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Where are you getting that $200k figure? These are for not just out of college: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/computer-science-salary-SRCH_KO0,16.htm htt

Where are you getting that $200k figure? These are for not just out of college: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/computer-science-salary-SRCH_KO0,16.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/computer-science-salary-S... https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/What-Is-the-Average-Computer-Science-Salary-by-State https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/What-Is-the-Average-Co... https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Master_of_Science_(MS)%2C_Computer_Science_(CS)/Salary https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Master_of_Scienc...

marcinzm 5y ago
Large tech companies will pay that much and if you've got the skills to get a PhD then you can very likely pass their interview process. https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engineer/ https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engi... Also most of the generic pay sites in my experience are down weighted by a bunch of underpaid visa workers, boot camp graduates and so on. Also government workers who don't get paid well but get great benefits.
ryandrake 5y ago
OP said you can make $200k straight out of undergrad, which is probably technically true, like it's technically true that I can win the lottery or get struck by lightning. There is probably a new grad somewhere making $200k in far-far right tail of the distribution. Just like it's technically true that you can make $400k (or $600k or $1M, whatever the popular number to cite is now) as a software engineer. Yes, these people probably do exist in that long tail, at certain top levels in certain top companies in certain top locations.
- marcinzm 5y ago
  If you think it's that far in the right tail then you're really underestimating how much large tech companies pay even new grads. edit: Also, $400k is about standard for a senior SE at a large tech company or late stage startup nowadays.
- bidirectional 5y ago
  I really don't think it's that far out in the tails, especially given we're discussing top universities. If you're at MIT/Harvard/Stanford you're definitely aiming for 200k TC fresh out of undergrad.
  - diognesofsinope 5y ago
    Exactly my thought: A CS degree from Stanford almost has to start at at least 90k.
- amusedcyclist 5y ago
  Its far more likely that you make 200k out of college than win the lottery, in fact at top schools i think most students would disappointed if they didn't get close to that number
- kafkaIncarnate 5y ago
  His comment was in reference to the lack of PhD as an explanation of the lack of PhDs as mentioned in TFA. He then went to say that the ability to get $200k out of undergrad was, and I quote: > Makes a technical PhD a lot less tempting If it's as rare as you are saying, then it wouldn't factor into the broader reasoning of people debating to get PhDs at all. That's my point. I wasn't making any point that it isn't possible to make $200k/year out of undergrad.
- barry-cotter 5y ago
  Entry level at Google is SDE III. According to levels.fyi the average total compensation for that is $191,860. There are lots of people making $200,000 straight out of undergrad. CMU, MIT, Berkeley and Stanford do not graduate enough students every year to fulfil Google's demand, never mind FAANG's and the same would be true if you expanded hiring to the top 20 CS universities. https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engineer/L3/ https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engi...
- novok 5y ago
  No it's not a lie, look at levels.fyi If your not from a top school , maybe you have to work in startups or lesser tier companies for $50k less for a year or two, and then go work at MAGMA at the same pay as your stanford equivalent peer.
pandler 5y ago
Somewhat unrelated to the point you’re making, something seems off about the results in that Glassdoor link. Searching “computer science” in the jobs tab treats that as a keyword and shows results for a variety of job titles related to computer science. The salaries tab, however, seems to indicate it’s only collecting information about job titles that have “computer science” in the title.
yaacov 5y ago
From my new grad offer letters 2 years ago :)
stale2002 5y ago
The numbers you are looking for are here: www.levels.fyi Getting a job at Google, isn't exactly easy. But it is a far cry from "as hard as winning the lotto" that other people were implying it is.
throwaway9278 5y ago
You probably won't make 200k right out of undergrad in bigtech these days. But you will within 2-3 years. Most of my acquaintances in bigtech make 220-260K by age 25 doing run-of-the-mill stuff. This does not require elite level skill or knowledge - just merely bright people who put in the time and pass the filters. Most of us are fairly mediocre.
zsmi 5y ago
The top bin in the first link was labeled $187K and the bins are at least $13K wide so it's possible there might be a data point at $193K (probably a bit higher) which is not so far from $200K/yr as a new grad, according to the glassdoor dataset anyway.

