Let's put it another way: we are looking at the top 1% of software engineers. Is it surprising that they have incomes in the 1% range?
For comparison, in Amazon, Senior and above engineers count for ~20% of the total, and those are the ones pulling +300k regularly. So only the top 20% of one of the top companies are getting such compensation.
And to follow the article, this won't last forever. Whenever the next stock market crash comes, almost half of that compensation (the equity based one) will almost vanish. But maybe on the next bull market we will see a similar situation (remember people in the 90s making 250k?).
For comparison, in Amazon, Senior and above engineers count for ~20% of the total, and those are the ones pulling +300k regularly. So only the top 20% of one of the top companies are getting such compensation.
And to follow the article, this won't last forever. Whenever the next stock market crash comes, almost half of that compensation (the equity based one) will almost vanish. But maybe on the next bull market we will see a similar situation (remember people in the 90s making 250k?).