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Comment by deworms | Hacker News Reader

I read the first paragraph and I can't imagine that's what people's lives could be like in a civilized country. I would never accept mixing job responsibilities with private life in this totally overwhelming way. What is described there is a hellish existence and a quick path towards a suicide, not a life worth living.

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May I ask where you are living and how you support yourself? No personal details, of course.

Most tech jobs outside the FAANGS and the startup bubble are 9-5, e.g. working as a developer for a regional bank or a local hospital. You don't get the enormous salaries, but it's a nice life overall. And re: where to live, generally anywhere outside the trendy metros. There are tons of boring jobs in boring suburbs that allow you to live your life.

You can have an interesting, well paid job and a life outside of it. This is a false dichotomy, don't spread it.

Good point, I can see how I may have implied that it was an either/or. I wasn't arguing that that was the only path. Just one that's there if you want it.

And you can make $300k TC in a FAANG and work 35-40 hours a week. Plenty of people do it - the minority, sure, but only because FAANG jobs by definition are the minority. Google and Microsoft in particular are notorious for decent WLB, and MS's comp has come way up in the last few years to be nearly the same level as similar tech companies.

There are tons of interesting jobs in varied locales as well. It’s not an either/or.

> developer for a regional bank or a local hospital.

funny enough you somewhat hit the nail on the head of the majority of my career so far. work life balance varies though. definitely not as bad as amazon or netflix, but not as chill as making crud apps all day (if those jobs even still exist, please let me know where)

Software development, making around 750% of average salary in my country. This kind of life would be absolutely unacceptable in all companies I have ever worked in. Maybe that's normal in USA and China, definitely not in Europe.

> making around 750% of average salary in my country.

While I agree that Europe is generally better than US and China in this respect, your salary excludes your anecdote from supporting this notion (by your own definition).

That is a very formidable salary compared to the average income, even for software engineers. I suspect you are either a wanted expert in a specific field, an engineering manager, or self-employed?

Doesn't getting into any of the above positions require immense dedication to your craft, to the point of intertwining private and professional live?

Software salaries are increasingly becoming globalised, so, in places with economy in a bad shape, such as for example Ukraine, the average salary may be $300, while a dev may be making $2500. Keep in mind that people making average salaries are really struggling (things aren’t neccessarily cheaper in Ukraine than in the US) and often have family members abroad who send money etc. Btw it’s not that the devs live like kings (although they are certainly very comfortable) - more like average people live lives that would be hard to swallow for Americans.

I was more surprised they didn't get a support call at 11pm to interrupt their procrastination.

You have been living under a rock if this is in any way new to you

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