Depending on the specific position and language in use, $110k might be reasonable for an SV job. $60k is non-top tier college grad salary. There is definitely c

Depending on the specific position and language in use, $110k might be reasonable for an SV job. $60k is non-top tier college grad salary. There is definitely competition for great software engineers, but what most people assume is you throw a rock and you'll hit a great software engineer in SV. That's just not the case. There are lots of very good engineers, but a much smaller pool of great engineers. We all hear the stories about companies paying ridiculous salaries in Silicon Valley but bear in mind Glassdoor pegs the average engineering salary around $110k for SV. The guy from Google who was in the news a year or so ago because he was earning ~$3 million a year had done something special to get there. The guys earning the big bucks have proven track records and expertise that commands a high salary. I agree with other people here that you shouldn't take a pay cut for equity, but don't be surprised when you see lots of job postings around $100k. Also consider that there are a lot of startups that raise 6 figure seed rounds and under $10 mil Series A that you don't hear about, compared to the (mostly over) hyped startups that raise millions in seed and tens of millions in Series A. They literally can't afford to pay people enormous salaries.