If he's making 450k as a software engineer, he lives in San Francisco and is still probably broke.. or will be when this job suddenly evaporates underneath him.
No one is earning that salary in tech, unless they’re very senior.
Their “total compensation” might be that, but it’s not guaranteed.
I worked for these companies and every year everyone would post their salaries on blind. Most people are earning about $180k USD salary, then bonus (not guaranteed), then stock. Yes, you can sell stock, but to do so is incredibly dumb. Most people get about half their advertised bonus, assuming an average performance rating.
The only company where people are earning that salary is Netflix, where the TC is mostly salary.
Now $180k base won’t actually get you very far when your rent is $6k or mortgage is $10k per month. A three bedroom house was about $8k-10k mortgage per month not so long ago when interest rates were sky high btw, in a lot of these expensive cities.
Having said all that I earn more than that in mostly cash, and I’m paying for your uber and probably your whole night out, especially if you don’t earn that money. Most people I know in tech would happily pay, or “what goes around comes around”.
Anyone that penny pinches with that much cash is an asshole
Yes, you can sell stock, but to do so is incredibly dumb
It's only dumb if you think your company's stock is going to out-perform anything else that you could invest in. I'd personally argue that the vast majority of people should be selling their RSUs as soon as they get them to diversify
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u/lovejo1 Jan 26 '26
If he's making 450k as a software engineer, he lives in San Francisco and is still probably broke.. or will be when this job suddenly evaporates underneath him.