What I gave was a best case estimate if someone was really diligent, saving very aggressively, investing wisely, and contributing the maximum amount to retirement accounts.

As someone who has been working for over 20 years and the last 10 at Google, I am not close to retiring and I don't believe the compensation at Google is that much greater than other software jobs, as my previous compensation was comparable.

So what am I saying, yes, you might be able to retire early if you work at Google a long time and are very diligent, but you probably could do the same at most other software jobs in the region.

If you really want to make life changing money at a FAANG company you have to get promoted to a certain level, which isn't easy, IMO. Otherwise, your life isn't that different than any other software engineers.

> As someone who has been working for over 20 years and the last 10 at Google, I am not close to retiring and I don't believe the compensation at Google is that much greater than other software jobs, as my previous compensation was comparable.

You're probably well above the average comp at your level ( assuming L6+ ) given how much G stock has appreciated over the past decade though.

> So what am I saying, yes, you might be able to retire early if you work at Google a long time and are very diligent, but you probably could do the same at most other software jobs in the region.

The biggest advantage of these large companies is that the stock units + refreshers + stellar stock performance compounds wonderfully over time. Most other workers are chasing 5-10% raises every few years with poor 401k matching, no free food and no stocks so the gap widens over time.

I'm personally not L6+ and totally agree that if you can get to 6 then your compensation changes drastically.

At my previous company, I had stock options which had I held onto them would have been roughly comparable in value to my current stock grants.

But I agree that the biggest advantage over other companies are the stock grants, which have much less risk than supplemental compensation at other companies.

The moral of the story is that one really has to get to L6+ at Google to really earn money that one couldn't earn elsewhere.

IMO, that can be difficult depending on what projects you work on, your soft skills, and ability.

I routinely get solicited about jobs that have quite a bit higher compensation than Google's, particularly in finance.