281–290 of 463 posts
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Enough to retire early.
I think this is around $2M in the US, using what the FIrE community says. Does that seem reasonable, Or are you thinking about $20M+ payouts? (That’s what I would need to retire now.)
I think it’s pretty clear we have an epidemic of burnout on our hands. I think it’s a new phenomenon. And I think immersive online experiences are the underlying cause. I’ve lived much of my life for the past 30 years in virtual spaces of one form or another, from MUDs to IRC to MMORPGs to early and then fully evolved social media. As commercial virtual space showed up, I noticed the engagement hooks and potential fo…
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Have you ever thought how and why the “it’s not my job” attitude fostered? Most people at least myself on their first day working would never thought they would end up at some point as people they despised so much.
I have had a similar career experience. In time, I’ve decided to accept that I’m much more like those people than I wanted to accept when I felt I was a young and hungry “disruptor” I am much more a product of the systems than I wanted to accept. That’s the most mature perspective I have had to date - and has led to more empathy than I thought I was capable of.
It’s a lot like how you dislike the people who remind you of your bad qualities.
One thing that helped me is not to care so much about my employer's goals. It's almost heretical. But once you embrace this mindset, it does wonders. Or at least, it has for me so far. I think a lot of us want to be proud of the work we do, and we feel that if we slack off, then we shouldn't be proud. But it's the other way around. I think the slackers have it right. You're probably not going to get rich from working…
This attitude works at random jobs where you’re replaceable, absolutely. However if you’re a meaningful part of an early team with equity, this is quite literally how you can indeed get rich.
I also reduced my availability, it is not so much career suicide as "career murder". You look at your career as it is laid out before you, you say, "yeah, no... no thanks". You weed it and you grow something different in it's place.
In a large and healthy team, when you slow down, others who are ready and willing step up. They are going to need mentoring. If you can turn your reduced availability into a new crop of future leaders, your boss is going to thank you for the service. (Well, it also helped that I noticed what was happening and told my boss to thank me!)
The are lots of places along the line where my experience could have gone differently, for the worse. But it didn't, and I hope the author is as lucky as I was.
I have a friend who once told me that they can only work for about 4 hours a day. When I challenged them that this seemed like a very priviledged position to be able to take, they insisted that it was actually true for pretty much anyone, it's just that as a society, as an economy, as a series of employer/employee relationships, we pretend that it's not. What they meant of course was not whether they could be "at the…
I've worked those kinds of jobs with 12 hour shifts pretty recently, and you definitely Really Actually Literally Work 10+ hours of em'. It's kind of a buzz.
I could still do it, 6 days a week, day-in day-out at 32, which was pleasantly surprising to me as someone who has always struggled to work a good 4 actual hours of white collar shift.
Some jobs just come at you non-stop, and basically your only options are quit dramatically, or keep grinding through.
The camaraderie with your work colleagues is something too. I've never felt that kind of genuine, manic, expendables-in-the-trenches, darkly comic camaraderie in any white collar job.
"Adulthood in the modern age is just telling yourself 'next week won't be so bad'. Over and over. Until you die"
Other than adulthood being postponed about a decade how is that any different than it was was at any other time in history?
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My TC increased 7-10%/yr each year I was there, so the promise is inline with expectations. Me and my partner just can't wait 2 years for 25% when I can have 2x now. Even with 2x, raising kids will be financially challenging.
Were you making a very small amount then? You said you were in college 20 years ago. Did you start your career very late or do you want an very large salary before you have kids? I made $60K right out of college (far less than 20 years ago) as a software developer at a small consultancy in one of the cheapest cities in the country. People on here are always talking about changing jobs and getting a huge salary increa…
I spent most of my twenties in college and grad school. Then worked in the Midwest in my early thirties making $100k-$130k.
I moved to Silicon Valley and took a job for $150k. That was a downgrade considering the much higher cost of living, but it seemed like a good stepping stone at the time. I stayed at that company for way too long working towards a promotion that was dangled in front of me but never came, and finally switched to FANG for a 2X increase in total comp.
And many people at my age in the company make about 2X+ of what I make now. The housing prices here are so crazy that I’m ready to throw in the towel on SV, even if it means a pay cut. My QOL was highest outside of the Bay Area working for less.