u/michaelnovati replied · · edited
I train engineers and help them get into top tier companies as my job and often see people making $300K+ yes, it's true, it's not always FAANG, and people with 1 YOE to 10 YOE are making this compensation.
A typical formula for a mid level engineer might be $160K base, $75K signing bonus first year, 15% base performance bonus, and $40K a year of RSUs at the current stock price over 4 years. See this: [https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-alphabet-meta-and-other-s-p-500-firms-paid-workers-last-year-11654084801](https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-alphabet-meta-and-other-s-p-500-firms-paid-workers-last-year-11654084801)
The keys to this level of compensation are:
1. Big companies with public stock and lots of cash (not necessarily only FAANG)
2. Large signing bonuses. They only last 1 year, and sometimes are over 2 years.
3. The performance bonus can multiply from the base and can go much higher.
4. There is usually some kind of RSU refresher every year based on performance as well.
The reason why you might be qualified but not have this level of comp:
1. You don't work for a big company with a lot of cash
2. Your company doesn't give you any stock
3. Your company has fairly small or flat performance bonuses
4. You are at a small company where you get a lot of options that might be worth way more than the above, but you won't know for many years typically.