Technology

Were people getting paid $81k in 1990? This site shows that 95th percentile in 1990 was $58k, and doesn't have more granular data than that above the 95th percentile. So someone making $81k was definitely a 5 percenter, maybe even a 2 percenter.

I think it's the same in all developed nations; constantly needing more skills to achieve the same standard of living. I think a lot of it is from nearly all resources getting more expensive to extract (oil, wood, iron, etc) due to us having already extracted all the low-hanging-fruit, and needing to move on to more resource-intensive methods like offshore-drilling, fracking, importing lumber long distances from harsher climates. The other drivers are the attacks on labor and executives/shareholders taking more profits for themselves instead of paying their workers more.

There never was a social contract, there never was anyone bound to look after your interest. That is why unions are the answer.

Some big tech companies pay that, theoretically, in total compensation for entry level. These companies make about $1 million per employee.

My first tech job out of college was $55k.

Average in my area for new grads at best is like $85k.

My highest paying was $195k as a Senior and my average is probably $150k as a Senior / Lead.

None of this was big tech though.

Who is making $165k out of college?

Computer science and engineering grads at the top of their class at top schools who choose not to go to grad school. This thread claims to cite Department of Education data to show median salaries 3 years after graduation, and some of them are higher than $165k. Sure, that's 3 years out, but it's also median, so one would expect 75th or 90th percentile number to be higher.

Anecdotally, I know people from Stanford/MIT who did get their first jobs in the Bay Area for more than $150k more than 10 years ago, so it was definitely possible.

But this NYT article has stories about graduates from Purdue, Oregon State, and Georgetown which are good schools but also generally weren't the schools producing many graduates landing in those $150k jobs as that very top tier. I would assume the kids graduating from Cal Tech, MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley are still doing well. But the middle is getting left behind.

I don't make quite that after 8 years of doing this stuff. That being said, I dropped out of college twice. Maybe $100k of debt is what I need to close that $25k difference lol

I technically did... But I had prior experience to my college degrees. Also blew through 6 years of degree in 3.5. Turns out college is piss easy if you already have the real world experience.

Oof