I read the other replies explaining that the huge discrepancy you’ve seen should be expected. But I think it’s worth pondering if your shock & jealousy should be tempered by the ML thing. ML engineers make more than general software engineers everywhere. At least they did for a while between roughly 2015 and 2020. I don’t know what’s happening up to the minute, but ML hiring and crazy salaries seems to be cooling off a bit now as far as I can tell. Also did the ML guy have an advanced degree that your long-timer friends didn’t? That’s another way to start higher.
> ML engineers make more than general software engineers everywhere. At least they did for a while between roughly 2015 and 2020.
It's not clear if SavantIdiot is a SW person (vs HW/fab), but while what you say is correct, note that Intel significantly underpays SW as well. He was a grade 9 employee, which is fairly senior - very few employees will get to that level. Even today, looking on levels.fyi, the typical Grade 7 employee (equivalent of upper L4 in Google) gets about $163K in total compensation (salary + bonus + stocks). The grade 9 person gets about $260K total. The equivalent in Google is from $356K to $490K.
Furthermore, consider this: Intel's problems involve manufacturing - fab, etc. If you're a principal engineer, your total comp is still lower than a new ML engineer with no experience. It's very hard to become a principal engineer - only 4% of employees who get to the grade level below it will ever get to principal engineer.
That ML employee isn't going to help much with fab issues - the principal engineer is. How do you think he'll feel knowing that he's a lot more responsible for the future of the company, yet the guy just out of school will reap more financial benefits than the person who actually played a bigger role in making it happen?
> Also did the ML guy have an advanced degree that your long-timer friends didn’t?
SavantIdiot was a grade 9, which is 2 grade levels above an incoming PhD. SavantIdiot was a very senior person.
