It's not actually that crazy, and less so if you look at total comp. I made $55k 10 years ago, and just took a pay cut from $225k to $160k in a much lower cost

It's not actually that crazy, and less so if you look at total comp. I made $55k 10 years ago, and just took a pay cut from $225k to $160k in a much lower cost of living area. I've had jobs with consistent $25-50k yearly cash bonuses, where some folks got as much as $250k of bonus in a year. And then options and RSUs are just the icing on the cake. Big lumbering public company? Starts at 100k a year worth of RSUs. Early stage at a unicorn? Easily $1M a year. I've mostly worked at pre-IPO startups you've heard of -- forget FAANG. East coast salaries a decade ago outside of New York were abysmal compared to their west coast counterparts, and still are for the most part, but due to the rapid growth of remote work, things are improving greatly.