> This is the average, it'd be interesting to know what's the median for a SWE is.

900k is average including janitors and HR.

Median for SWE most definitely over $1 million. Turnover of 6%? No way people stick around “only” making 500-600k new grad comp. Check levels.fyi

> Also, some high-level SWE do make 900K at Google and others

And some high-level SWEs at JS make 9 figures, not 900k.

Janitorial staff is almost certainly subcontracted.

I'd agree for any other company or even public body, but I'd bet that JS prefer to keep it all in-house. They are extremely secretive.

Some high level SWEs at Google are billionaires.

Highly doubt that

> Some high level SWEs at Google are billionaires.

The entire tech industry has fewer billionaires than quant finance.

If you are ambitious, tech SWE is a bad deal.

The tech billionaires are far richer than quant finance billionaires.

And I would bet that tech SWE has a far higher probability of launching you into $10M+ range than quant finance.

I don’t know that a few more single digit billionaires (if that is even true) puts quant finance ahead of tech SWE in terms of potential rewards for the “ambitious”.

Also, quality of life is far better for tech SWE.

Getting into quant finance is not very common. Getting into tech SWE - even FAANG - is much more common. There are way more people working as SWE in tech than as quants.

I've rarely met anyone who is a quant and doesn't have a PhD. That already narrows down the field quite a bit.

> And I would bet that tech SWE has a far higher probability of launching you into $10M+ range than quant finance

$1B net worth? Google has more SWEs than the entire quant finance industry globally. Yet Google could only produce what, 4 billionaires?

$10M TC at Google? That’s at most 500 VPs out of 150,000 employees. That’s 0.3%. Not good odds. More than 7 people (0.3% x 2500) at Jane Street are making $10M+…

Same logic applies to $1M TC. Tech has okay chances, but quant is simply multiples better. Only if you got lucky at Tesla or NVIDIA. Otherwise your L5-E5 comp maxes at 600-800k including RSU appreciation.

Then for junior/new grad, quant firms win again. 300-500k quant SWE offers vs 200-300k in tech.

Hell, even for summer internships, quant trading firms pay SWE interns $20-25k/month. Also on levels.fyi

FWIW I'm getting contacted regularly by recruiters working with JS in London. When enquired about salary, from their experience, people with my experience can get about £350k+. It's higher than an L6 SWE at Google/Meta in London, but not outrageously so.