If I were in that situation I would look to develop a career around the craft of programming rather than money. So I’d look to work somewhere they are engineer

If I were in that situation I would look to develop a career around the craft of programming rather than money. So I’d look to work somewhere they are engineering driven and here is opportunity to work on really technically interesting work. By having your own money salary is a non issue. If the interesting job is 20k Euros in Berlin or even equity only then you could do it. Another thing I’d consider is to do a PhD.