It's not. The fantasy is thinking anyone outside the US not taking down $300k/yr is untalented. It's not interesting to discuss outliers. Millions are being

It's not. The fantasy is thinking anyone outside the US not taking down $300k/yr is untalented. It's not interesting to discuss outliers. Millions are being made playing this talent/wage arbitrage as we speak. The top 1% of engineers is not interesting to discuss, and certainly is not representative of the average FAANG employee (or salary). Edit: Direct personal experience during my entire working career. Are there bubbles of super-talent completely out of my reach for such a pleb? Absolutely. But those folks are not interesting to the vast majority of companies needing basic but competent IT talent. Many folks here seem to be under the impression they are in that pool. Time will tell.