The author used to work for Google, which typically can pay 300k+ for a senior engineer position. It might be insanely high, but it doesn't make it non-factual

The author used to work for Google, which typically can pay 300k+ for a senior engineer position. It might be insanely high, but it doesn't make it non-factual or even a bad comparison. Qualified candidates to people who teach CS to Berkeley students are likely to be in a similar situation too. Until the tech boom subsides a bit at least. I'd say the comparison is fair, even if a bit removed from most people's realities.