Five years isn't really enough experience to be a serious tech lead or a high-end consultant. Come back when you have ten years. The guys I know who are making

Five years isn't really enough experience to be a serious tech lead or a high-end consultant. Come back when you have ten years. The guys I know who are making over $100k WERE those "amazing programmers" five years into their career, but now they're twenty years in. I was an amazing programmer five years in as well, but I wasn't worth $100k even in today's dollars. You need more experience than that!