It might also be related to equity. I was laid off and went from a mature startup to an earlier stage startup, and on paper my TC dropped by 50%. But neither company is public yet, so who tf knows what either company will be worth at the point either of them IPO. My base pay went up by about 5%.

So I guess depending exactly on the specifics, "my TC dropped by 50%" might not really be a very meaningful statement without more context.

> Only in tech would someone casually take a 50% pay cut without it absolutely destroying their life.

That's usually because so much of the total comp is from options/RSUs. You can take a new job that pays more in base pay but take a huge cut because it's a startup (so the option are worth nothing on paper today) vs. a public company with RSUs that have value on the open market.

Or, as the current market is showing, you could take a huge cut in pay even while staying on the same role, simply because the RSUs are suddenly underwater.

My base salary has been on a slow but steady increase for decades. But my total comp has taken wild swings up and down. It's an industry where pay is very unpredictable, due to most of it being in options/RSUs.

It is not that uncommon for a household to earn $150k, lots of fields pay at least $70k+ per year.

And families can live on $100k or less per year, so one partner can take a 50% pay cut without it destroying their life.

Tech or finance