Unheard of no, but it’s somewhat like suggesting every actor should aim for Hollywood A lister compensation because the jobs are out there. The top 1% compensation in any field tends to be wildly outside the norm and it keeps going up from there.
The equivalent would be telling other actors to audition for roles at [big studio] because they pay way better than [indie firm/commericals/etc]. And then everyone else coming along and being like "pfft why even bother".
A lot of people think they can't get jobs at high paying tech companies, when they can. Or they think it'd cost them their work-life-balance, when it often doesn't. Or that they wouldn't be able to handle it, when that shouldn't be a factor at all.
People aren’t saying why bother to apply, their saying why bother to promote such salaries as somehow common. More people applying doesn’t somehow increase the number of openings it just pushes down salaries at [big studio].
I mean Google getting 300 vs 200 applicants for an opening is kind of silly thing to promote.
Looking back, we are responding to a post saying “$200k shouldn't be considered high.” That’s not saying 200+k is Attainable that’s saying 200k is common.
They also say $350k isn't an "incredible" which seems to suggest it’s more than just attainable it’s a reasonable goal.
If you're happy with a 100k salary, far be it from me to commiserate. But don't tell other people they can't attain higher compensation that puts them into the top 1% of earners. These jobs are real, they're not scarce, and they're absolutely not overly difficult to attain. You don't even need a college degree.
Why not let us all in on a little secret and actually tell us what position and what certifications would be expected and required for this unicorn $500k job title? I know plenty of principle engineers, many of which are 10xers who make nowhere near this salary at all. So do tell a little bit.
Came back hours later after work and browsed levels.fyi a bit, I do see these total compensation levels specifically for FAANGs but misunderstood as you saying it was not for a FAANG and was a base salary. Probably just my understanding. I can see $500k-$1m for a FAANG with base/stock option/tenure/bonus.