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Comment by andrewSC | Hacker News Reader

> You can get a programming job that pays you $200k/year for 40 hours

I'm going to assume this is including any stock options and other benefits? Because IIRC the software engineering profession caps out at around $200k... and that's only for the best of the best in places like SV. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I'd love to be honestly haha.

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BigCo pay for a senior software developer in the Bay Area:

  $160-200k base salary
  $10-50k cash bonus
  $20-200k annual RSU vesting (heavily dependent on the company, how many years
  you've been earning stock awards, and whether you're
  considered a high performer)

So, you do have to be good enough to be considered a senior developer, but I'd say if you get hired as a junior developer and work hard for many years, you top out at more like $400k/year total comp.

There's a reason people continue to work at BigCos, and stay in the Bay Area despite the (modestly, by these income scales) higher cost of living.

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