> This is not true. At FAANG companies and Microsoft, the total compensation bands for levels at or above "Senior SWE", "Senior SDE" are really wide.

Ehh, not really. Up to the director level (well above senior), if you give me someone's level and last two performance evals, I can probably tell you their TC to within 5%. There's certainly a wide variance within senior and above levels, but it's not as bonus based as you suggest, and sustained high performance will often (although not always) lead to promotions.

It's not like there are two senior SWEs with one making 2x what the other does. At least not at Amazon, M, or G. Since netflix doesn't have levels, that's possible, and my understanding is facebook has huge bonuses on occasion, but I'm also pretty sure you'll just end up getting promoted if you get too many of those.