Desk·2026-10-15
OpenAI paper year still clears the Anthropic listing path
Same software-engineer title. OpenAI prints the lab year. Anthropic prints the listing-path book under it by about $62k. Bases sit twenty thousand apart.
OpenAI typical $653,000 against $591,000 at Anthropic.
SWE typical
OpenAI typical sits ~1.10× Anthropic
Same title. Lab clears $653k typical on a $270k base. Listing-path lab clears $591k on a $250k base.
How to plan it
Sit the OpenAI paper year before the Anthropic listing seat
A 26-year-old planning 2027 should treat OpenAI and Anthropic as two next seats, not one frontier band. OpenAI software engineer prints $653k typical on the ledger with a $270k base, sample twenty-three, eleven work-email, marked hot. Anthropic prints $591k typical with a $250k base, sample eighteen, ten work-email, also hot. The OpenAI book leads typical by about $62k. Anthropic held an investor day on 14 October and told the room Q3 revenue of $16.8 billion, up about 45 percent, with an adjusted profit, on a path to a listing targeted before Thanksgiving. If you can hold paper and want the larger sample and higher typical, sit OpenAI first. If you want the listing-path seat and can clear the Anthropic loop, sit Anthropic — but name the mix. Do not treat a $653k paper year and a $591k listing-path year as the same next seat.
Also: OpenAI vs Anthropic · Who pays SWE