Ask HN: How do you deal with professional envy?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with professional envy?

#291

Post by pickle-wizard » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 6:30 PM UTC

sidcool wrote: post #269

pickle-wizard wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is nice to get to that place where you have enough. I'm at the spot in my career, where I don't want any advancement or promotions. I'm happy doing what I'm doing. I've got a nice nest egg saved up, so money isn't that big of a motivator.. Really at this point my career is on cruise control, just biding time until I can retire. I'm still learning new technologies, but it is because I want to, not because I have to…

If you don't mind my asking, how do you plan for your retirement? How much money etc. needed?

Basically I know what my costs are today. I take that number and adjust for inflation. I use 3% for that number. I know that some costs will go down, for example my house will be paid off. I know some such as health care will go up. I figure it will be a wash budget wise. That gives me a future number I need to adjust for.

I then take the current value of my savings, plus future planed savings and estimate their future value using several different rates of return. That gives me a savings rate that I need to shoot for, which I generally try to exceed that rate.

Re: Ask HN: How do you deal with professional envy?

#292

Post by c22 » Mon, Jul 29, 2019, 12:20 AM UTC

badpun wrote: post #278

c22 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a solid observation. I made a personal decision sometime in my late 20s to never do anything for money that I wouldn't also be willing to do for free. As a result of this decision I make a lot less money than many of my peers, but I'm always working on projects I'm excited about and I have more free time than most of the people I know. If anything, like you, I feel sorry for the people I see working all the t…

Can you give a few examples of things that companies pay you to do that you would still do if unpaid?

Sure. Right now I manage a hacker space for way less than the "market rate" for my responsibilities. I am also working as a freelancer on a handful of software projects. Currently all of my employers are non-profits so the pay is lower than in the profit-focused sphere, but the projects are ones I support ideologically and the problems I am solving are interesting to me. In the past I've done work as a handyman and I made a point of not accepting jobs that I felt would stress me out or involve a lot of tedium.

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