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Why is it sad? 450k is reaching the top of our field, but is nowhere near the top of finance, law, and business. Engineers at the top of their game should be unsatisfied with this type of compensation.

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This is something that actually really bothers me. Heads of business have a near infinite wage ceiling, same with sales. I guess engineers are probably given incentive with stock, but even still they're not treated nearly as well as even lower management.

I dunno, that kinda makes sense to me if you think about the structure of a business. An elite CEO makes the most critical decisions that can be easily worth billions either positive or negative. An elite engineer makes a stellar project sure, but they work on a team etc. An elite engineer that makes elite decisions becomes an executive, and doesn't stay an engineer.

What's elite about them? There's nothing elite about them, almost anyone can do their job.

It's more a matter of connections and luck if you're a CEO.

Beware the company that has a CEO due to connections and luck. Sure, anyone can sit in the seat and cash the salary checks. Not just anyone can do a good job of actually running the company, though.

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