> You may be able to find some corner cases of some individual police officers getting paid up to $500k. But that's just showing that the very top officers earn about the same as a mid-level engineer at a tech company.

I really don't believe your typical mid-level engineer is making $500k at any company in the world, let alone that it's just a given if you make it into big tech.

FWIW, I have received offers for senior positions from FAANG before.

> I really don't believe your typical mid-level engineer is making $500k

Including stock? They absolutely are in the US.

If by mid level you mean well tenured L6, then sure.

If by mid level you mean actual mid level, like L4, then no.

If by typical you mean someone not working at Google or Facebook, then no.

I don’t think l6 is a good definition of typical. Only 10% of SWEs are at 6 and above. 50% are at least L5, making that the median grade, and therefore a pretty good definition of “typical”.

That's sort of my point, L5 SWEs aren't making 500K anywhere.

> 50% are at least L5

I don't think half of software engineers are senior or above.

At Google they are. Half are below L5, half are L5+, 10% are L6+.

I think they are since you are senior when you have 5-10 years of experience.

Is E5 mid-level? I made <400k at Facebook and that was after very substantial stock appreciation and a “discretionary equity” extra grant bonus.

Please tell me where to apply, because neither Google nor Facebook were willing to pay me that for a senior position.

https://www.levels.fyi/

There absolutely are engineers making that much, I even know more than one making 7 digits in liquid comp, but they are not "typical" in any way.

New York City is an outlier in combining low pay and high cost of living. Baltimore (Freddie Grey) officers start at $55k, in a city where a nice townhouse costs $250,000. In Minneapolis starting salary for new officers is $55-70k depending on qualifications. Chicago PD officers start at $72,000 after the probationary period. Generous benefits add $20k+ to that figure.

Note the median starting college graduate salary is about $50,000. Median mid-career college graduate salary is $80,000.

> In Minneapolis starting salary for new officers is $55-70k depending on qualifications.

Wonder how their recruiting will be doing now? They will need to raise that a lot to get reasonable candidates now.

They also get a nice pension and can retire early. At least in California being a cop is a pretty nice gig.

And total immunity from prosecution for virtually any class of crime. Surely that can be valued.

I hire engineers at a large Bay Area tech company, and this is way off. According to https://levels.fyi, even a Senior SWE at Google pays ~$343k annually including stock. And that’s a FAANG salary. The majority of firms are not paying that.