The question to be asking is not what are the highest paying jobs, but who are the highest paid individuals? They are the individuals who interviewed at multip

The question to be asking is not what are the highest paying jobs, but who are the highest paid individuals? They are the individuals who interviewed at multiple places, got multiple job offers, and negotiated with the employer of their choice. The problem with working for Abu-Dabi or some non-tech company is they won't know how to assess engineering value, and so I doubt they'd pay a premium for it. Perhaps some desperate company would do payscale * 20%. The desperate rich non-tech company approach might work well for someone with a very nice looking resume with lots of corporate experience, who actually isn't very good. However, none of that that will compare to a great engineer starting a bidding war between major tech companies (google, facebook, amazon, etc.). Companies that have a much better idea of what you're worth, and are willing to pay.