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Which companies pay ~500k for a non-manager SWE in the Midwest?

The only example that I know of in support of vostok's statement are a couple of HFT trading firms in Chicago. If you have the right chops, your comp _starts_ at 500K there, and then quickly goes up to about $1M/yr. But you do need elite chops, and you do have to live in Chicago, and you do have to work in an HFT firm, which is, shall we say, not for everybody.

I am not aware of trading firms that start at $500k, but this is, broadly speaking, correct. The pay is similar to the high paying tech companies, but the mean is higher as the left tail is chopped off due to somewhat higher requirements for hiring.

Obviously a mom and pop flower shop will not hire a fulltime developer and pay them $500k. They just don't need to pay that much to meet their requirements.

This is total liquid comp, not base salary. I hope I didn't mislead you.

If you're still interested, I suggest that you speak to a headhunter. It's their job to place people and I'm not interested in breaking anonymity.

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