He has sample projects, functional games actually. Portfolio pieces specifically made to rosy up his portfolio. And he aced the programming interviews by being

He has sample projects, functional games actually. Portfolio pieces specifically made to rosy up his portfolio. And he aced the programming interviews by being fresh with that material. He also had great referrals, and counteroffers. And wound up with a pretty average salary. I am envious of the illiquid RSU package, but the 130k salary is pretty average. He didn't get a "Senior Staff Architect" title. He didn't get "Principle", he landed a software engineering role at an average salary with an awesome signing bonus and RSUs. This is what you are supposed to be armed with. Portfolio, referrals, counteroffers. Are you concerned that AirBNB's code will suffer? It won't. Are you concerned that he will burn out? More credentialed engineers burn out. This is just misplaced jealousy plain and simple, someone else optimized their time and leveraged inefficiencies in this system in a way we already know already works.