dimva also has his sums very wrong, 3.7 mill over 7 years is over 500k per year, you won't get that at any FAANG for a mid-level position.

GOOG has 3x'd in the past 7 years, FB has 10x'd, AMZN has 10x'd, etc. The initial stock grants would be worth a lot more, plus all the refreshers. My friends who are decent software engineers with a few years of experience are getting offers in the >$500k range right now.

And I'm assuming that he would have been promoted at some point. I am comparing what someone with his skills could have earned at a FAMANG, not what an average software developer would earn (they wouldn't even be able to get a job there tbqh).

> My friends who are decent software engineers with a few years of experience are getting offers in the >$500k range right now. ... not what an average software developer would earn...

Which is it? "Decent" developers being courted with $500k+ offers or "average" developers can't get jobs?

That's no different than me buying GOOG/FB/AMZN stock at the time of the grant, it's nothing more than betting on the stock market.

might not be a fair comparison if you consider taxes on salary+rsu vs. being taxed on capital gains.