In your opinion/experience, what companies pay SWE new grads the most ? Equivalent to L3 at Google. Asking for positions in Bay Area or NYC. Sorry if this is a really obvious question
It’s not an obvious question at all! There’s so much info and variation out there so it can be hard to tell. Airbnb, Stripe, Lyft, Robinhood etc. tend to pay entry level SWE/SDEs very well. Also, have you considered hedge funds or prop shops? They often pay their SWEs even more but are just a bit harder to get than FAANG.
I would add Pinterest and LinkedIn
Stripe has a 1 year RSU policy though