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Comment by lowiqengineer | Hacker News Reader

>You have the opportunity to leverage that and either get promoted from within or change jobs.

I think the real problem is I'm not capable of doing so, at least according to the fair labor market.

> Are you really struggling making $150K straight out of college? You graduated from a state school (as did I) you probably don’t have that much debt.

I don't have any debt, I just have a really pathetic savings rate and a really low net worth compared to nearly everyone I know, including folks that didn't do "the grind" that I did. I'll probably not be able to retire or own a car, much less own a house someday.

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I spend a lot of time in the Ukraine and talk with people. A friend of mine earns $140/mo ($1680/yr) as a skilled machinist. He has probably as much accumulated skill as me and sweats at his work. I sit around and type out some JS and drink coffee, and make an order of magnitude more money than him. I drove a $500 car (on vegetable oil - cheaper). Live in one bedroom appartment with a Hungarian family. Outside the window are people shooting themselves up. I worked for a couple of years out of a McDonalds with earplugs so the music didn't distract me. I maintain a complex software stack that services nearly a million users with a software they love. I don't want to be doing anything else.

I don't like the IQ/talent fetish that seems to pervade Anglophone culture. Some people have a stronger natural predisposition to sit and stare at a screen and figure out puzzles, and that happens to be sought after on the labor market. Doesn't mean others have less inherent value as human beings.

Would be nice to have a small appartment one day. I just try to offer some perspective.

>> I don't have any debt, I just have a really pathetic savings rate and a really low net worth compared to nearly everyone I know, including folks that didn't do "the grind" that I did. I'll probably not be able to retire or own a car, much less own a house someday.

Dude, please seek mental help. You have so many working years ahead of you. Stop worrying about owning a house. Start budgeting using something like YNAB and get your savings rate under control. Also get all the basic investment vehicles going: 401k, after tax Roth, backdoor Roth etc. You’ll do just fine.

> Stop worrying about owning a house

A lot of my friends are already putting money down on houses and are making hundreds of thousands in options trading on principal that I _don't have_. I'm falling behind permanently and even maxing out my 401k (which I didn't do last year because I don't anticipate living to 65 but decided to this year) won't get me closer with a low principal.

I’m really not being facetious, and this is going to come across that way in writing. You really need to talk to a mental health professional.

I hate that we as a society can say that if you have signs of cancer go see an oncologist and it’s not okay to say that if you show signs of mental health issues go see a professional.

But everything about your comments and your user name points to it.

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