[whiskyant]

I don't think it would be close at all, unless you were already a senior engineer (and even then would require amazing stock appreciation). Also, the jump between levels at top companies/FAANG is around 50%, not 100%.

• Junior engineer at FAANG, yr 1 = 180k ~113k take home - 42k living expenses (based off of 3.5k per month) = 71k to invest

• Yr 2 = 71k to invest

• Midlevel engineer, yr 3 = 270k ~160k take home - 42k living expenses = 118k to invest

With 10% stock appreciation per year that's roughly 78k end of 1st year, 164k 2nd year, and 310k by 3rd year.

[snowman-yelling]

You can earn $400k at Amazon and Meta today at L5/E4 today and you can certainly live cheaper than $3.5k per month.