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Hmm. SDE at Facebook for $250K, or life-risking merc in Yemen for $160K albeit tax free. Tough call.
by ttul 8y ago
Hmm. SDE at Facebook for $250K, or life-risking merc in Yemen for $160K albeit tax free. Tough call.
- booleandilemma 8y agoBetter dating prospects for the merc though.
- tdb7893 8y agoIn all seriousness is dating as a software engineer difficult? I would've thought that with the money and consistent free time it wouldn't be that bad.
- blattimwind 8y agoIt is not.
- 1337biz 8y agoIn this world there are hunters and farmers.
- scythe 8y agoIt depends on your personality, cultural background/preferences, and lifestyle as well as the more traditional factors like appearance, race, height, etc. Some kinds of people like to date "techies", but other kinds of people don't. But you personally may feel more compatible with someone in the second category, which can be frustrating. For many software engineers, dating can be very easy; for others, not so easy. (NB. Bay Area perspective.)
- munchbunny 8y agoIt's not, or at least not directly because you're a software engineer. However, some areas where software engineers tend to congregate (I'm mostly talking about Silicon Valley) have some pretty skewed demographics, so if you're a straight male in San Francisco, it's going to be harder for you.
- nostrademons 8y agoIn Silicon Valley it's terrible, largely because of the skewed gender ratio, gender-segregated employment & hobbies, and culture of working all the time. Even if you get a date and have time to go on it there's a good chance you'll have nothing to talk with her about. In most other cities (even just going an hour north to SF) it's fine. "Software engineer" used to have a nerd stigma a generation ago, but that hasn't been the case in a decade or more, and nerds can do fine with women.
- staticautomatic 8y agoA) First date is mostly about listening. B) If 100% of your hobbies and life interests are gender-specific things that you can't talk about on dates, you might wanna branch out a little. C) A and B also apply to women.
- nostrademons 8y agoWell, I'm happily married and my wife is a Silicon Valley native, so ultimately I "succeeded" at the dating game. It was pretty miserable while I was in it, though. Silicon Valley is not really a place where the culture encourages "branching out a little", nor does it attract people who are interested in that. This is self-reinforcing: people who were born here and aren't interested in tech tend to move up to SF/Berkeley/Oakland while they're single, which have greater cultural diversity. I was in some sense lucky: I met my wife when she had recently moved back from Peru and was re-establishing her career here. Another year or so and she probably would've moved to Berkeley.
- gscott 8y agoWhat I have learned about a first date is it is to try to get a second date. Try to be yourself but not to strange. If you are trying to act like someone else the woman sees right through it.
- Simon_says 8y ago> B) If 100% of your hobbies and life interests are gender-specific things that you can't talk about on dates, you might wanna branch out a little. That's condescending. Maybe I choose my interests for my enjoyment rather than other peoples'.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- noobermin 8y agoNot everyone has the experience or requisite knowledge to take a developer job.
- bilbo0s 8y ago>Not everyone has the experience or requisite knowledge to take a developer job... Or to become a contractor. No one's gonna pay you 160k and trust you to operate in Yemen just because you play militia on the weekends with some overweight guys from your state and you won a marksmanship match once out at your local shooting range.
- atulmadhugiri 8y agothat's making a lot of assumptions
- jorblumesea 8y agoHow many ex-military folks can pass the FB phone screen, let alone whiteboard? (How many software engineers, for that matter?) For the military, where officers are making even less than a SDE 1 at Microsoft, this is insane amounts of money. Equivalent to 3 years of salary for NCO or enlisted. I hate the "why doesn't X just become a software engineer" attitude.
- jonathankoren 8y agoHonestly, it's probably no different than anyone else controlling for skill set. They're just people.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- walrus01 8y agoNote that the $160k is for people with a very different skill set, who might be ex-army rangers or marines, who could be making $30k managing a Waffle House somewhere in middle america otherwise. In the case of US contractors (PAE, Fluor, Bechtel etc operating in Iraq, Afghanistan) there is also the tax factor, known to all overseas contractors. I am not precise on the dates and figures here, but something like the first $85k of gross income is completely untaxed, if they remain outside of the USA more than 325 days per year. And no state income taxes because they're not a resident of any state. Something tells me that these guys have 100% of their payroll for whatever they were doing handled domestically within the UAE, and aren't declaring it to the IRS, however.
- bluedino 8y agoOr they could get a desk job or warehouse manager job with their security clearance in the US for like $90k.
- walrus01 8y agoIf their skill set is more on the pointy end of the stick, however, they may not qualify for that. There's a lot of civilians going around the federal contracting job market who have a few years of experience working as a middle-management fobbit at LSA Anaconda in Iraq, or similar, who will get that job before another applicant who is an ex army ranger who did 5 rotations through Kapisa and Kunar provinces.
- bilbo0s 8y agoNot if it's a warm body desk job that requires a security clearance. A lot of those jobs are fairly up front about informing all the applicants that veterans will be given preference.
- afarrell 8y ago"fobbit" means refers to military personnel, so they would be beneficiaries of veteran preferences. How many of those jobs with veteran preference are yet more specific about giving preference to infantry or those who have directly been in combat?
- arminiusreturns 8y agoMany of the guys getting that 160 would never be the type to be able to make 250 in SV. Being good at killing doesn't exactly translate well to the civilian world job market... though it is a specialized skillet that not just anybody can do. I'm lucky I had computers as a backup. Many combat vets aren't so lucky and it can make the transition to civilian life very hard.
- tomjakubowski 8y agoYou might enjoy "Barry", an HBO black comedy series which touches on this topic. The protagonist is a discharged Marine turned civilian hitman who discovers a passion for acting. He encounters a few fellow "killer Marines" who have had issues transitioning to civilian life.
- arminiusreturns 8y agoAlready watched and loved it. Can't wait for season 2. What's funny? Before the Marine Corps I was in LA to be an actor, headshots and Dennys job and all... the irony of life eh? Now I have scars and am probably too ugly for it, but it's funny to imagine where life could have gone.
- ben_w 8y agoThere are a lot of ugly actors out there, so no matter what scars you have, don’t let them get in the way of your passion. Heck, get famous and someone will ask for a body mod to look more like you.
- xtracto 8y ago> Now I have scars and am probably too ugly for it, Have you seen Danny Trejo? Like.. he is not the prettiest guy, but I still LOVE him, love his acting and the movies he has been in.
- idontpost 8y agoHey, if Mickey Rourke could have a career....
- gnulinux 8y agoPretty much everyone can be a merc but to be SDE in Facebook you need quite a bit of privilege to be well-educated or insane amount of self-discipline, motivation and focus to educate yourself. Apples&Oranges.
- skeptic_69 8y agoi think become a seal/green beret is pretty challenging !
- mywittyname 8y agoCorrect. It's straight-forward to get into the regular special forces. Anyone with slightly better than average intelligence and physique can make it. The elite special forces is a completely different ballgame. You need to be smarter and more fit than probably 90% of the population. Lots of these guys end up doing very well for themselves after leaving the military.
- SaltyBackendGuy 8y ago> regular special forces. Anyone with slightly better than average intelligence and physique can make it. From personal experience I can say this is incorrect. The 'regular' special forces are the Green Berets (Top 5% of the Army). Elite special forces (CAG/Delta) 5% of the 5%
- ryanwaggoner 8y agoYou have a ridiculously optimistic view of the US population if you think that 10% of us could become Navy SEALs.
- beaconstudios 8y agoif you go by YouTube comments, 10% already are.
- mywittyname 8y ago
- Retra 8y agoGee, if only everybody had that choice.