[slics]

One thing you don’t see very much in the comments is the amount of time that you dedicate while working for a startup. Yes the salaries are high, but so is your time you put into working for a startup. From what I have seen and read, 60 Hrs a week is the average.

[joejerryronnie]

Startups in the bay area don't really provide the highest salaries, they compensate employees with potential future equity. The established tech leaders (FANG) and high growth mid-size tech companies are where the large salaries are found (base salary + bonus + RSU's). If you get into one of these companies and are a high performer, it is not difficult to begin making $200-300K per year after a few years once multiple RSU grants begin to kick in.

The issue is that this type of compensation is highly dependent on the stock market. Both the bull market in general and companies getting rewarded by the market for growth rather than earnings. You should be thinking about other types of investments (e.g. real estate, etc) that are not as tech/stock market dependent to funnel some of this cash flow into. Nobody knows how long this level of compensation will last.