[Impossible]

Mid FAANG level compensation goes a lot further in Cary, NC than it does in the Bay Area though. If bonuses are 3-4x salary like mentioned in the article, then most employees are making more than they would for an equivalent role at FAANG (baring stock anomalies). According to glass door senior software engineers at Epic make around ~$150K. Three to four times that is $450K-$600K, which is higher than the equivalent at FAANG according to level.fyi (L5 at Google and E5 at FB make ~$350K). This isn't justifying crunch so much as it's pointing out that Epic games seems to be paying out bonuses that are on another level. I've worked on break-away game titles and currently work at FAANG so I generally agree with you and have points of reference.