European compensation is lower. Sorry, I shouldn't be generalizing to United States like I did.

That said, in Berlin your options for high comp are largely limited to the big tech companies. You can get some hints here: https://techpays.eu/europe/germany# (sort by total compensation).

My suggestion, if you really want to get those high value offers, is to identify the best paying names on that list and start applying now. Stripe, Shopify, Twitter, other big tech US remote companies primarily. Work with their recruiters to optimize your CV and update your study skills. Use the interviews as practice and feedback, because it will be better than just about any advice we can give you online.

Whatever you do, don't pay some rando from HN huge amounts of money for help. All of the information about interviewing at big tech companies is out there for free. Plenty of prep material to study from.

And it was on purpose. I know that HN is US-centric, but I lived on both sides of the ocean and as time passes I am getting more sensitive to this limited (dare I say privileged?) view from otherwise very smart and educated people.

My proposal was more of a provocation to see if you could really back up the statement that "it should be easy for good people to make that much money remotely or medium-sized city".

> information about interviewing at big tech companies

That's the other thing that bugs me a lot: Big Tech. If these salaries are only attainable at FAANG companies, then the road of getting 200k+ offers is no longer just about being "above average", but also to be okay in selling your soul by working in places that long stopped worrying about the welfare of its consumers.

They are not. Looking at LinkedIn I see many such salaries for engineers. At your experience level you would be making many hundreds of thousands of dollars in the US, even remotely.

Caveat, 200k would have to include bonuses, and not just base salary.

- it can not be a FAANG company, or any other company who makes their money by unethically exploiting consumerism, and/or advertising that abuses user privacy. These are non-negotiables. I want to sleep at night without thinking about how many people get screwed over for my benefit.

- things like "flexible schedule" and "work-life balance" need to be more than just wishful thinking. I have two small kids that are always going to be my priority.

If you are up for it, let me know your email and I will send you my CV.

balasuar @ gmail dot com

> Also the cost of doing something so small can add up when you can have a cushy tech job making 200K relatively easy.

The point being relatively easy if you fit a specific criteria (don't need flexibility, want to work long hours, have a above average CV, can live near a major tech hub, have no problem working for FAANG etc).

And this is why I made the proposal, it was a challenge to this notion that it is easy. I stand by the idea that is not, and I am willing to pay to be proven wrong.

It may not have been clear, but we agree.

Worst case, they can't find a job and nothing changes. Best case, I'd be getting a job where I could work from anywhere in the world and that would pay me 30% more than what I was getting previously.