What other industry offers 75-175k as the "lower 95%"?
This outlook is overly cynical and gate-keepy imo. Not sure what evidence supports that you have to be a faang eng to be safe from a recession. If a recession hit I doubt half the top tier jobs would continue exist anyway.
This doesn't really address the point you're replying to, which is that 75K would represent a high or mid-career salary in other fields. I think that's more than a tenured public high school teacher makes in San Francisco or Manhattan.
If you're a journeyman programmer making 175K and you decide you're unlikely to make much more, what field could you move into that would even match your salary, much less offer more room for growth? What would such a programmer be better off doing?
If you're a journeyman programmer making 175K and you decide you're unlikely to make much more, what field could you move into that would even match your salary, much less offer more room for growth?
Finance and Management (particularly management in technology) are the two potential candidate fields that come to mind.
At least, those are where I've usually heard of people making market tech salaries move into laterally or upward without really unusual circumstances.
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What other industry offers 75-175k as the "lower 95%"?
This outlook is overly cynical and gate-keepy imo. Not sure what evidence supports that you have to be a faang eng to be safe from a recession. If a recession hit I doubt half the top tier jobs would continue exist anyway.
You are not taking into account that the 175k is in high cost of living areas. With a family and kids that does not go far in the bay area.
It goes a lot further than making 60k as a waitress in the exact same area.
This doesn't really address the point you're replying to, which is that 75K would represent a high or mid-career salary in other fields. I think that's more than a tenured public high school teacher makes in San Francisco or Manhattan.
If you're a journeyman programmer making 175K and you decide you're unlikely to make much more, what field could you move into that would even match your salary, much less offer more room for growth? What would such a programmer be better off doing?
Finance and Management (particularly management in technology) are the two potential candidate fields that come to mind.
At least, those are where I've usually heard of people making market tech salaries move into laterally or upward without really unusual circumstances.
Start a business and/or grind leetcode.
Yup, this is basically it. No other options, middle management maybe shudders