21–30 of 164 posts
I don't really know what it's like in America but 150k here is insane. If you really can't land a job, it's either time for an attitude adjustment or perhaps a third bite at the apple.
I'd say 150K is shooting for the stars depending on your skill set. It can happen in good times but sometime you gotta revalue your times worth. As far as leaping out, yeah there's a ton of opportunity while keeping a "tech" base: CCTV Installer (Commercial IP Security Cams), VoIP (Business Phone Systems), POS (Point of Sale Restaurant and Retail).
The notion that $150k will even let you raise a family where you don't care about looking poor (I don't care) is frankly insulting.
I'm legitimately going to just move to another country if one more boomer tells me I just have to "wait for the stars to align" one more time.
You have set a high goal of $150k salary without a clear way to achieve it, or a clear passion, if I'm reading correctly. What is your depth of knowledge in? You say software? Law would be an risk idea if you don't love it with all your heart, even people who love law hate it by the end of law school.
People on HN saying $150k is a "high bar" is frankly insulting. Anyone in the bay who's not a founder or working for a meaningless company easily clears $200k. I've started two companies, exited one and technically have the skills of a "senior engineer". I've managed teams of engineers and have architected remote factory production systems for one of my companies along with a dozen or so relatively complex web apps i…
Otherwise it might make sense to move out of the bay area to where there are lower costs of living and then lower your salary expectations to match.
Bear in mind that being a good corporate drone or middle manager requires different soft skills and attitude than being the CEO of your own company. You have to march to someone else's drum which can be hard.
You need to prove to yourself and others that you can be a regular developer now, you're in a position where you might need to sacrifice salary, job description and/or working conditions to get a foot back on the ladder.
Beyond salary, the culture of working hours in the bay area might be a bad fit for you. If you're looking for a boring (in a good way) salaryman programmer role you might need to see where those sort of companies are centred.
Note, I live and work outside the US so I can't give specific US advice.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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There seems to be something wrong with your inflation numbers. According to BLS [0], $150k in August of this year has the same buying power as $118k in August of 2019. You might check some other sources, like median USA house prices. I've looked at a few. None come close to the numbers you're claiming. https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm
Being a freelancer was never my intention, but it's where I ended up, and right now I'm very thankful for it. I don't make much money, but I can say that I make my living as a software developer. I have clients who think I'm their golden goose, and I ended up landing an internship at Akamai, yet I still feel completely un-hirable in the traditional sense, but I also feel like once the tide does turn, I'm in a much better position to market myself, and get a real job if I desire.
I know this sucks, but man, what I'd give to be in that position in my 20's instead of my late 30's.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why can't other people recognize how great you are?
My resume is pretty scattered. I had good interest with a recruiter sending me FDE roles. But most large orgs look at my resume and run since I have multiple two year stints and stints starting / running my own companies. I'm also fully willing to admit that relative to "senior engineers" of today, maybe I just suck. In that case, idk how to move to what's next. I'm social, but not exactly normal. Also willing to see…
To me that doesn't really say that you have senior engineer skills, i.e. designing scalable systems (both in compute and development-wise), leading multi-person projects, considering trade-offs, etc.
"make a decent salary and work 50hr weeks"
You sound incredibly privileged and entitled. I this just a ragebait post?
This sounds like the issue to me? You’re getting opps but you’re biffing the tech screen. Can you just slam leet code for 2 months and then ace the screen or is it something else?
You have set a high goal of $150k salary without a clear way to achieve it, or a clear passion, if I'm reading correctly. What is your depth of knowledge in? You say software? Law would be an risk idea if you don't love it with all your heart, even people who love law hate it by the end of law school.
People on HN saying $150k is a "high bar" is frankly insulting. Anyone in the bay who's not a founder or working for a meaningless company easily clears $200k. I've started two companies, exited one and technically have the skills of a "senior engineer". I've managed teams of engineers and have architected remote factory production systems for one of my companies along with a dozen or so relatively complex web apps i…