Ask HN: Are there IC Engineers who earn 1MM per year or more?

3 points by websap ↗ HN
I was working at a FAANG for the last ~10 years and just moved to a late stage startup. I've realized while I'm immensely fortunate work at a FAANG and enjoy it, I was still underpaid for my role and contributions. At my new gig, it's very clear that people who joined 2 years before me will be soon clearing upwards of 5 MM when this company IPOs. I first hand know of people at places like Snowflake and Doordash.

My questions are - What are some of companies and positions where Software Engineers in an IC role are earning 1 MM? What roles should I be targeting Sr Principal / Sr Staff? If you are this person, what do you think helped you in your career to get there?

PS: I understand devs at FAANGs are some of the highest developer. This isn't a question about the ethics of how much money is enough. People have different thresholds and I respect your decision.

PPS: I understand IPOs aren't guaranteed, market forces are at work, we're in a very different financial market. Yes, given all these people still will be clearing that much money.

4 comments

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Trading firms but these are hybrid SWE + stats/ML roles.

Look up compensation for firms like Hudson River Trading on levels.fyi

I was recently interviewing with a large hedge fund, but all their infra was legacy stuff. Windows servers, file system based applications, etc. I was totally turned off. It seems like a job like that may pay a lot but you'll be stuck dealing with legacy software and your skills will atrophy.