marcinzm 5y ago

Large tech companies will pay that much and if you've got the skills to get a PhD then you can very likely pass their interview process. https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engineer/ https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engi... Also most of the generic pay sites in my experience are down weighted by a bunch of underpaid visa workers, boot camp graduates and so on. Also government workers who don't get paid well but get great benefits.

ryandrake 5y ago

OP said you can make $200k straight out of undergrad, which is probably technically true, like it's technically true that I can win the lottery or get struck by lightning. There is probably a new grad somewhere making $200k in far-far right tail of the distribution. Just like it's technically true that you can make $400k (or $600k or $1M, whatever the popular number to cite is now) as a software engineer. Yes, these people probably do exist in that long tail, at certain top levels in certain top companies in certain top locations.

marcinzm 5y ago
If you think it's that far in the right tail then you're really underestimating how much large tech companies pay even new grads. edit: Also, $400k is about standard for a senior SE at a large tech company or late stage startup nowadays.
bidirectional 5y ago
I really don't think it's that far out in the tails, especially given we're discussing top universities. If you're at MIT/Harvard/Stanford you're definitely aiming for 200k TC fresh out of undergrad.
- diognesofsinope 5y ago
  Exactly my thought: A CS degree from Stanford almost has to start at at least 90k.
amusedcyclist 5y ago
Its far more likely that you make 200k out of college than win the lottery, in fact at top schools i think most students would disappointed if they didn't get close to that number
kafkaIncarnate 5y ago
His comment was in reference to the lack of PhD as an explanation of the lack of PhDs as mentioned in TFA. He then went to say that the ability to get $200k out of undergrad was, and I quote: > Makes a technical PhD a lot less tempting If it's as rare as you are saying, then it wouldn't factor into the broader reasoning of people debating to get PhDs at all. That's my point. I wasn't making any point that it isn't possible to make $200k/year out of undergrad.
barry-cotter 5y ago
Entry level at Google is SDE III. According to levels.fyi the average total compensation for that is $191,860. There are lots of people making $200,000 straight out of undergrad. CMU, MIT, Berkeley and Stanford do not graduate enough students every year to fulfil Google's demand, never mind FAANG's and the same would be true if you expanded hiring to the top 20 CS universities. https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engineer/L3/ https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engi...
novok 5y ago
No it's not a lie, look at levels.fyi If your not from a top school , maybe you have to work in startups or lesser tier companies for $50k less for a year or two, and then go work at MAGMA at the same pay as your stanford equivalent peer.

pandler 5y ago

Somewhat unrelated to the point you’re making, something seems off about the results in that Glassdoor link. Searching “computer science” in the jobs tab treats that as a keyword and shows results for a variety of job titles related to computer science. The salaries tab, however, seems to indicate it’s only collecting information about job titles that have “computer science” in the title.

yaacov 5y ago

From my new grad offer letters 2 years ago :)

stale2002 5y ago

The numbers you are looking for are here: www.levels.fyi Getting a job at Google, isn't exactly easy. But it is a far cry from "as hard as winning the lotto" that other people were implying it is.

throwaway9278 5y ago

You probably won't make 200k right out of undergrad in bigtech these days. But you will within 2-3 years. Most of my acquaintances in bigtech make 220-260K by age 25 doing run-of-the-mill stuff. This does not require elite level skill or knowledge - just merely bright people who put in the time and pass the filters. Most of us are fairly mediocre.

zsmi 5y ago

The top bin in the first link was labeled $187K and the bins are at least $13K wide so it's possible there might be a data point at $193K (probably a bit higher) which is not so far from $200K/yr as a new grad, according to the glassdoor dataset anyway.