This is the most ridiculous and exaggerated comment I&#x27;ve read here for quite a while. The median salary for a software engineer in SF is $103K [1][2]. If you are offering $160-200K, you are not losing out on half your candidates due to salary. And $450-800K is ridiculous--probably 5-6 standard deviations into the salary tail. If you are seriously offering 200K for a software engineering position and having trouble, please look up my LinkedIn profile (shouldn&#x27;t be hard, check the username) and hit me up.<p>These &quot;salary&quot; threads that pop up on HN every so often are so silly.<p>A: Software Engineers make like $120K on average!<p>B: Naahh, I heard they make more like $150K.<p>C: I know someone at Google that makes $200K. Software Engineers are clearly rolling in the money!<p>D: Oh yea? I can&#x27;t find decent candidates and I&#x27;m offering $220K plus a BMW!<p>E: I think $250K is kind of the baseline nowadays...<p>Come on, people listen to yourselves.<p>1: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.glassdoor.com&#x2F;Salaries&#x2F;san-francisco-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM759_KO14,31.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.glassdoor.com&#x2F;Salaries&#x2F;san-francisco-software-en...</a><p>2: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.payscale.com&#x2F;research&#x2F;US&#x2F;Job=Software_Engineer&#x2F;Salary&#x2F;a5e48575&#x2F;San-Francisco-CA" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.payscale.com&#x2F;research&#x2F;US&#x2F;Job=Software_Engineer&#x2F;Sa...</a>