(1) Recognize that getting rid of this mindset is going to be an uphill battle, because humans are wired to compare ourselves to our peer group, as a means of d

(1) Recognize that getting rid of this mindset is going to be an uphill battle, because humans are wired to compare ourselves to our peer group, as a means of determining our status within it. It is okay that this is a hard thing to deal with, even if it seems like a profoundly "first world problem". Don't feel ashamed that you are dealing with it and don't be demoralized when it remains quite hard. (2) Delete your social media accounts; they really enable the self-minimizing comparisons with other people. Try this out, at least for a bit: stop going on Twitter, Reddit, HN, Facebook, Instagram, etc. and see if this issue is on your mind as often over the course of a month. (3) Recognize that you are making an objectively huge amount of money, even for a software engineer. It helps to keep some global perspective: even if the people you socialize with don't view your income as impressive, 99.5% of people in the world do. Contrary to the vibe on this site, most software engineers aren't making 300K+ each year. (4) Recognize that money is not everything, and if you are otherwise happy with your job perhaps the money thing shouldn't matter that much. As people get older (at least in my experience), they tend to see this and start to value other things in their lives more. Try to socialize with some people outside of tech, doing something you enjoy (beer-tasting, hiking, playing board games, whatever) - though this may be quite hard to do right now depending on where you live. (5) If none of the above make you feel better, its okay to decide that money (or the associated status) is a priority for you and pursue it: hit the books and apply to the jobs that you feel would pay you the amount you want. BUT, this feeling almost certainly won't magically go away if you get the job: you will find new people to compare yourself unfavourably to. And unless you're Jeff Bezos, there is always a bigger fish. And even if you are Jeff Bezos, there are always going to be 100 people working their hardest to dethrone you.