My personal experience is that the pay structure at Google has not depressed wages at all. It's not unusual to encounter a mid-tier engineering lead pulling dow

My personal experience is that the pay structure at Google has not depressed wages at all. It's not unusual to encounter a mid-tier engineering lead pulling down $650k+/yr (with stock), working 40 hours a week. Try hiring that person away from Google. It's nearly impossible to match that kind of take-home without turning your business completely upside down.