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My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

software.rajivprab.com

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Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#421

Post by nitrogen »

dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #226
dogma1138 wrote: post #40

So rough calculation here.. $100K first job which is around £74K in the UK… you aren’t likely to get anywhere near that as a grad masters or not here but after taxes and student loan payments (which are deducted from your income in the UK) and all other deductions you’ll end up with £42,908.26 per year, that’s $56K. And this is where this breaks down for people in tech outside of the US at least. In the UK the path w…

USA salaries are really unbelievable. That £74,000 which seems to be a poor salary in the USA judging the the OP would be a really very good salary in the UK

Are UK salaries quoted post-tax? USA salaries and wages are usually quoted pre-tax. Obviously not a 5-10x difference, but that still makes comparison more difficult with regions that usually discuss post-tax earnings.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#422

Post by uejfiweun »

luxurytent wrote: post #37
comprev wrote: post #29

The fresh graduate salary for 100k is higher than the majority of US workers will peak during their entire career of 50 years (adjusted for inflation). Think about that for a second.

Yes. My friend and I are both self taught engineers (as are several others in our social circle — all coming from similar roots and places) We are continuously flabbergasted how much we are paid, and it’s not even FAANG levels; still, it’s more than many other skilled and important roles in the workforce. Part of me understands that there’s still a lot of money to be made and thus, salaries should continue to be high…

Salaries won't decrease until the demand of people to work in tech eclipses the demand of society for new tech. This works both ways. If a ton of people suddenly become interested in coding, this could pop the bubble. And if society suddenly stops demanding new technology (perhaps due to some catastrophic hack), then the bubble pops as well. The scary thing is that the latter is probably more likely to happen than the former.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#423

Post by lordnacho »

AYBABTME wrote: post #353
giantg2 wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's not hard to move up the quantiles if you put the effort." The statistics paint a different picture - there are only so many jobs above the median. "In any case, 105k median income just goes to tell how big the opportunity is." You mean limited? Clearly this is multiples lower than the author. "The mean salary is useless in quantifying wether you, as an individual, have any agency in influencing your outcome." N…

I'm not going to change your mood but I hope someone else reading this interaction early in their career will come out of it with an optimistic mindset instead of a cynical one. It pays off better.

Keep in mind you can be disappointed in more than one way. Either you tried the impossible with an optimistic mindset and failed anyway, or you failed at something doable because you took pessimistic choices.

It's not actually obvious which category this is in.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#424

Post by Zababa »

dogma1138 wrote: post #77
pftburger wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded. Earning 600k a year should automatically disqualify you from talking about living frugally.

Yeah I don’t get how their outgoings are so low given where they must live… rent or buy it simply doesn’t fit even if they are renting a room and living of cup noodles based on rent in the Bay Area some of their outgoings are suspiciously low. So I think getting a house gifted by your parents is also a requirement for their path.

Not really. An appartment alone is $2000 a month according to the post. That's 24% of your income at $100k, and not even 4% at $620k. I don't know how much people in the US usually spend on rent/housing, but anything under 30% of your income seems low to me.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#425

Post by uejfiweun »

uyt wrote: post #15

I think people who are graduating now will have a hard time replicating this. My cohort (now in our early 30s, cs majors from a top school) were incredibly lucky because we were in a permanent bull run so as long as we were invested in almost any tech stock, we did well. Almost all of us hit one million mark before early 2020 and that became 2 million at the end of 2021. I would love for this to continue forever but…

There's no question that equity valuations are due for a massive collapse, the federal reserve has even admitted this. But there are a few things that make me thing that software engineer compensation has nowhere to go but up:

- The world is becoming increasingly computerized. The demand for software is skyrocketing.

- Software engineering is extremely economically efficient. You can produce infinite quantities of a piece of software with no marginal cost.

- Outside of the HN / CS bubble, most regular people still think coding is either boring, stupid, or too hard.

