What a bunch of crap. It's great that young engineers are making so much money right now, because that's just money that the VCs would otherwise be making. And what can I say, I'm a partisan--I think that's a perfectly fine thing. Indeed, it's worthwhile to take a page out the the VC playbook here. Clearly, the VCs have figured out that you don't need to keep young, ambitious people "hungry" for them to work their asses off. Look at who the VCs hire--people exiting from bulge bracket NYC banks. Look at what they pay these people. Every time I hear complaints about skyrocketing SV engineer salaries, I go over to WSO and remind myself: nope, still not ridiculous yet: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/salary/venture-capital-compen... (note that VP is not a particularly senior person in most financial firms--usually 6-8 years out of college assuming the person didn't go back for an MBA).