How did Prophet Muhammad keep himself clean without using soap?

Can a software engineer make 500k?

Yes, but not all software engineers will ever reach that level of compensation.

There are two ways to get a very high compensation in tech companies. The first one is to join a high-growth company in early stages, when the first employees are given a large amount of equity, and hope for a successful IPO. The second is to reach the most senior levels.

Choosing the right company in hope of a big payday when it goes public is like playing the lottery. In 2015, for instance, Zenefits or Theranos were seen as super hot companies and they failed. Uber which for the last part of the 2010s had the most anticipated IPO ultimately disappointed. A host of very promising unicorns were hit hard by the COVID 19 crisis in 2020. But conversely, companies like :

 Zoom or Snowflake which had a very low profile 5 years ago had huge IPOs.

Now, being promoted. With experience, engineers can get naturally promoted over time up to senior engineer. The market rate for senior engineers is 350–400k right now. A lot of folks choose to keep on being senior engineers, at some point it becomes really easy to do a great job as a senior software engineer and these folks get high bonuses for a reasonable amount of effort, and they may get close to 500k actually. But to get more than that, they have to be promoted to staff engineer, or senior engineering manager, and that’s a very different job. First, not everyone can ever reach these levels. And then, the nature of the work gets very different - these folks are supposed to really push the envelope and reshape organizations. But eventually, principal engineers / directors can make 1m per year.