82 LPA may be an outlier but the range you mentioned is wildly incorrect. I’m an SDE2 making 57 LPA ($70K), and know other SDE2s making >70 LPA ($85K).
I agree - that's definitely one way to land a lucrative offer.
But I'm surprised that there was a massive demand last year.
Because I was of the opinion that 2022 was the year where they really slowed down the hiring
SDE2 is quite wide band, how much is their YOE ?
IMO, for such numbers, the their base pay is 50% of TTC - so something around 40L and the rest is RSUs.