u/misha3004

Got an offer for an Associate Manufacturing Engineer (P1 level) role in Austin and wanted honest opinions from people familiar with Tesla/tech compensation in Austin.

Package is:
Base: $108k
RSUs: $50k
No signing bonus
$7,500 relocation (short-distance move)
I’m single, no family/dependents, and would be living alone in Austin.

How comfortable is life in Austin on this comp?
Would you negotiate for more RSUs/sign-on?
Also once I accept what happens next? It goes to skip manager for signature?

Long post but I hope it helps someone going through the same thing.

Applied to a Data Analytics role at Tesla Fremont earlier this year. Got the interview. Made it through the full panel loop. Four interviewers, multiple rounds, the whole thing. Felt good about it honestly.

Six weeks later the hiring manager reached out to me personally on mail before HR even sent the official rejection. Told me the team decided to convert an internal intern into the role. Encouraged me to keep applying.
I will be honest. Six weeks of waiting followed by a rejection hurt. Especially when you felt like the interviews went well. I almost gave up on Tesla entirely.

I stayed connected with people I had met during the process. Did not burn any bridges. Kept doing good work at my current job.

A few days later I saw similar position posted for Austin. I reached out to the person who rejected me and he told me he can refer me but apart from that he won’t be able to help because that will be unfair for the other candidates.

Got a call from the hiring manager within days. Interview was tuesday morning. Interview lasted for an hour and went pretty solid and she asked me I saw you didn’t get selected after fremont panel and I told her that I did my best but there might be something missing from my side which that team was looking for. Same day by early afternoon I got an email from the recruiter saying the team wants to move forward with an offer. Offer call scheduled for wednesday.

I genuinely thought it was a mistake at first. Checked the email like five times. My name was in the subject line. It was real.