in terms of technology, programming languages? example: is it ML/AI with python, java api backend, full stack, java, python, js iOS frontend swift or what else do you think is the hottest and top of TC bracket for any good company? I’m still new in my career and would like to be driven by TC, I can fairly adopt to anything.
Maybe AI now, but in general tech move fast, so you need to be plugged in with conferences, tech blogs, etc to be able to detect when something is becoming hot. I think in general highest TC goes to the most needed talent gap. In tech, that is consistently happens to be interpersonal skills IMO. Techies usually lack soft skills, they call it politics and they hate it with a passion. If you can improve your interpersonal skills you will do great I believe. 12 yoe and $600k.
The highest TC is starting your own company. Seriously, what other companies pay you, even FANG, is peanuts compared to what you would make even in a modest exit. That being said, it's also the highest risk.
Maybe OP should have asked for highest "expected TC". Starting your own company might still out-perform FANG on average even then, but since a large percentage of startups fail, I think the numbers would be more competitive. Of note, the startup world's power-law return structure is great if you can diversify across startups (e.g. VC firm). But most engineers have fewer than ten jobs, and probably only one or two startups in them, so they can't take advantage of the diversification.
I'd also argue that starting a company is not "an engineers job" like the op asked for. It requires a mix of business accumen and technical ability. A more apt comparison is being an executive at big co vs starting your own company. I wouldn't call it a subset of engineering