I really think it would be tough to do this job without some major interest in computers that most people simply don't have. And you can't really fake this. This puts a cap on the supply of engineers.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#426

Post by anamax »

borski wrote: post #359
cpursley wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For similar reasons they're supposed to feel guilty for being born into a particular race.

You are equating guilt with acknowledging privilege, and those aren’t the same. I feel privileged for having gone to MIT, and acknowledge that privilege. I feel privileged for having grown up Jewish and white-appearing, and acknowledge that. I feel guilty for neither, and acknowledging that particular privilege takes nothing away from how hard I worked anyway. The son of two very poor Russian Jewish immigrants, I wor…

> You are equating guilt with acknowledging privilege, and those aren’t the same.

When someone says "check your privilege", they're saying that you've done something wrong and should feel guilty.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#427

Post by Zababa »

supernova87a wrote: post #109

Here's 2 questions for the "FIRE" crowd. 1) To stop working when you hit a certain number seems to me to be falling into the faulty logic illustrated in Freakonomics -- when a taxi driver works every day towards a certain $ figure, he suffers on crappy days (keeps on driving to little benefit) when fares are just not coming, and cuts off his earnings on great days where business is pouring in like crazy. Instead, you…

> Did you go through all your education and training just to hit a certain number and call it quits?

Yes, I don't see what's so surprising about that. Most people do the same but instead of being an amount of money, it's an amount of years, or an amount of money that you will get more slowly.

> In some ways I don't get the "financially independent" life. Sure, you're no longer absolutely needing to have a job. But what do you do with the rest of your life? You're just retired at 50? With what to challenge / strive for?

Whatever you want, that's the point. If you want to spend all day in your bed, you can. If you want to go very deeply on one topic, you can. If you want to surf HN all day you can. If you want to give time to charities you can. You can even go back to work if you want to!

> Maybe I'm just fortunate in that I don't mind working / find some fulfillment from it, and don't have a burning desire to sit around with no activities for 5 days a week.

> What takes the place of work?

Your comment seems to asume that working is a natural state and that you need an opposite "burning desire" to not want to work. I personally don't get much fulfillment from work. It's nice and all but I'd rather not do it. In a way it's like washing the dishes: sometimes it feels a bit good to do it, and most people need to do it, but if I can get a dishwasher, I'd rather get one and use one.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#428

Post by JonChesterfield »

nitrogen wrote: post #421
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USA salaries are really unbelievable. That £74,000 which seems to be a poor salary in the USA judging the the OP would be a really very good salary in the UK

Are UK salaries quoted post-tax? USA salaries and wages are usually quoted pre-tax. Obviously not a 5-10x difference, but that still makes comparison more difficult with regions that usually discuss post-tax earnings.

Quoted before income tax and employee national insurance (50%ish) and after employer national insurance (13%). Most people seem to forget about that extra 13 since it disappears before the 'gross' number on the payslip.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#429

Post by vecinu »

bradlys wrote: post #416
mwattsun wrote: post #376

Let me add 1) get a prenup before marriage because there's a 50/50 chance you'll lose half in divorce (at least in California.) This is not very romantic so it's not something I ever considered, but it's recommended to wealthy persons by lawyers. 2) don't become an alcoholic or drug addict. If you think you might be developing a problem, own up to it, seek help and go to rehab if necessary. This includes gambling add…

Better: Just don’t get legally married and don’t live in a common law state. Prenups aren’t enforceable. Judges can throw them out and ignore them whenever they feel. I don’t plan to ever get married due to these factors. Another option for the drugs thing is to never do drugs or drink alcohol. I haven’t ever done any and I’ve managed to avoid addiction my entire life. I still have fun - I am actually considered the…

I don't disagree with you because I've gone through a divorce that halved my net worth but I don't think "don’t live in a common law state" is decent advice.

If you ignore all of California, you miss out on higher compensation and interesting work opportunities. Should you live your life such that you limit your opportunities? I don't think so.

I don't think ignoring serious relationships altogether or avoiding children because of the potential financial headache they could cause is a healthy way of thinking about your future, purpose and what you want, just my 2 cents.

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