So given the followups to this post, by "a" new hire you mean "one particular" new hire, not "a representative" new hire. Which, sure. There are highly sought-a

So given the followups to this post, by "a" new hire you mean "one particular" new hire, not "a representative" new hire. Which, sure. There are highly sought-after candidates who get absolutely ridiculous offers in most markets. But the starting TC at MSFT is not at all "250K" under any normal interpretation. (For context: I've seen new-grad-adjacent offers break 400K at FAANG for particularly in-demand candidates in the past, but I'm not going to claim that the starting pay at any company is 400K. It's not).