[overrun11]

The average college graduate makes ~60k out of school. The median law school new grad makes ~80k. Yet a large group on Hacker News acts like anyone who studies enough to get into a FAANG company fell for some horrible scam.

I've studied less than 200 hours in my life and now make ~320k and expect to get ~450k when I switch jobs later this year (both remote)– I have only a high school diploma. Chalk me up as another victim of big tech... I guess I should've been more "skeptical".

[mattgreenrocks]

For me, there's an element of jealousy here. I have probably 20k+ hours of programming experience, and I don't make anywhere close to 320k. It is hard to read comments like yours against the backdrop of my experience, despite the fact it was very privileged. I try to take it as understanding that I haven't dipped my toes in that side of the industry yet.

Hope that adds some perspective to things. (I'm not trying to justify the extent of some responses, just let you know my take.)

[adam_arthur]

Imagine misattributing FAANG comp to any kind of personal competency.

My FB interview panel was the biggest clowncar of unwarrantedly self important people.

Anyway, pretty orthogonal to your comment, but kind of hilarious seeing what comp can do to people's ego, and perception of self

I made it rich through hustle and major contributions to a startup from the early days. Most big tech employees are a cog in the machine, along for the ride

[mckravchyk]

Somewhere out there, there could be people making 300k/year, responsible for Youtube "continue watching?" modal not hiding when you press Space to unpause the video. It's been like that for years.

[ghostbrainalpha]

Do you mind saying what kind of role you are switching to and from?