Having graduated into the shadow of the 2000-ish dotcom bust, it means being happy about that boring government contracting job in the DC ‘burbs with a starting

Having graduated into the shadow of the 2000-ish dotcom bust, it means being happy about that boring government contracting job in the DC ‘burbs with a starting salary that was about 60% what your friends who graduated two years earlier got at much cooler companies in more happening places, because you also saw their cool companies fold and them struggle to make their fancy car payments and you’re staring down the barrel of $40k in student loans (an astronomical sum 20 years ago).