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The majority of SWEs are not making 300k+. Can you? Sure, but 80% of people are making 125-200k in average COL areas.

I’m certainly not. I live in a high COL area, and the average developer makes 120k here. For a few years, it was above 150k, but it’s back down. For a reference, I know two teachers who make 90k and two management consultants who make 250k and two government contractors who make ~150-190k.

That seems high for an average COL area. Are there stats on this?

levels.fyi has ranges for metro areas and mostly aligns with what I said.

> levels.fyi has ranges for metro areas and mostly aligns with what I said.

Are those numbers staff-reported or business-reported? Do you know how they compare, for example, to studies that businesses do when deciding how to set their position stratification?

I guess I'm curious how the sites know whether or not they are actually getting a representative sample of salaries and ranges at companies.

It's not just the self-reporting that skews levels.fyi. It's mostly the fact that they focus on the biggest companies that pay the most. Definitely not a sample that's representative of the whole market but at least it shows what's possible.

Yeah, the OP is crazy. Levels.fyi data doesn’t back up the $300k claim unless they’re talking about total comp at L5 level. They must live in a serious reality bubble.

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