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My student loan debt doesnt go away if I find meaningful but low paid work. Admittedly it was my choice to take on that debt but on the other hand society had d

by lovich 9y ago

My student loan debt doesnt go away if I find meaningful but low paid work. Admittedly it was my choice to take on that debt but on the other hand society had decided that I was too young to responsibly drink and had to pay higher rates on car insurance. Somehow though, I, and everyone else at that age is allowed, and encouraged, to sign up for life altering debt for a piece of paper that got me a job at a call center. Trying to get enough money to retire early now is entirely to make it possible to take on meaningful work instead of the soul crushing jobs that are mosy modern software engineer positions Note: I said modern software engineer _positions_ and not practices as I've found that most companies are incapable politically of implementing best practices if they deviate at all from how things have been done in the past 20 years on the enterprise side, while the startup side is long hours for a lottery ticket.

LyndsySimon 9y ago
> the startup side is long hours for a lottery ticket. It certainly can be, but doesn't have to be. The "long hours" part varies greatly depending on your role, responsibilities, and expertise. The "lottery ticket" part varies based on whether you're optimizing for salary or equity. I have always excluded stock options from my decision-making process. Sure, it's possible they could make me rich some day... but it strikes me as highly unlikely, and I'm planning on them being worth $0. Equity I consider a potential negative if the company hasn't had their IPO, due to the tax implications. There are startups out there that offer great salaries and quality of life out there, but you've got to look for that in particular. It also helps if you live or are living to live somewhere with a low cost of living and are willing to work remotely. I live in a small town and there are effectively zero jobs here that I'd want because the market is so small that they can pay much less than I want to accept. Working remotely allows me to compete on the global labor market, where the compensation is substantially higher. I'm not making the same salary I would if I lived in LA or SF, but it's a whole lot closer to that than if I worked for a local employer. The difference in housing costs alone more than makes up for that, much less the total cost of living. Here's a comparison between my employer's location (Santa Monica, CA), and the nearest city to me (Springfield, MO). Note that I live about an hour from Springfield, and the costs here are even lower: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=United+States&city1=Springfield%2C+MO&city2=Santa+Monica%2C+CA&tracking=getDispatchComparison https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
- lovich 9y ago
  Frankly I'm not sure I'm good enough to get those deals. Whether it's technical skills, negotiating skills, or plain luck I have not been able to get a job that good for me

by lovich 9y ago

LyndsySimon 9y ago

> the startup side is long hours for a lottery ticket. It certainly can be, but doesn't have to be. The "long hours" part varies greatly depending on your role, responsibilities, and expertise. The "lottery ticket" part varies based on whether you're optimizing for salary or equity. I have always excluded stock options from my decision-making process. Sure, it's possible they could make me rich some day... but it strikes me as highly unlikely, and I'm planning on them being worth $0. Equity I consider a potential negative if the company hasn't had their IPO, due to the tax implications. There are startups out there that offer great salaries and quality of life out there, but you've got to look for that in particular. It also helps if you live or are living to live somewhere with a low cost of living and are willing to work remotely. I live in a small town and there are effectively zero jobs here that I'd want because the market is so small that they can pay much less than I want to accept. Working remotely allows me to compete on the global labor market, where the compensation is substantially higher. I'm not making the same salary I would if I lived in LA or SF, but it's a whole lot closer to that than if I worked for a local employer. The difference in housing costs alone more than makes up for that, much less the total cost of living. Here's a comparison between my employer's location (Santa Monica, CA), and the nearest city to me (Springfield, MO). Note that I live about an hour from Springfield, and the costs here are even lower: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&country2=United+States&city1=Springfield%2C+MO&city2=Santa+Monica%2C+CA&tracking=getDispatchComparison https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...

lovich 9y ago
Frankly I'm not sure I'm good enough to get those deals. Whether it's technical skills, negotiating skills, or plain luck I have not been able to get a job that good for me