I made $350k. I have a college degree in computer science, but no PhD.
Why would any top talent take a job at 50k?
That's the point though
I'm also in the Seattle area, with just-over 10 years' full-time experience and started my career at a FAANG and everyone in my orbit (with similar education, roles and experience) is around 150-180, I don't personally know anyone who has admitted TC over $200k.
I'm not skeptical of your claim, but just sharing my experience.
(Yes, Levels.fyi makes me feel insecure about my career accomplishments, but at the same time I don't interview well...)
I came from larger companies (including a FAANG), and compensation there (salary, bonus, and RSUs) ranged from 1.5-3x my current compensation. Most of the people on my teams were in the $250k-300k range, with a few others at least doubling that. Some amount of that was driven by stock appreciation in a bull market.
The money's definitely out there, especially at higher levels in public companies.
Right, I'm not denying that - it's just that Levels.fyi puts numbers that high at 90% percentile TC, the industry median is still significantly lower.
If thats only thing available people will surely take it. Its like asking why would I buy million dollar condo in SFO when I can buy 100K house in Mississippi.
Not everything is available everywhere.
Because the US pays much, much more for the same jobs, than what the EU or UK pay.
Most of the Polish people I know who lived abroad and have moved back to Poland have brought skills, often highly educated children, relatively large amounts of money, and what I would describe as an international forward thinking attitude (i.e. they aren't voting for PiS).
Its not inevitable that a lot of young people from the UK moving abroad is a bad thing for the UK, as eventually a bunch of them are going to come back.
That said all the flag waving bullshit I see the UK doing does put me off returning.