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not for the bay area; and really, that's the point...

I will unequivocally state that a total comp of $150k+ for a new grad is at the very least, the top 5% of software development salaries for that level of experience.

was the op a new grad? sorry, I missed that. yes, $150k for a ncg in the first year is high. but honestly not that high, and for a 2nd year... doable from my experience [1].

[1: I am an engineering manager at Google]

Yes, doable at Google, a company known for being at the top of the market in compensation.

The whole point of the original statement was "I made $X and saved $Y, it's not that hard." But when you examine the X and the Y, they are not representative at all!

It has similar merit to a lottery winner saying, "why can't you win the lottery too? All I did was buy a lottery ticket."

Google pays substantially more than that - matching that number does not put you at the top of the market. Companies paying that much include many of the largest tech employers in the area. Compensation for job switchers has been increasing rapidly since the no-poaching ring was busted, but you have to know to ask for it. Lots of people are anchored from that period and don't know what they are missing.

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