4 ms·

I'm sorry but the idea that it's "pretty easy" to make 10x the median personal income in the US by just working for FAANG is just plain idiotic. Even just among

by pc86 3y ago

I'm sorry but the idea that it's "pretty easy" to make 10x the median personal income in the US by just working for FAANG is just plain idiotic. Even just among software developers, most make $120k or less. You're in the top 10% of software developers if you make over $170k. Even at FAANG, for example Google, you're going to be L6/L7 before you hit $500k TC. I don't know anyone serious who would say that getting to L7 at Google is "pretty easy," certainly nobody who's done it.

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
There's plenty of people making $500k at L5 level...
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  >plenty dozens of us! You gave me some real medical vibes here. "Its rare", "like 1/10 rare or like 1/10000 rare?" plenty? Like 1000, or like 100,000?
- pc86 3y ago
  Maybe, if you're on the tail end of a particularly well-timed stock grant and you have a really crazy definition of "plenty." But Levels puts recent L5 offers much closer to $350k, which to be clear is still more than a lot of physicians and most lawyers make.
  - onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
    Google is not the only high paying company. Some companies are paying a lot more for equivalent levels.
    - pc86 3y ago
      You said FAANG, so I picked the one that has the reputation for best work-to-pay ratio. Rather than nitpicking specifics perhaps try to justify that it's "pretty easy" to make half a million dollars a year typing JavaScript into a computer.
hospitalJail 3y ago
>You're in the top 10% of software developers if you make over $170k. Mind boggling. You wonder how much value they are creating. Software scales so easily.
- pc86 3y ago
  Quite a bit I'm sure, but I'm sure there are a lot of developers making less than that barely breaking even on the "providing value" front. We don't talk about it here often but a lot of developers are pretty bad at what they do.
  - hospitalJail 3y ago
    Unfortunately I've seen these people, but I would hardly call them developers/programmers, even if their work title is that... I guess I can't be choosy with national statistics.

by pc86 3y ago

onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago

There's plenty of people making $500k at L5 level...

hospitalJail 3y ago
>plenty dozens of us! You gave me some real medical vibes here. "Its rare", "like 1/10 rare or like 1/10000 rare?" plenty? Like 1000, or like 100,000?
pc86 3y ago
Maybe, if you're on the tail end of a particularly well-timed stock grant and you have a really crazy definition of "plenty." But Levels puts recent L5 offers much closer to $350k, which to be clear is still more than a lot of physicians and most lawyers make.
- onlyrealcuzzo 3y ago
  Google is not the only high paying company. Some companies are paying a lot more for equivalent levels.
  - pc86 3y ago
    You said FAANG, so I picked the one that has the reputation for best work-to-pay ratio. Rather than nitpicking specifics perhaps try to justify that it's "pretty easy" to make half a million dollars a year typing JavaScript into a computer.

hospitalJail 3y ago

>You're in the top 10% of software developers if you make over $170k. Mind boggling. You wonder how much value they are creating. Software scales so easily.

pc86 3y ago
Quite a bit I'm sure, but I'm sure there are a lot of developers making less than that barely breaking even on the "providing value" front. We don't talk about it here often but a lot of developers are pretty bad at what they do.
- hospitalJail 3y ago
  Unfortunately I've seen these people, but I would hardly call them developers/programmers, even if their work title is that... I guess I can't be choosy with national statistics.