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> That's pretty much it, it's just a stupid dance. You can get angry and say "No no no, this dance is stupid!" Or you can learn the dance, do the dance, then be
by dave_sullivan 6y ago
> That's pretty much it, it's just a stupid dance. You can get angry and say "No no no, this dance is stupid!" Or you can learn the dance, do the dance, then be richer than 95% of people in the world.
I mean, yeah, that's what I'm saying: It's stupid and I don't want to be part of it. I'm taking it a step further and saying that the people who help propagate it aren't doing themselves or anyone else any favors.
There's more important shit than money, and it's lame that we have an economic system that rewards people so massively for doing stupid dances.
- Kranar 6y ago>There's more important shit than money Sure but for people who have the opportunity, it's perfectly rational to invest a significant part of your 20s to accumulate enough wealth by doing the "silly dance" and then spend the remainder of your life financially free. I'm not saying your path is wrong or you shouldn't pursue it, but it is risky for a lot of people to take a massive pay cut and only work a few days a week in their youth and expect that doing so is sustainable or that it can be done for the bulk of their life. The less risky approach for many who have the opportunity to do so is to actually invest the time to understand the fundamentals of computer science. Really get to know data structures and algorithms like the back of their hand, spend an hour after dinner every night for a couple of months practicing how to apply that knowledge to solve leetcode problems, and then do the interview circuit to negotiate a high salary so that by the time you're in your mid 30s you're a millionaire and can effectively spend the rest of your life working on your own terms.
- iandanforth 6y agoI fully agree with this.
- dnautics 6y ago> There's more important shit than money, For someone who doesn't want to spend their lives doing stupid shit like cocaine fueled parties and megayachts, at 100k USD (currently) buys you one life-changing event - basic lifelong security, you probably won't have to worry in the long run. At about 300k (currently) you can buy into a level of security that is probably resistant to major worldwide economic or political catastrophe. If you want to change the world, say by doing an ethical capitalistic startup or meaningful nonprofit, you probably want to start with $5M all-in assets, it's unlikely to be easy to get there quickly on a 300k salary at a FAANG. You will want to roll the dice at startups paying you back in the 100k-150k range.
- talsodg 6y agoPlease note that 300k is great for early/mid-career but it is entirely realistic that you get to 800-1mm+ comp around ~10 years. I haven't any other avenue for such high levels of comp at basically no risk (but some opportunity cost).
- the_only_law 6y agoIs it really that realistic though? I’ve always heard that those salaries are extremely rare and that getting to those levels involves some extremely cuthroat competition.
- talsodg 6y agoDidn't mean to imply it was easy. I was just pointing out it's realistic in that there is a well-trodden path to it.