I’ve been getting paid a San Francisco salary for 7 years while living abroad working as a Sr DevOps Engineer (I have 25 years experience). After the pandemic

I’ve been getting paid a San Francisco salary for 7 years while living abroad working as a Sr DevOps Engineer (I have 25 years experience). After the pandemic hit, my company slowly fired half the staff and replaced us with Russians & Belarussians for 1/5 the price. Now it’s a buyer’s market and wealthy startups (including many ycombinator startups) are offering me 50-70% less than I made at my last job. Literally so little money I would have $800 leftover after child support and paying my dying mother’s mortgage. I ask them, “do you understand that paying employees 60% less for the same work creates a toxic environment? You are already struggling with 18 month average turnover. If I take this job, I will quit in a month, without notice, if somebody offers me 5% more, since you view me as a commodity.” It has disgusted me enough that I’ve left tech entirely and instead am about to buy an apartment building. I would rather be a rent seeking parasite than get paid less than interns and junior engineers with 2 years experience.