> minimum wage for being CEO of a S&P 500 company, blindfolded and without a steering wheel

I'd personally take that job offer in a heartbeat (And would recommend anyone else to do so as well), because I'd have ~50/50 odds of failing upwards or downwards.

Heads, I win, and my next job would be the C-whatever of a S&P 500 company for real wages.

Tails, I lose, and my next job would be the C-whatever of a Fortune 5000 company, also for real wages.

And/or you're on the speaking circuit, field lots of feelers about being on boards, etc. Depending on where you are in your career and your interests (this isn't really a technical job but then neither is the job of CIOs at large companies mostly) the money is almost irrelevant. It's not like you'll be in this position for more than a few years anyway.

You'd take it because you're not qualified to do it. And neither am I. Anyone that would meet their expectations of experience would already be working in the C suite at another company for significantly more.

Well, sure, that's the reason why the CDO position isn't being filled.

But the parent poster I was responding to was painting it as a terrible job. I was pointing out that for those of us that don't have the privilege of being in the C-level of the Fortune 500 club (Which is, to some approximation, some large number of nines of the userbase of HN), this sort of job would actually be pretty good, not because of what you do in it, but because of the doors it opens.

I've seen too many political animals fail upward from one disaster to another to imagine that there's nothing career-boosting that can be salvaged from that job posting.