Well - I'm not sure if it means anything to say that I've spoken with network engineers from Netflix who make from $130K - $185K, but there you go. Those numbers, by themselves, don't actually mean anything. $185K is undervalued for a Sr. Network Architect. $130K might be good, bad, great, or average - depending on what your responsibilities are.
A better way of looking at it, is if you have two job opportunities, one at Netflix, and one at a bog-standard Radord 50th percentile silicon valley company, my anecdotes (four) indicate that that you would be looking at about $30K/year more at Netflix.
With that said - Netflix isn't so much interested in 9-5 employees, as it is in entrepreneurs who can navigate the company, show leadership, and get results. It's a challenging environment for an employee that looks for hands-on management.
These are all full time roles. If we wanted to compare with a contractor, we'd have to fold in Netflix Actuals for Bonuses + Equity + PTO and Benefits. But, you make a good point - the less and less security you have as an employee, the more closely that position resembles that of a contractor in which case you should be targeting about a 30-50% hourly increase (Taking into account the Benefits package). Hint: To get the 50% increase, remit your hours through friendly "Contracting Agency" instead of doing so personally - for numerous reasons, a contractor who would make $100/hour contracting individually, can somehow be charged out at $120/hour by their contracting firm.
How about a Sr Developer "informal" team lead ~$160,000?
As a Tech recruiter, I gained him a new job (at lower pay), and his complaint with Netflix were two fold.
Work-balance (family) and, he couldn't move up into a formal Lead role (though was acting as such, this could be a variable of the candidate itself). The new job handled both of these concerns. Otherwise, as a Tech recruiter, it was very hard to "head hunt" Sr/ Mgr / VP anything at Netflix...interesting article and discussion.
A better way of looking at it, is if you have two job opportunities, one at Netflix, and one at a bog-standard Radord 50th percentile silicon valley company, my anecdotes (four) indicate that that you would be looking at about $30K/year more at Netflix.
With that said - Netflix isn't so much interested in 9-5 employees, as it is in entrepreneurs who can navigate the company, show leadership, and get results. It's a challenging environment for an employee that looks for hands-on management.