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Yeah, but having worked in tech for almost twenty years, and being completely forthright, I could probably count on one hand the number of people that ended up

Yeah, but having worked in tech for almost twenty years, and being completely forthright, I could probably count on one hand the number of people that ended up on the street making any gamble like that. The older I get, the more I think we really take a lot of things in our industry for granted. I mean the kind of salary people would scoff at is still two or three times what most Americans make.

lobotryas 8y ago
Ending up on the street? That’s probably rare. Screwing up their future earning potential and savings requiring years to recover both? That’s pretty common. Also please don’t cheapen engineering jobs. Salaries would he lower if COL was lower in the biggest tech sectors (NYC, SF, Seattle). It would also be lower if engineering work was easy, but turns out plenty of people are either not interested or unable to hack it.
- fapjacks 8y ago
  I'm really not sure where in my post you get that I'm cheapening engineering jobs. On the contrary, perhaps my post is worth another read. We are paid substantially more than almost every other industry specifically because engineering jobs are not something most folks out in the work force are capable of performing. This, despite our industry also being accessible when held up against the "traditional" most-highly-paid industries (e.g. medicine, law, etc.). And even more exceptional is that you can do equally well with or without a formal education in it, depending on your personality and technical capacity. And what you call "screwing up future earning potential and savings" is still light years ahead of what most people in the global workforce are thinking about. The vast majority of Americans will never be able to consider plans for a six-figure salary, but this is just par for the course in most disciplines and job titles in our industry no matter where you live. If you sit in front of a computer all day and your job has something to do with turning business processes into computer automation, you can expect to break that barrier at some point in your career, even if you're just okay at your job. In fact, it's actually a symptom of some kind of failure on an individual's part (career path, negotiation, perhaps external circumstances) if you don't break the six-figure barrier.

lobotryas 8y ago

Ending up on the street? That’s probably rare. Screwing up their future earning potential and savings requiring years to recover both? That’s pretty common. Also please don’t cheapen engineering jobs. Salaries would he lower if COL was lower in the biggest tech sectors (NYC, SF, Seattle). It would also be lower if engineering work was easy, but turns out plenty of people are either not interested or unable to hack it.

fapjacks 8y ago
I'm really not sure where in my post you get that I'm cheapening engineering jobs. On the contrary, perhaps my post is worth another read. We are paid substantially more than almost every other industry specifically because engineering jobs are not something most folks out in the work force are capable of performing. This, despite our industry also being accessible when held up against the "traditional" most-highly-paid industries (e.g. medicine, law, etc.). And even more exceptional is that you can do equally well with or without a formal education in it, depending on your personality and technical capacity. And what you call "screwing up future earning potential and savings" is still light years ahead of what most people in the global workforce are thinking about. The vast majority of Americans will never be able to consider plans for a six-figure salary, but this is just par for the course in most disciplines and job titles in our industry no matter where you live. If you sit in front of a computer all day and your job has something to do with turning business processes into computer automation, you can expect to break that barrier at some point in your career, even if you're just okay at your job. In fact, it's actually a symptom of some kind of failure on an individual's part (career path, negotiation, perhaps external circumstances) if you don't break the six-figure barrier.