Forget free lunch and nap pods: AI startups are luring workers with soaring salaries—some recent computer science grads are making over $300,000

Silicon Valley’s startup culture has long sold itself on alluring perks: cold brew on tap, nap pods tucked between standing desks, and even free slippers for their “no-shoes” offices. The pitch was simple: work hard, but live well while building the next big thing.

But as the race for top AI talent accelerates, startups are increasingly leaning on a far more direct incentive: eye-popping paychecks.

Software engineers at venture-backed startups are receiving median base-salary offers of $200,000—a 25% increase from 2022—according to Levels.fyi. In some cases, newly-minted computer science graduates are fielding offers upward of $300,000 annually, sky-high wages once reserved for seasoned engineers at Big Tech giants, said Chris Vasquez, CEO of startup recruiting firm Quantum. 

“Prior to this, I’d probably never seen anyone over $300,000 on base salaries at seed companies,” Vasquez recently told The Wall Street Journal. Now, “They’re able to take home FAANG [Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google]-level cash comp.”

AI itself is........

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