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Comment by nthj | Hacker News Reader

> However, I'm told by people that myself and my colleagues are getting underpaid (we work at a startup).

That's how “market rate“ works. A profession's salary has nothing to do with what you deserve and everything to do with how your specific combination of skills are valued by the free market.

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I agree. I didn't phrase my comment correctly. I suppose what I'm really amazed by is the fact that those people don't seem to understand why I'm not angry about my situation. I don't know. Maybe it's because I've been lucky enough to have parents who have exposed me to extreme poverty at a young age (several trips to India). There are just too many wrongs in the world for someone like me to be complaining about not being able to save up for shiny new product X, Y days earlier because my employer isn't paying me 10s of thousands of dollars more on top of the 10s of thousands of dollars I'm already making.

Yes, humility is important, but it doesn't mean you should be exploited by someone who has no such qualms at all.

> There are just too many wrongs in the world for someone like me to be complaining about not being able to save up for shiny new product X, Y days earlier

I don't complain when a startup can't afford me, it's just business.

But I also don't work for them.

It is ridiculous that people judge whether you should or should not be angry/happy/sad etc. with your situation. It is impossible to judge correctly, all people need different things to be happy. Assuming that money is the universal measure of happiness is usually wrong. That is probably why you sound happier than the guy in the OP.

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