Not sure if MN is a "flyover" state.

I lucked into a great job with a good, generous boss that values technical expertise and domain knowledge who also built a growing, successful business with high margin, recurring revenue.

I'm getting close to $250k as the lead dev/CTO. I wouldn't take a FAANG job for $350k. Maybe 2x/$500k.

Though I'd be afraid I wasn't cut out for it, and frankly, I'm not going to put in the work to get an interview and 2x offer from a FAANG so it's a moot point.

I expect if I ever have to change jobs I'll be taking a pay cut.

Our mid-level devs are getting $120-150k. We'll hire a junior - as in their first dev job - at like $70k but they'll be hitting $100k in 2 years. Raises slow down some after that but 10%/year is common. No grind culture, flex schedule & location (we have some people who live out of state).

One promotion from junior at a FAANG can get you to mid 200s.

This is the reason I have a really hard time with the "cost of living" arguments people make when talking about living in the bay area. $2.5k/mon rent is 30k. Even if I'm getting free housing elsewhere, it's generally not worth it.

It _was_ standard few years back and is still for anybody who hasn't changed job in the last 2-3 years. In our BigCo we're loosing people fast (only lazy sediment like me - Google gave me only 1x - is still there), and the new people, not much of them around though, are getting $300K+ .

Take a look at levels.fyi (not affiliated).

The base at senior typically varies between 160k to 220k where the majority of compensation comes from stock. Seniors at FB tend to make between $300k to $450k. This also includes generous perks like 401ks, health insurance, etc.

At Netflix it can even be astronomically higher.

Levels is a cool site, had no idea how high some salaries can be. Kinda motivates me to get on the leetcode grind.