Experience matters (much) less than being able to survive a day or more of whiteboard algorithm questions. The other option is sliding into something developmen

Experience matters (much) less than being able to survive a day or more of whiteboard algorithm questions. The other option is sliding into something development-adjacent that's paid better than developers almost everywhere except FAANG (management, software architecture, that kind of thing) so might pull almost that much comp, and has interviews that are more about speaking well and job-relevant experience & knowledge than memorizing Introduction to Algorithms and operating for hours on end under a microscope. Also don't be old (30+) and without some existing FAANG or otherwise "impressive" employers, or it'll be assumed you've been wasting your life, your experience must just be "one year repeated x times", and you don't belong. I'm trying to work toward the tech-adjacent side because developer comp tops out around 150k or 160k total in my area—and the top end of that's usually got one foot in management. Remote comp seems similar, unless you can do the hardcore algo interview thing—and even some of those don't pay especially well, if they're offering remote and feel like they're already doing you some kind of favor.