> when you are making as much as you are as a programmer at BIGCORP This argument only holds water when you're making a lot of money relative to the cost of li

> when you are making as much as you are as a programmer at BIGCORP This argument only holds water when you're making a lot of money relative to the cost of living where you live. Most software engineers, even at FANG, aren't really earning that much relative to cost of living. A $70k salary in most of the rest of the country buys you a better quality of life and allows you to better support your family than $180k in the SF Bay Area. You also need to remember that as you go up in salary, the government takes more and more of each incremental dollar. My older brother for example is an out of work chef and married to a nurse and lives in another state. He has a nicer house and is raising two kids, while my partner and I gross about 3-4x what they are earning.