[alex_c]

I am fascinated by this - how wildly different experiences can be in different pockets of the industry.

The only way I can see 400k+ salaries is if your requirements are a very restrictive Venn diagram of:

* Geographical location (assuming in person, Bay Area / SV?)

* FAANG experience (is it an actual requirement?)

* Seniority (does not necessarily translate to ability... but it does translate to higher asking salary!)

* Niche technical or industry skills

* Golang experience (which wouldn't explain 400k+ by itself, but may restrict the candidate pool further)

If you're seeing $200/hr, that is high but not unreasonable for a good freelancer and smaller engagements. $400k for a 1 year full time freelance contract is pushing it. $400k/year for a salary position seems borderline crazy to me!

[CoastalCoder]

It's also possible that the developer who quoted $400k was probing the current market rate for his/her skills.

When I was laid off almost a year ago, it wasn't clear how much of a pay hit I'd need to take to get a job in the new market conditions.