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Comment by asdf742 | Hacker News Reader

Does anybody else think the salaries are a little high? Perhaps the sample size is skewed? I'm somewhat senior in software engineering, but I literally don't know a single person making over 200k. Nada. Not one. I also don't know any college grads who started making 150k. That seems absurd, unless you're only looking at certain companies and top performers or something.

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I know plenty of people making over $200k in the Bay Area, some over $300k.

I think that is the point of the article commenting on the bimodal distribution of salaries.

I do know two people making over 200 k$/yr in base salary as pure programmers. They're very good at their jobs (Interestingly, as far as I can tell, neither of them are "brilliant" technically, merely "good". They just combine that with incredible work efficacy and solid communication skills.)

That said, I know bunches who will make over 200 k$ in total liquid comp this year. And before you pooh-pooh the equity part, if you've been at a public company for more than a year, equity's pretty much the same as cash (albeit a slightly unpredictable quantity thereof.)

Where do you live? The numbers you are mentioning sound sound very realistic in the Bay Area, if you are talking about total compensation (salary + bonus + equity).

> Does anybody else think the salaries are a little high?

The numbers for programmers are total compensation, not just salary. The lawyer figures are actually salaries though.

200k isn't that rare for senior engineers in large firms in NYC or the bay area.

Not even senior.

my new grad salary at a big tech giant was 130k base + 130 stocks/3 years + 40 signing. and i am not some insanely competitive grad.

Depends on where you are. High numbers like that are pretty normal to be tossed about in the bay area, and probably also NYC/Seattle.

I'm going to be pretty upset if these salaries aren't at least a little high, because I'm nowhere near that even after 25 years experience and a master's degree.

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