It's not impossible -- with equity compensation and refreshers, it takes ~ four years to plateau. So if you have someone in the same role for the past four years and compare them to someone just hired, the four year employee may have more than half their income in RSUs while the new hire has maybe 10 percent of income in RSUs. If the stock does particularly well and RSUs grants have impeccable timing, compensation of 3x what you got in year one is a possibility. Especially if a level promotion happens, if you consider that 'the same job.'

Yes, it is a bit absurd. And if you're the first minority hire on a team that hires 1 person a year, you will be paid under the team average for a while, just as if you weren't.

> And at what level are we talking about?

Entry level employees at FAANG mostly. For PhDs managing people, such as the person in the article, I expect there's a much wider band of possibilities.

I have personally worked somewhere where the person who did the same work as me was paid 3x as me. I was new to the workforce and he was best friends with the CFO for 15 years. Despite my newness and her experience it was the same work.

Sorry, I'm gonna not answer just because I don't want to make it about myself and also don't want to reveal my identity.