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A comment on Elite Underproduction. Parent comment

Re:Elite Underproduction by ryandrake on Sunday November 07, 2021 @01:55PM (#29142311)
OP said you can make $200k straight out of undergrad, which is probably technically true, like it's technically true that I can win the lottery or get struck by lightning. There is probably a new grad somewhere making $200k in far-far right tail of the distribution. Just like it's technically true that you can make $400k (or $600k or $1M, whatever the popular number to cite is now) as a software engineer. Yes, these people probably do exist in that long tail, at certain top levels in certain top companies in certain top locations.
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Re:Elite Underproduction by bidirectional on Sunday November 07, 2021 @02:01PM (#29142383)
I really don't think it's that far out in the tails, especially given we're discussing top universities. If you're at MIT/Harvard/Stanford you're definitely aiming for 200k TC fresh out of undergrad.
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Re:Elite Underproduction by diognesofsinope on Sunday November 07, 2021 @03:02PM (#29142960)
Exactly my thought:

A CS degree from Stanford almost has to start at at least 90k.

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Re:Elite Underproduction by amusedcyclist on Sunday November 07, 2021 @02:07PM (#29142434)
Its far more likely that you make 200k out of college than win the lottery, in fact at top schools i think most students would disappointed if they didn't get close to that number
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Re:Elite Underproduction by marcinzm on Sunday November 07, 2021 @03:02PM (#29142953)
If you think it's that far in the right tail then you're really underestimating how much large tech companies pay even new grads.

edit: Also, $400k is about standard for a senior SE at a large tech company or late stage startup nowadays.

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Re:Elite Underproduction by kafkaIncarnate on Sunday November 07, 2021 @02:07PM (#29142438)
His comment was in reference to the lack of PhD as an explanation of the lack of PhDs as mentioned in TFA. He then went to say that the ability to get $200k out of undergrad was, and I quote:

> Makes a technical PhD a lot less tempting

If it's as rare as you are saying, then it wouldn't factor into the broader reasoning of people debating to get PhDs at all. That's my point. I wasn't making any point that it isn't possible to make $200k/year out of undergrad.

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Re:Elite Underproduction by barry-cotter on Sunday November 07, 2021 @05:17PM (#29144062)
Entry level at Google is SDE III. According to levels.fyi the average total compensation for that is $191,860. There are lots of people making $200,000 straight out of undergrad. CMU, MIT, Berkeley and Stanford do not graduate enough students every year to fulfil Google's demand, never mind FAANG's and the same would be true if you expanded hiring to the top 20 CS universities.

https://www.levels.fyi/company/Google/salaries/Software-Engi...

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Re:Elite Underproduction by novok on Sunday November 07, 2021 @09:24PM (#29145617)
No it's not a lie, look at levels.fyi

If your not from a top school , maybe you have to work in startups or lesser tier companies for $50k less for a year or two, and then go work at MAGMA at the same pay as your stanford equivalent peer.

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