, we ended up having a lot of Korean speakers. So, how did you end up working at TikTok now? Initially, Meta had 11,000 employees.

When the layoffs happened in November 2022, right? At that time, even the vice president was let go, along with everyone else. Engineers have specific tasks that they must perform, and data science has its own responsibilities that need to be handled 100%. However, product marketing is defined very differently across companies, and even within the same company, the nature of the work can vary depending on the relationship with the product team. The leaders who could explain this have disappeared, and the product leaders who understood what our team does have also vanished. So, our identity has completely disappeared, and we have become a team that constantly has to explain what we do. Teams that need to define what they do are the ones that become the most vulnerable during restructuring, I think. That's right, but honestly, I was preparing to change jobs because I found the work uninteresting. I was actually on a business trip in Korea at that time, on a Monday.

After finishing the interview at my younger sibling's house, I received an email notification about the layoff on Wednesday. Still, it was sad because such events are quite rare in life. So, I thought I should drink a bit and ended up having a solo drink. I felt a bit sad for a moment, but then on Friday, I received an offer, and on Monday, I got another offer from a different company. Right now, Sora's case is the most ideal way to change jobs while working in the U.S. I was already preparing to change jobs anyway, but when you leave through a layoff, you receive some money. Since I was going to leave regardless, I get paid by the company I’m leaving. Then, if I can immediately join another company, there’s no gap in salary. This is the best way to change jobs. And really, it’s sweet because if I leave on my own, I have to hand over my responsibilities. That’s what we were doing here when we came for research in Korea.

I was part of a team that looked into how props are used in Korea, and I did all the research. I organized everything and sent it out, which was great because I didn't have to do anything at all. It was really nice. I thought, Wow, I don’t have to work at all. So, right after that, even though I hadn’t received an offer yet and felt anxious, I applied to a lot of places that night. Now, I’m curious about the atmosphere and culture at TikTok. At Meta, the pace of move fast feels almost like a joke; it’s incredibly fast. One example of this is that we currently have a product related to AI that I was responsible for during its initial development. When we created the prototype, we needed to get feedback quickly. At Meta, they usually allocate 6 to 8 weeks for inbound processes and take it step by step. Here, we gather user feedback every single day.

Just put the feedback in the chat window. But really, it was updated overnight. I was in the United States, and the update happened throughout the night. The next day, when I showed it, there were many fixes. They move really quickly; there are many more engineers. In fact, engineers in Silicon Valley are more expensive. This really illustrates how tech companies operate. Companies that used to move quickly have grown into large corporations, as we mentioned earlier, and have become bureaucratic, slowing down their pace. Meanwhile, smaller companies in the next generation are moving quickly and rising up. A great example of this is OpenAI's ChatGPT, which has surged ahead of giants like Google or Facebook. TikTok is also a great example of this. Looking at your case, it shows how...

No one knows what will happen. We face countless challenges, but in those moments, the ability to turn a crisis into an opportunity depends on how much we think about and prepare for the next steps in advance. Those who are prepared can transform crises into opportunities, while those who are not may find themselves in a situation where the crisis overwhelms them. Therefore, it's important to always keep your resume and LinkedIn updated and to present yourself well when going out, as you never know what opportunities may arise. 

Additionally, we often discuss on our channel the importance of distinguishing what in our current work belongs to us and what belongs to the organization. It's crucial to maximize and develop what belongs to us so that, whenever we leave the organization, it can still be ours. It’s also important to consider whether what belongs to us aligns with what we truly want to do, as simply having our own things may not be enough.

I don't want to do this, but I feel like I have to make a lot of adjustments. Right? That leads to the next step in planning. So, what is the next step? I need to think about what I want to do next. If I gather the things that can connect to my next stage, I can always move on from the company at some point. When that happens, I should carry these with me, continuously increasing my value and growing my career. I believe that's the most selfish and effective way to live my career. The relationship between the company and me is like a contract; they try to get the maximum work out of me for the minimum pay. Although I receive money, I should aim to gain the experience, network, and enjoyable tasks I want. This will actually benefit the company too, as I will perform better when I enjoy what I do. So, I think it’s important not to only do things that benefit the company. You need to think a lot about what you truly want.

When you work, it's fun, but doing certain types of work can be boring. You have to notice a lot. Today, we talked with Sora about her career and shared various stories. Now, after about 15 years of work experience, if I could go back to my younger self and share what I know now that I didn't know then, what do you think I would say? Earlier, I mentioned that I should have invested heavily in Netflix or that it’s more important to know how to invest well than to focus solely on salary. Also, it's okay not to get married too early. If you do decide to marry, you should consider how much impact your partner has on you. The time spent with your partner, along with the energy you invest, can reduce your productivity at work. It's important to know what you enjoy and what makes you excited and happy at work. Because even if you work the same eight hours, if you truly dislike what you're doing...

Oh, I really hate it, I really hate it. It's so much more fun than doing this; I want to do more of it. I feel like doing what I want every single day makes me much happier. In fact, Korean society has this pressure that starts from kindergarten: getting into a good university, then where to work, and when to buy a house. It's like a constant reminder to just endure until that point. However, being able to do what I want, spending time with people I want to be with, feels like true wealth. Especially for Koreans, from a young age, I experienced this too; when self-esteem is low, there’s a desire to buy luxury goods. I’m not saying I don’t buy them; I do enjoy them. But compared to what I earn, my spending often feels excessive. This means I don't save much money, which leads to constant anxiety about having to do things I don't want to do just for money. So, my spending is increasing too quickly.

I hope you don't just raise them, and it's important to have friends around you who are good at investing and can share those kinds of stories. Nowadays, sitting around talking about what kind of skin treatments or beauty procedures you've had is necessary, but it's better to fill your circle with people who pursue wealth, happiness, and health together, rather than just those who talk about superficial things. Hearing that makes me think you're quite a Wikipedia-like person. So, what’s your next step, Sora? I believe that while doing what I want, there are many things I can help with that are more important than money. Korean beauty companies are trying to enter the U.S. market, but it still feels like they are not mainstream. It feels like they are just following what others do, and there's a sense that the market for Asians is small. So, I want to help with those kinds of things, really to make a difference.

I want to be someone who helps earn foreign currency in Korea. It doesn't necessarily have to be beauty-related; it could also be about lifestyle. I want to utilize what I've learned so far and the network I've built to be someone who can provide a bit of assistance in that area. Personally, as I engage in creator activities, I hope to share what I've learned so that many people can achieve their dreams and live happily. I truly admire those who have a clear vision for their next plans. I support you, Sora, and thank you for sharing so many great insights today. Thank you. I will return next time with a more interesting and beneficial topic. Thank you.

💰실리콘밸리에서 일하면 진짜 많이 벌까? 연봉부터 문화까지 까드립니다! @soraunni

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