[nvarsj]

> I find it amusing how people take this 'leveling game' at big companies so seriously.

It has a huge payoff (think 7 figure TC/year for principal+ at big tech), with little personal risk required. It's no wonder people take it so seriously.

[cmiles8]

At higher levels or extremely specialized roles perhaps. But your typical big tech “principal” IC isn’t consistently making 7 figures.

[SR2Z]

A principal engineer makes this much money at virtually every SV company because principal is a very high level.

[bluedevil2k]

Yes they are

https://www.levels.fyi/?compare=Netflix%2CGoogle%2CFacebook