If do contract work that's not even that much

Nah, that’s a normal paycheck for a medium level engineer in any American big city.

Nay, daily.

Yeah that’s a very big monthly pay

There's a reason the typical dev career pipeline ends at farmer. People get tired of all the bs and leave never to be seen again.

I mean, you definitely do. I know numerous people that dropped the field entirely (including me) even though the pay is ridiculous.

$161,122

Heck, I'd be pulling more than that if I were a self-employed consultant rather than under a consulting firm, in our small city in northern Scandinavia.

Now I'm raking in a little below that, and I'm taking out like a third of it as actual salary and saving the rest, to avoid high taxes, and to to pay for a leased car, pension saving, extra insurance etc, before taxes. But after all that I'm probably saving $3k every month tax free, and maybe $1,5k in my bank account.

Engineering life is pretty okay. Still can't afford a house yet though. Thanks boomers.

Key phrase is "big city". I'm a staff and there's a mid on my team that moved to Seattle. His cost of living adjustment when he moved allows him to make more than I do.

I think for a SF based company 200 - 250k salary is typical for even a senior engineer.

Monthly it's about what I'd expect for a low-medium experience engineer. But I'm an industrial engineer not software.

Lol they are not

That's on the high end, but not so high it's uncommon, for a salary paid biweekly to a senior engineer.

In the US...

Different in other parts of the world, even in Europe this is a high salary (but it reminds me to still ask for a raise...)

Closer to $200-$250K depending on how much you withhold for 401k.