Yes. There are a lot of, lets say "humble statuses" out there. For example "has 2 years of dev experience" is a status. So you can aim for this status, then c

Yes. There are a lot of, lets say "humble statuses" out there. For example "has 2 years of dev experience" is a status. So you can aim for this status, then change jobs to get "paid over X a year" status. This status then is seen by the mortgage company. Then there is the TEDx talk, 10000 start github repo, well know youtuber etc. These can be carefully crafted stepping stones. Status as an intermediate goal can be a good thing to use. Status as FOMO is probably not.