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Comment by depr | Hacker News Reader

So why are you in this industry?

Money. Compared to other industries - it’s much easier to make $500k/yr or more.

I’ve had jobs where I was at $1m+. This would never happen in other industries unless I had X prestigious university on my resume or was married to the boss’ daughter.

I could’ve been a surgeon, a lawyer, etc. but most of those have even worse hours, more time in college (debt+non-earning-years), and tend to not favor my background. (Poor rural upbringing) I’m already an outcast in tech in SV - I’ve come from the smallest town, least educated, and poorest family of anyone I’ve met here under 35.

I would love to be an outcast at work for $1m/yr.

It sounds better on paper than in reality. I quit that job and took one for a massive paycut. I ended up getting divorced partially due to this job.

Is it worth losing your marriage over? YMMV.

We have some that make way more than that in my FAANG company

Jobs as a software engineer at 1m/year? Sorry, I simply don't believe you.

Stock appreciation is a hell of a drug. I have worked with multiple engineers making multiple millions a year. They were all ICs.

To break into the 1% in SV - you need to make $3.6mil/yr. Just let that sink in. It's a very rich place.

I didn't get that stock was part of that equation. I took it as base salary. SV is an outlier, really wish people would stop talking as though that's a universal amount, and that if you don't make that amount then you're not senior. I lived in SV and it's a disgustingly money-oriented culture.

You need to speak to more senior people who work at companies that make their money selling software or Internet services. ("Senior" is not 5 years of experience. Think engineers in their 30s & 40s.)

I wish people would stop talking to me as if I don't realize this. This conversation gets had every week on HN and people talk as though seniority is this rich person only club that applies everywhere.

Nevermind, carry on then. Top engineers usually max out at around $200k all-in. Sorry for the confusion.

There are software engineers that make much more

https://techcrunch.com/2010/11/11/google-offers-staff-engine...

I don't get why you are working at all :) what do you plan to do with all this money ... Only to do leetcode?

Lol exactly, get a mission for Christs sake

I'm also someone who entered the field for money. As someone who grew up in a family of poor immigrants who pushed me to work hard and opened the door to opportunities that I'd have never been exposed to in their home country, it's really great to know that my family will never have to endure that hardship and will enjoy one of the highest qualities of life and that I can give back to my parents who struggled to give me this quality of life.

If anything, one of the challenges I face raising my own family is to make sure my kids don't become complacent and squander the opportunities available to them.

I hope that means you can retire at 40? Because otherwise I'm not sure if you're aware you're going to die one day and you can't bring your money.

I know no one who is on my path who wants to be working past 50. Almost everyone like myself is trying to find a way to save money + pick the right place to work for fast returns.

My problem is that I've got a real knack for choosing partners that drain accounts dry instead of adding to it. (One part where I differ from my peers)

I'd love to tap out by 40 but that ship sailed and sunk.

I don't think they said they currently are. I hope for their sake they moved on because it doesn't sound like they had a particularly great time.

On topic: there are plenty of great employers in our industry but you will have to make an effort to find them. And of course it's never going to be perfect.

Maybe this is an odd proposition, but if you can't find no-whiteboard employers in SV, why don't you go looking elsewhere?

It's still paying the bills and 80% of these problems aren't industry-exclusive?

I agree. A lot of these are not industry exclusive to tech/SV. However, we take it a bit further at times and more importantly we advertise that we're different. We like to think we're different. Other industries don't try to act like they're different. You go into law, biz, med, etc... You know what you're signing up for. You need to be a little brown nosing subservient ass hat - and everyone knows it. And everyone knows when you get to the top - you get to subject everyone everyone else to your whims, your hazing rituals, and so forth. They know that's the reward for getting to the top. Boss says you do X even if it's unethical to ask - in other industries you do it anyway. In SV, we act like it's okay for you to question it even if your boss will still fire you for insubordination.

The difference is subtle but it's that SV at least tries to act like it's different even if they're not. That's what rubs me wrong about this industry the most. The virtue signaling without any real actions behind it. It is truly ghoulish.

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