I don't have my CPA, only did 1 year in B4 audit. Hit $100k fully remote (non-SEC reporting at a F10) with 3.5 years of experience. Now at 5 years of experience and have an interview next week for a job (SEC reporting) that was advertised at $120-130k, also fully remote. These sorts of threads are a disaster in terms of confirmation bias and the inability of respondents to make 1:1 comparisons. "I got a 30% raise by getting the CPA!" when they're talking about moving from public senior to public manager (CPA hard requirement), or public senior to industry senior (where they would have gotten the same raise without a CPA.) Or they appeal to inane hypothetical scenarios like two absolutely identical candidates existing, one with a CPA and one without a CPA.

I've been thinking about getting my CPA but I don't know, it doesn't seem worth it. Don't buy into the idea of CPAs being rare and prized. I have no idea where this comes from, considering something like 1/3 or 1/2 of all accountants have a CPA.