The common rule of thumb is to estimate ~16% over the top of salaray for taxes, benefits, etc. in the U.S. So I was estimating roughly a $150k engineer. That's

The common rule of thumb is to estimate ~16% over the top of salaray for taxes, benefits, etc. in the U.S. So I was estimating roughly a $150k engineer. That's high in some places and low in others. But at least in the U.S. in any significant metro area, that's not an unreasonable marker for a senior engineer. However, it hardly seems meaningful to squabble over where $150k sits in the range of software engineer pay scales when we're comparing it to a $495/mo potentially productivity boosting alternative. $6k is a lot less than $50k, $100k, or $150k.