It's not impossible -- with equity compensation and refreshers, it takes ~ four years to plateau. So if you have someone in the same role for the past four year

It's not impossible -- with equity compensation and refreshers, it takes ~ four years to plateau. So if you have someone in the same role for the past four years and compare them to someone just hired, the four year employee may have more than half their income in RSUs while the new hire has maybe 10 percent of income in RSUs. If the stock does particularly well and RSUs grants have impeccable timing, compensation of 3x what you got in year one is a possibility. Especially if a level promotion happens, if you consider that 'the same job.' Yes, it is a bit absurd. And if you're the first minority hire on a team that hires 1 person a year, you will be paid under the team average for a while, just as if you weren't. > And at what level are we talking about? Entry level employees at FAANG mostly. For PhDs managing people, such as the person in the article, I expect there's a much wider band of possibilities.