[tzs]

> Decades ago engineering salaries were a fraction of what they are today

That may be so at the FAANGs and the companies trying to become FAANG-like, but I'm not sure that's the case for people working at more ordinary places.

3 decades ago I worked at a place making retail software for Windows and Mac. I had ~15 years experience. The net tells me that today median total compensation for that kind of job at that experience level would be around $150k/year.

I made $63k that year. My recollection is that this was a pretty normal amount at the time.

If we adjust using CPI that would be $132k now, which suggests my salary then was about 12% lower than an equivalent salary today. However, if we adjust using the indexing factors [1], which are usually consider better than using CPI for comparing wages across time, my $63k then is equivalent to $169k now.

[1] https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/awifactors.html