Comment by aqueueaqueue

SWE comp is weird in that typically it is zero (see what's on Github!) often it us middle class and sometimes it is small scale CEO (as in the actual job not a founder) level.

I guess bounties fit into the framework somewhere between the Github and middle class engineer.

I think it comes down to supply and demand. It also shows you what Google would pay employees if things were in their favour. On unrelated news, a tech billionaire is almost defacto VP of the US.