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"Simply go to MIT and work at Google" I say this in jest, but that isn't the most replicable path. For someone who didn't go to MIT and is mid-career, should o

"Simply go to MIT and work at Google" I say this in jest, but that isn't the most replicable path. For someone who didn't go to MIT and is mid-career, should one just throw in the towel and give up on the industry?

ativzzz 6y ago
The OP should have prefaced his post with "If you want to make top 1-5% of engineering salaries". The vast majority of engineering jobs are done at boring non-tech companies by average programmers who have average educations and experiences. And of course, average salaries. Generally programmers working at those companies don't know about or don't care about HN.
- cantankerously 6y ago
  I generally agree and I think I understand OP's intent. However, if true that paints a fairly bleak picture. I'd like to find challenging work and make upper echelon salary, why not? Didn't go to MIT or similar and no FAANG experience. So my only hope is to create an open source project or blog and pray it explodes in popularity?
  - ativzzz 6y ago
    > I'd like to find challenging work and make upper echelon salary This has always been the case for humanity, that typically people who do challenging, high salary work come from wealthier families with access to better resources, including better social signaling resources to enable them to stand out from the pack. It's just part of the game; if you want to play at the top without being born into it, you have a long way to climb, and you are competing against everyone else in your position. You have to either meet the filtering criteria, or find a way to stand out from the crowd.
    - cantankerously 6y ago
      I guess my error in thought is that tech would be more of a meritocracy than other disciplines. I'm totally aware I have shortcomings. But you're right, some are better at playing the game than others for various reasons. I don't mean to be argumentative, just frustrated. Just like at the casino, if the deck is indeed stacked against me the best move is to not play.
      - int3 6y ago
        It's still way more of a meritocracy than many other disciplines. In what other field can you get an upper-echelon salary via non-credentialed routes like open-source projects and blogs? Btw, you don't need to create an OSS project from scratch. You could also get visibility by making important contributions to an existing one.
  - jimbokun 6y ago
    > So my only hope is to create an open source project or blog and pray it explodes in popularity? Pretty much, yes.

ativzzz 6y ago

The OP should have prefaced his post with "If you want to make top 1-5% of engineering salaries". The vast majority of engineering jobs are done at boring non-tech companies by average programmers who have average educations and experiences. And of course, average salaries. Generally programmers working at those companies don't know about or don't care about HN.

cantankerously 6y ago
I generally agree and I think I understand OP's intent. However, if true that paints a fairly bleak picture. I'd like to find challenging work and make upper echelon salary, why not? Didn't go to MIT or similar and no FAANG experience. So my only hope is to create an open source project or blog and pray it explodes in popularity?
- ativzzz 6y ago
  > I'd like to find challenging work and make upper echelon salary This has always been the case for humanity, that typically people who do challenging, high salary work come from wealthier families with access to better resources, including better social signaling resources to enable them to stand out from the pack. It's just part of the game; if you want to play at the top without being born into it, you have a long way to climb, and you are competing against everyone else in your position. You have to either meet the filtering criteria, or find a way to stand out from the crowd.
  - cantankerously 6y ago
    I guess my error in thought is that tech would be more of a meritocracy than other disciplines. I'm totally aware I have shortcomings. But you're right, some are better at playing the game than others for various reasons. I don't mean to be argumentative, just frustrated. Just like at the casino, if the deck is indeed stacked against me the best move is to not play.
    - int3 6y ago
      It's still way more of a meritocracy than many other disciplines. In what other field can you get an upper-echelon salary via non-credentialed routes like open-source projects and blogs? Btw, you don't need to create an OSS project from scratch. You could also get visibility by making important contributions to an existing one.
- jimbokun 6y ago
  > So my only hope is to create an open source project or blog and pray it explodes in popularity? Pretty much, yes.