I'm at $160k in the Valley (lead developer with engineering management focus & high quality developer background, originally hired as just an engineer at this a

I'm at $160k in the Valley (lead developer with engineering management focus & high quality developer background, originally hired as just an engineer at this amount), but I could easily flip the switch to make over $300k if I want (I have turned down offers greater than this) - I'm very happy where I am right now is my caveat, as my workplace checks every single mark I have as desired/nice to have except compensation. Earlier in my career I would job search & up my compensation through job hopping. I always had done some substantial open source work on major projects (several of the 150 most starred on GitHub), but I accelerated my work in open source at one point and demonstrated the high quality & unusually high volume I was able to output, while still having a full time job & not doing open source during work for the most part. That experience, along with the volume of accomplishments I have from my work experience, has resulted in excellent dividends for me, as it has allowed me to have my pick of engineering jobs for the most part (whether it'd be a founding engineer, principal engineer, or director of engineering role). I picked my current job very carefully after getting laid off from my previous job (and I was already checked out and actively interviewing at other companies by that point because I was fed up), ending up with a company I still am at almost 2 years later, longest I have been at a job. I started my career late though - I only am 3 months removed from 4 years in software engineering, after dropping out of a PhD program in math and a stint in the Marine Corps. I did not program prior - I was actually desperate for any job.