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Thank you for saying this. The point about FAANG paying so much gets made a lot, and that employees of startups are fools for their decisions, as if everyone's

Thank you for saying this. The point about FAANG paying so much gets made a lot, and that employees of startups are fools for their decisions, as if everyone's handed a dozen offers and makes a choice. Most of us are lucky to get a single offer, sometimes after months of trying, so we take what we are given. The rosy picture portrayed on HN isn't at all accurate to my experience. Though to be fair my current salary, as far as it is from the unrealistic portrayal of salaries here, still feels far better than almost any other job I would remotely have the capacity to do, and certainly far more than I need to live and have a pretty easy life if I were honest. I'm payed a crazy amount of money to do something I love.

adventured 8y ago
These two statements contrasted is pretty fascinating: > The rosy picture portrayed on HN isn't at all accurate to my experience. > I'm payed a crazy amount of money ["far more than I need to live and have a pretty easy life"] to do something I love. You're living the rosy picture portrayed on HN. You react to $400k the same way most people would react to what you're describing.
- cdoxsey 8y ago
  Sorry if I wasn't clear. I don't make 400k per year and I've tried to work at high paying tech companies in the bay area in the past and was rejected many times. At one point I was close to giving up on being a developer entirely after months of failing to find work, though thankfully I had a friend from a former job who helped give me a legup to a startup he was working for. It was that painful experience which made me grateful for what I have, even if its looked down on so much by my peers. I realized how lucky I was to be working at all. The rosy picture I was referring too wasn't so much the salary as the ability of software engineers to get these jobs. In my experience it was a lot more like a professional sport (spend decades working and practicing in this field and you still don't have what it takes) than finding a store with a help-wanted sign and filling out an application. I guess there's something of a paradox there... its a weird industry.

adventured 8y ago

These two statements contrasted is pretty fascinating: > The rosy picture portrayed on HN isn't at all accurate to my experience. > I'm payed a crazy amount of money ["far more than I need to live and have a pretty easy life"] to do something I love. You're living the rosy picture portrayed on HN. You react to $400k the same way most people would react to what you're describing.

cdoxsey 8y ago
Sorry if I wasn't clear. I don't make 400k per year and I've tried to work at high paying tech companies in the bay area in the past and was rejected many times. At one point I was close to giving up on being a developer entirely after months of failing to find work, though thankfully I had a friend from a former job who helped give me a legup to a startup he was working for. It was that painful experience which made me grateful for what I have, even if its looked down on so much by my peers. I realized how lucky I was to be working at all. The rosy picture I was referring too wasn't so much the salary as the ability of software engineers to get these jobs. In my experience it was a lot more like a professional sport (spend decades working and practicing in this field and you still don't have what it takes) than finding a store with a help-wanted sign and filling out an application. I guess there's something of a paradox there... its a weird industry.