[pantaloons]

This is largely due to Amazon stock appreciation. Amazon does not pay senior engineers $400K, let alone $500K. In FAANG, a typical non-promotion raise is 5-8%.

The author could probably have been a bit more specific and noted that his income was actually quite likely to go down for the next several years, but it wouldn't have made for such a compelling post.

[DVassallo]

Amazon adjusted my comp to ~$380K in 2016 after I got a similar competing offer. It's true that I would have made a bit less if I stayed, but it was still going to be around $500K assuming the stock price remained the same.