To give a bit more of a realistic point of view to this thread: I have around 10 years of working experience as a software engineer working in a few countries in Europe. Just recently I have reached my personal highest salary: 95K EUR/year before taxes, which is around 5K after taxes per month. I know there are fresh graduates in the US that are probably making double of that in their first year at FAANG; but hey that's life, to each their own!

An important point is that a distorted picture is produced through a straight salary comparison between an EU position and a US one. There are a number of reasons, but the two biggest are taxes and healthcare. The EU will likely have higher taxes, but much (much) lower healthcare.

I make $170k a year after 20 years, in the US, and I barely consider myself a success (sometimes I don't - had I not messed up I'd likely be a millionaire today). I messed up early on with college and won't have a B.S. in C.S until next year. I pay roughly 30% a year in taxes, and have around a $10k total deductible for self/family, though a lot is covered with only a minimal co-pay of $10-$50 per visit (figure 2 visits per month, $1000 per year).

Look at the whole compensation package:

- Salary

- Taxes

- Employer 401k contribution

- Vacation

- Healthcare

- Profit sharing

- Etc.

Hi. I've edited my profile description for proof, https://hackerone.com/f9cd8782?type=user

Haha, pwned!

conviencefee999, you'd do well to be a little more respectful when asking for a proof...

A lot of people are surprisingly angry in this thread.

You do realize anyone can pretend to be a 17 year old or in this case starting at 13 right? It happens a lot on Hackernews and I'm genuinely surprised people believe it.

You do realize it doesn't affect you either way and that it's not worth throwing a fit and going on random tangents about comp numbers, right?

You started by doubting the #2, now pivoted to doubting the age? There's no making you happy.

Sorry I'm late to this (I'm a moderator here) but I hope you won't let the occasional grumpy commenter discourage you from being in the HN community. You're welcome here and the vast majority of us have no problem believing you! The internet is just weird at the long tail.

20 years into my career I seriously doubt I'll ever get a $350k offer. Those aren't as common as you'd like to believe.

FWIW: I'm doing extremely well for where I live.