Fresh-out-of-school salaries at Google/Facebook/Twitter are in the low six figures (2 years ago I think they were around $105K), get promoted to senior dev after 2-3 years and $150K/year is very doable. It's probably lower at J-random-startup that nobody has ever heard of, but most VC-funded startups will pay market rates.
We are comparing to acting hopefuls. Is the crem-de-la-crem of the programming world- the ones that get top salaries at Google/Facebook/Twitter- really the right people to compare?
