He was smart/determined enough to risk it all. Why didn't he just try find a job that pays $200k/year ? Why play into the stereotypes ?
Probably was not able to get into MIT or another prestigious school that many of those companies look for on a resume.
All well above 200k.
Might have to do it part time but id still be into getting out of my current job which i cant see myself lasting long-term in. I need something with more latitude and definitely better pay, prospects. Im at a dead end and nughtmare i cant wake up from if i stand still any longer
Years ago I had a recruiter that wanted to hawk me and I asked for 180k comp and he told me it was "impossible". Hung up, was hired at 185k a few weeks later. Wasn't even much of a negotiation when I asked for it.
1. Be willing to accept non-cash comp. Stock of various forms, etc. This works with later stage companies better for obvious reasons.
2. Go into all negotiations ready to explain to the other side what they are buying. Remain calm if not slightly bored. Repeat your ask as if the other side has forgotten them (that sort of bored, calm tone). Do not argue.
3. Actually deliver business value. None of this "Well that's not my job". If I need to fly to a datacenter and run a power off test, I will. If I need to mop the floor and wipe down the breakroom, I'll do that too. Own problems, not positions.
Have arranged travel, run big group meals, and setup parties. At one point setup a golf event.
Have flown across the US many times, most of the time was there to just whiteboard and mediate in practice.
Have worked with lawyers on vendor contracts (was how I learned to negotiate partially).
Have had a bunch of side adventures in managing locks, safes, etc as part of my day job. Plenty of random physical builds.
A large part of what I actually do is mediation between parties so that I can get permission to do whatever business function actually needs to happen.
Oh and spent a few years wiping down a breakroom as a habit and making coffee. Incidentally became good friends with a major CTO due to that.
#2 and #3 are excellent. I also might add : "Be willing to walk". Desperation signals compromises that they will exploit. Know exactly what you are offering to the business and walk when they say "thats too much , impossible, bad engineers ask for money like you". 100% those roles have high turn over, stress, and managerial issues.
Bad managers penny pinch because they can't use resources efficiently. Good managers pay more for talent because they are competent at managing resources.
Desperate people are willing to risk it all, and usually smart people aren't desperate.
the uncertainty of crime is better than endless waiting for an offer that might never come. if you take 10 scammers or drug dealers one of them will get rich, 3 will go to prison and the rest have a relatively normal life. that might be genuinely better odds than a mainstream career for some.
I don't know why people keep whining about job markets. I'm currently working 3 different remote jobs each past 200k/yr point
my total salary is close to 800k. if one of them fires me i can easily hop to another job. I've been doing this for well over a year now and everybody is happy.
there's really no need to justify criminal behavior when legitimate options are in front of you and you are too lazy, weak willed to see the upside.
A lot of people are willing to tolerate risk, that hardly makes them useful. Frequently the opposite.
Now with AI, you can accelerate this so much. The only thing holding back thousands of new threat actors from doing the same is Opsec, its hard.
The most laughable I've seen was a scam that put a captcha on the frontend to stop me from flooding their free email system on the backend and rate limit them. However, the captcha was clientside only, so I didn't even notice until I looked to see if they rotated emails, but also the captcha was a textbox with the code set as the placeholder.
Truly the pinnacle of vibecoding a scam.
you really think it's that easy?
It's also not as hard or dire as you think it is but without knowing more about your situation or what you tried, its pointless because I suspect that its going to just turn into a moping session.
I am working on 3 remote jobs that pay over 200k/year, it takes time and effort, and yes it was relatively easy for me but not in the way that you think it should be.