[smabie]

A 500k isn't all that unusual in tech I feel like..

Like a senior engineer at a FANG is probably making that much or more all in.

Entry level salary for tier one firms across finance and tech is probably around 250-300k. Not hard to get to 500k with some experience.

[kube-system]

It is very, very unusual. Unusual even in California: https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151256.htm

[PragmaticPulp]

> A 500k isn't all that unusual in tech I feel like..

> Like a senior engineer at a FANG

Becoming a Senior Engineer at FAANG is very unusual, across all tech workers.

It's doable with the right amount of work, dedication, and willingness to relocate to the right locations, of course. But it's nowhere near guaranteed or common.

[dannyw]

It's not common but all of these aspects are within your control. Luck is surely involved too, but it's not like FAANG uses random() to pick senior engineers.

If you get your foot in the door into FAANG and work very hard, you have a decent shot. If you don't want to relocate, that's your problem. There are trade off's in life. If you can't relocate, that's unfortunate.

[PragmaticPulp]

> If you don't want to relocate, that's your problem.

It's not a problem, it's a choice.

HN some times acts like FAANG is the only acceptable goal for a software engineer, and that all other choices are somehow wrong or inferior. We really need to get past this idea that there's only, single correct decision.