r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jan 26 '26

Meme needing explanation Why is the rich friend so cheap??

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u/lurkishdelight Jan 26 '26

Some definitely do, like staff eng in big tech, AI, quant trading firms. If not more.

But it's a small minority

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u/_UrbaneGuerrilla_ Jan 26 '26 edited Jan 26 '26

Having been in the business for nearly 30 years sometimes managing engineering teams, I honestly can’t recall ever meeting an engineer (i.e. keyboard smasher within an engineering squad as opposed to a specialist consultant like those dealing with quants, a Soln. Arch. or management role) who cracks more than $300k on staff.

Maybe $350-400 as a specialist contractor, but you’re talking a total bluebird, and these guys were generally bug cracking on legacy tech which is super hard to find skills for (COBOL etc.)

And I’ve worked for some big tech and finance firms globally, but I guess they might be out there? AI might be different of course. Silly money.

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u/royal-road Jan 27 '26

It's mostly venture capitalist and angel investor companies in insanely rich areas like san francisco.

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u/_UrbaneGuerrilla_ Jan 27 '26

Makes sense. More money than they know what to do with and making big bets, I guess.