Will I Be Paid in Tokens?

Posted by Gillesray on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @02:00AM
from the tomtunguz.com dept.

https://tomtunguz.com/inference-as-compensation/

( 5 comments | 5 points | on HN )

Re:Will I Be Paid in Tokens? by onesandofgrain on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @03:27AM (#47058653)

$100k?!?! Damn, what were you doing with all of those tokens? I reposted this here since it's not getting enough attention here: https://outspeaker.com/post/8

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Will I Be Paid in Tokens? by Gillesray on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @06:07AM (#47059770)

indeed. It tells a lot of about token ecosystem

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Will I Be Paid in Tokens? by Gillesray on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @02:00AM (#47058102)

Technology companies are adding a fourth component to engineering compensation : salary, bonus, options, & inference costs. Levels.fyi pegs the 75th percentile software engineer salary at $375k. Add $100k in inference & the fully loaded cost is $475k. That’s 21% in tokens.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Will I Be Paid in Tokens? by upmind on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @06:06AM (#47059766)

Not sure who this person is but they seem to be a partner at a VC? What could they possibly be spending 100k on? Genuinely curious

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Will I Be Paid in Tokens? by upmind on Wednesday February 18, 2026 @06:07AM (#47059776)

It's obvious money is irrelevant to them when they used to have three $200 plans for Claude code, gpt and Gemini which is completely unnecessary for 99.9% of individuals.

[ Parent | on HN ]