You are in such poor faith that I am not going to keep responding. fwiw, assuming the definite is the standard native english way of interpreting that sentence.
You clearly have little to no experience with the diversity of Microsoft new hire compensation packages. That's ok, you aren't expected to. But when someone makes a claim that new hires "can make"[1] 200k+, and someone else backs it up with data from personal experience, don't come flinging your ignorance around and accuse others of acting in "bad faith". Instead, sit back and learn. Maybe ask a few questions.
And I'm a native english speaker. But I've never felt I had to stick to the "standard" way of doing things. You shouldn't either. Certainly not when reading text you can't be sure is pulled straight from Strunk's.
I just realized you might be getting so emotional about this because you claim you also made 250k straight out of college and want to feel superior in some way?
And it's on you for assuming the definite article, I only meant the indefinite. (A MSFT starting TC is...)