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Comment by jberryman | Hacker News Reader

> $100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional.

As a professional what? Man this place can be a fucking drag sometimes.

$100k might not be "successful" to anyone living in SF or NYC, but in 98% of the rest of the country, it is certainly a nice income. Don't buy into the ego.

According to WSJ, the average developer in the bay area makes $99k:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870343950457611...

So if you're making $100k, you're just making what everyone else is making :-)

You must have missed the part where I said outside of SF and NYC.

They must be including part timers and interns, because a normal salary for an experienced engineer is significantly higher.

Professional is almost any area that requires either higher education or some hard to learn skill.

I used to associate professional and one's education or income until I realized that often the most professional people I've encountered don't make much money. Professional to me means excellence at a service for which someone is paid to perform. Improving the human condition or chasing money both attract professionals of a completely different definition.

It's true, there are idealists out there who don't care for money.

However if you're skilled and/or educated, getting $100K shouldn't be a problem.

Now getting $500K/year is a much more serious problem. I'm failing to get to that level by just being professional (and good). It requires more of a business type of mindset (or lots of luck).

my wife has my same background (PhD molecular biology). a couple of years ago she decided she didn't want to stay in academia for pressure and competition are too high and moved to a company, making 2-3x times as much as she was making before (and than I am making).Funny thing is that the common silent opinion in academia about those like her is that they are dropouts....

  > Funny thing is that the common silent opinion in
  > academia about those like her is that they are
  > dropouts....

Why is it funny? Different strands of people apply different criteria for success. You appear to think it's money (versus time spent working/stress level); others rank academic credentials, willpower or whatever else higher.

Whore, a professional whore - we are all whores; after all we are not girlfriends, we are in it for the money.

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