The least risky way is to join a pre-IPO, VC funded company after it's at least past Series D round, and get a significant equity package that is equivalent to at least 2-3x the same pay at a FAANG company.
Then be patient, wait for an IPO or acquisition. Note this could be years. And during that time you won't get any liquidity (like a FAANG employee would).
Depending on length of time, this could result in several years of above market pay (through stock which continues to vest post exit), or a one time big payout that averages to more than $1MM/year. Note that depending on tax treatment (ISO versus RSU), that could reduce your after tax payout.
Other options would include starting a company or joining even earlier stage (before the Series C). But then the time horizon for an exit can go up, and the risk also increases as many times the equity gets heavily diluted or the cap table is adjusted significantly to make room for later stage investors.
Plus al sorts of tokens on top of that.
This board loves to hate on crypto, to their own financial detriment.
Poverty isn’t virtue.
Even if you are getting $1M in cash today, who knows if you'll get it the following year when the underlying token they're liquidating to pay you in cash loses value and the founders are getting rekt. In some cases, you may only get the cash for a few months.
I agree that HN loves to hate it on crypto, but as this community ages you have to expect somewhat of a more risk-averse mindset to set in. Even YC funding is so high, I don't consider it as risky as it was 10 years ago.
Many people don't want to work for them, or in adtech (e.g. F,G) or generally for evil companies. HFT has been called "automated stealing", and it's hard to argue it's not.
I mean I can read about stuff all damn day, but I’m not sure how the average person goes from “knows a bit about controlling latency” to “has demonstrable ability to create low latency systems”.
go to developer meetups, or better yet, speak at them
go to the pub after the meetup, thats where the real networking happens. talk to people dont just sit in the corner.
be smart about who you talk to and what you work on, time, resources and attention are limited, succinctly demonstrate apex excellence immediatly
Don't listen to them. If you want to make such a big salary, you simply cannot be an employee. A human being doesn't have the skills required to produce that much money in a year, let alone convince a company so they pay you that salary.
Your best bet is making a company, creating something with a lot of value, and then either selling it or receive some income from it.
Keep in mind that the money wont be there at the start, but after a few years, 1 million or even several is a real possibility.
After jumping ship between many companies (whether FAANGs or not), there's a point where salaries cannot increase any longer and you'll need to own your means of income if you want to break beyond that glass ceiling.
And yes, that means entrepreneurship.
- Join FAANG at L7+, or L6 and wait a couple years for your grant to hopefully appreciate.
- Join a pre-IPO (2-3 years out) unicorn as a rank-and-file senior engineer.
- Join an earlier stage startup.
FAANG, or couple months Pre-IPO with clearly defined vesting without typical startup trickery leaving option holder employees with an empty bags.
https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-stoner-arms-dealers...
There are online examples of people also doing this for terrible countries and using their skills for gray areas. Those can pay equally well if you don't have any ethics :).
Of course much easier if you build a small team with a unique skill set and then bill an insane amount. The "DC marketplace" is it's own beast.
Start-ups are places where options MIGHT get you that income IF the startup succeeds.
You can also try your own start-up. The least you need is a high drive to succeed. Everyone you bring in should be at the same level.
1)Find an area that still needs specialized software that can improve efficiency by at least 10x. 15 years ago I knew of someone that targeted mortgage software. He's now a millionaire.
2)Educate yourself in every aspect of the area that you want to target.
3)Find a nontechnical partner that fills the areas where you are weak.
4)Start a business in the area where the software is the differentiator
5)Create a MVP and show that it can be a driver to profits
6)Look for investors and ride the wave to riches
Lastly, in time inflation will drive salaries up so there will be a time where that salary will be common. It's way in the future.
Work as a Principal Engineer for Roblox.[0]
[0] https://www.levels.fyi/leaderboard/Principal-Engineer/countr...
Join a company that’s clearly on route to IPO but 2+ years out. (Stripe 2 years ago, AirBnB 4 years ago, Snowflake 1-2 years ago.)
Work at or start a pre series A company that gets acquired by a FANMG. Typically, they are building a product that’s best suited as part of the offering of the acquirer.
Enter as L7, or machine learning specialist.