[Porsche-O-Phile]

What I've seen of theladders.com is mixed. Some really good listings with specific/specialized positions and detailed descriptions, some total B.S., vague, obviously HR-driven, doublespeak-laden stuff too.

"$100k and up talent" generally means someone who's reasonably good at what they do in a fairly specialized/niche area. It's good money, but certainly not great money. And yes, I know plenty of people who are total schmucks who make that or more (or at least they used to - dunno about these days). By contrast, a few of the best and brightest individuals I've ever known made considerably less than that. Money isn't the most important thing in the world and they were content to simply make whatever they made as long as they got to do what they enjoyed. Different strokes I guess... Nothing wrong with it. There's a certain beauty/elegance in the simplicity of not chasing dollars I suppose.

As a general rule income level has something to do with talent and ability, though certainly not always. I'd say maybe 70% of the time - give or take. A lot of it has to do with simple dumb luck too.