I'm not sure where juniors are making six figures unless they are in the bay area (where cost of living is through the roof) and they happen to work for a hip s

I'm not sure where juniors are making six figures unless they are in the bay area (where cost of living is through the roof) and they happen to work for a hip startup that can pay them. Because I certainly didn't start out at $100k+. Not even half that, actually. $20 an hour seems sorta low but, having made it well into the six figure range, a big part of me is no longer interested in making six figures. The more that I make, the more I'm getting paid to endure mental anguish over layer upon layer of engineering and workplace issues. I miss the days where I made less but my job was not only less critical but also had more freedom to it, ironically, as much as my first jobs weren't really spectacular. I'm not saying that you shouldn't desire to be making more, but try to find a bright side to your current position. Even my worst positions have aspects to them that I miss that I probably won't experience again. That being said, I do believe you could be making far more than that as a remote software engineer. If I was in your position, I'd work out the next 6 months so that I will have worked at your company for a year, which is kind of a magic number in this industry, and interview at different companies that pay more. Also, don't take HN too seriously. If someone just listened to HN, they'd think that they must write everything in Rust/Go/Typescript and use Kubernetes for even the smallest of projects. This is a place for people to make themselves sound smart.