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Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

danielvassallo.com

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Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#201

Post by SatvikBeri »

fjp wrote: post #197
DVassallo wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My expenses are about $150K a year. Fixed costs per month: * $5K mortgage * $1.2K health insurance * $300 life and disability insurance * $800 utilities * $2K home services: nanny, sitter, cleaner * $800 school / preschool and kids activities * $2K groceries, essentials, etc I have a family, two small kids (4 and 2), and live a comfortable life in Seattle. I could obviously adjust my standard of living, move somewher…

Wow how much nanny-ing are you getting for $2k a year?

Those are monthly costs

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#203

Post by DVassallo »

tw1010 wrote: post #52

Now the hard part will be finding a way to be disruptive/innovative after so many years of monotonous work and so much time being brainwashed by the solopreneur propaganda/filter bubble.

You’re right. I don’t need to be disruptive though. I just need to earn enough to cover my expenses. It can even take a couple of years until I break even.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#205

Post by DVassallo »

jldugger wrote: post #152
tyler- wrote: post #15

What kind of companies pay software engineers 300k+? Is it realistic to make 500k-1 million+ at these companies as a developer? What sort of title/level are these developers at? How much is it in stocks/rsus vs salary at that point? Can someone lay out a traditional example at this level? What skillsets do these people have?

It's not realistic, but it happens. Especially with RSU appreciation. AMZN's up 88 percent in the last 2 years, so if you were issued compensation plus refreshers amounting to 300k, but 200k of that was RSU, you're looking at 500k in comp when the stock doubles your grant price.

That’s close, but the majority of my RSUs vested well before the full 88% rise. I only got that much appreciation in the last vest.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#206

Post by DVassallo »

NKosmatos wrote: post #200
DVassallo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. Agree. But I bet most of the audience here is already earning enough. Once you cover the basics, the returns of additional income diminish quickly. I chose to say how much I was earning just to emphasize that everything was really going well at my job, including compensation.

No offense, but there are people all over the world reading HN. We’re not all living in a country that can pay SW engineers such large salaries. Good for you and all the best, but please try to think of us living with 15k€ per year. The reason you’re getting a lot of negativity and envy is because we’re living in different environments and we can’t relate to what you’re describing. Anyhow, I hope your decision plays…

None taken. I grew up and worked in Europe in a country with a median household income of $20K. I understand and been through different circumstances. However this happened to be my situation and I’m describing it as it happened. I think my general point still stands though, that motivation through rewards wears off quickly after clearing a certain level of necessities.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#207

Post by DVassallo »

jmkd wrote: post #130
mprev wrote: post #4

The tl;dr is that when someone is paying you $500k a year then the work itself might not be all that motivating. However, within time, the money isn't enough to motivate you either. You gotta wonder, though, what the rest of the world would think if they stumbled across this kind of blog post.

In addition, the problems he now chooses to work on may not prove to be so important, as the very same motivation he lost at Amazon will remain missing until near the end of his runway. Thus I can foresee an abstract quality to problem-selection, rather than a "damn this needs to be fixed as it's bringing me down on a daily basis" drive to build great things. I hope to be wrong of course, good for him.

I hate seeing negative numbers accumulate in my bank account. I hope that will be enough extrinsic motivation to get me to do something profitable ASAP :)

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#208

Post by DVassallo »

humbleMouse wrote: post #188

OP - what does your wife think of this decision?

Neutral. I promised my family that our lifestyle won’t change. If I don’t make this work, I’ll go back on the job market. If we end up spending our savings we can consider it an advance from retirement and I’ll make up for it later. I got insurance to cover for catastrophic situations.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#210

Post by jacknews »

"My target is to cover my family’s expenses before I run out of savings"

On the one hand I applaud people chasing their dreams, taking risks to start something new etc, but on the other hand, it seems like he's putting a lot of risk on the family and even seems a bit selfish to me.

Wouldn't he be better off starting a fulfilling hobby, or trying to negotiate a 3 or 4-day work-week and starting a side business, etc?

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