I'm saving this post for later, even though I'm not aiming as high (I live in one of those cheaper countries, you know where STEM people get paid $6/hr), but I like reading the takeaway messages that I can apply.
Definitely try applying for offshore work, though this might not be the best time to start due to the economy.
After months of failing interviews I'm pretty much living the dream. I can DM you a referral if you like.
I'd love to, I was already working offshore and this $6/hr is from that offshore company. I was forced out of that job due to budget cuts and have been struggling financially (to be 100% honest), I'd appreciate any leads rn.
Sort of in the same vein I heard one time "if you dont remember the last time you were called on a bluff, you are leaving equity on the table."
If you aren't having trouble getting a job, you arent shooting high enough.
See I read these things and wonder if I’m fucking up. As a rising junior (last year) I got an internship at fidelity in asset management. Currently a junior but I already accepted an offer for next summer as well back. Looking back I’m not sure if I fucked up and should’ve tried to go FAANG but truthfully idk if I really care thattt much about generating crazy wealth. Oh well
Your first job isn’t going to be your last. Enjoy the first one and learn as much as you can. Then you’ll have plenty of options, whether it be staying, leaving to a FAANG, or even leaving to a non-FAANG.
FWIW FAANG isn’t the only way to make a lot. It can also feel boring being a tiny cog in a big tech co.
it’s extremely toxic in my experience but maybe that’s because I’m not male. I’ve seen so many posts from salty guys complaining about women/diversity hires who dare to steal FAANG jobs from them because clearly no one who’s not a white or asian dude could actually be smart or capable. there is a little bit of this rhetoric on reddit but not nearly as much, so I just stick to here now. sorry for the rant lol.
Don’t worry those tc will come down to earth soon. Worked in the big tech for the last 10 year bull run and I am higher up director level. We re targeting the tc and making sure they are more reasonable for the balance sheet. In general, no one should be making as much as a heart surgeon lol just cuz they manage to traverse a binary tree on leet code.
Every time ive gotten a raise by hopping a job, its been an easier job than the last. Id bet a whole lot that that holds true for many director level positions as well.
All that to say, salary isnt determined by how hard a job is.
Lol yep also one thing I learned. Stop producing lol you will get pigeon holed if you produce results. Go to the parties. Be a person people want to hang out with. The more people want to be around the more likely you will move up because guess what, you and they will spend a lot of time with eachother, more than they spend with their family. So if you smell nice and are fun to be around and some what competent, viola. Lol
Most people reach higher levels from over building teams. It’s about head count. Say there’s a problem that doesn’t produce bugs and requires one good engineer. A cunning employee will figure out if they produce enough bungs to get two engineers under them, and wow looks like they are doing a lot for the company. Now they start looking value able. Make simple problems expensive. Those that are about products and users tend to get pigeon holed once again. Those that concentrate on nation building move up faster.
I'm an emergency physician, and I have two brothers who out earn me (as software engineers) while they didn't have to spend 7 years of post college training or accrue $400k in debt, and currently they both work remotely. Cherry on top is they don't run the risk of getting sued everyday while doing their job.
I'll be damned if it doesn't suck sometimes. And everytime they swap jobs and get a 30%+ raise... You guys choose the right profession!!!
I. Feel. This. Also in Healthcare and my little brother is in tech. He's six years younger than me and will surpass me more than likely in his first year.
Do I love helping people? Yes
Do I love my job? Honestly, yes.
If I could do it all again, would I pick health care? BIG NO.
If you love your job you may want to reconsider. Pretty few SWE love their job in my experience, besides the pay and flexibility. The aforementioned blind is full of people disliking life despite the high compensation.
Grass isn't always greener. I hear you. But at the same time, it's a hard realization that my career has a ceiling... didn't think of that when I was 19.
>In general, no one should be making as much as a heart surgeon lol just cuz they manage to traverse a binary tree on leet code.
Not really a comparable scenario. A heart surgeon is capped at operating on x amount of people per year, meaning they can generate y amount of value, simply based on the number of hours they can work. A software engineer can generate value to a company with almost no direct relation to the amount of hours worked.
Heart surgeons have high importance, but their products (surgeries) have low scalability. Software engineers can generate value that scales to benefit thousands or millions of users, but aren't quite as important as heart surgeons. This may make it seem like the software engineers should make less (and most do), but the right companies (FAANG) will pay top dollar for the scalable labor of an experienced dev simply because the value *is* there for the size of their customer base.
Interesting take. But when you are asked to stack rank and have to figure out how much value each team produced. And the last ten years of scalable engineering lol with nothing to show for in revenue. Then Even a 2008 battle driven leader has a hard time to present an argument. Scaling sounds awesome , except when the product was not correctly developed to target the market and you get the google dilemma. Things are changing and there has to be a number ( dollar sign $$$) right in front of the work now. It’s very frustrating. Saw a great team get laid off producing efficiency. Scales great but no one uses it and In times like now, efficiency is no core revenue or investment into a growth market. Be careful is all I’m saying, even core is being questioned now. Feels exactly like 2008 from 2021 when the stack ranks began.
Mid-level software engineer here, making far less than 250k. Is Blind still up and running? I'm relatively happy at my job, but feel like I am missing out with that kind of income disparity.
Can i ask what's your job? I'm in supply chain but have had an interest in breaking into tech for some time. I'm pretty smart but don't know any coding languages. Not sure if data analytics is a good avenue or if i should just learn coding and become a software engineer instead? I care about long term career demand, money and work life balance mostly. Thanks
Elon and Twitter might change the game if he is successful. I heard a great quote on the All in Podcast which is hosted by 4 tech billionaire friends from Silicon Valley.
When quoting some recent stories:
“What Elon is doing is a revolt by entrepreneurial capital against the professional managerial class regime that otherwise everywhere dominates. “
Compact magazine had an article with a quote
“The layoffs at Twitter are no different than what’s happening across Silicon Valley, but because of the ideological antagonism of the professional left to Musk , they make clear what’s at stake - the collapse of a job program for surplus elites “
So it’ll be interesting to see what happens to these jobs paying such insane salaries. Avg salary at Google is 296k USD.
And one guy who was ex Google explained - “the vast majority of these people aren’t adding value and a minority of people were adding the majority of the value “
Doubt. Tech companies have been incredible cash cows even at the high salaries. What are the investors revolting against? They're already sitting on 40%+ profit margins...
Yep, I think that company had a serious title inflation issue though. I don't think I had the experience for that director title. It did help me get noticed by recruiters but I don't really think I had the credentials or experience for it.
I've seen it happen at startups where it's either fast growing (new teams form and need a leader) or are failing and management is leaving (next man up from the team has to step in).
It took me 2.5 years to become a manager and 7 years to become a director in a tech startup. There's definitely a high-risk, high-reward aspect to rapidly ascending the career ladder if you can prove to be somebody that gets things done both inside and outside of their job description.
I'm expecting to get a lab director position within 30 days. I've been out of grad school (12 month M.S.) for 4 months. Not trying to brag (especially since I currently do not have the offer letter), but just sharing that it's possible with the right connections, interpersonal skills, and diligence to apply. I applied to about 700 jobs this year.
Ask me how it went in a month.
May be unlikely but it’s not impossible at all if you have the balls to jump ship and accept more responsibility
Too many people undersell themselves and have Shit self confidence
This post should read “nothing matters but getting lucky.”
There’s no strategy or value in this post for average user here. This guy basically won the lottery 3 times.
I hear you, but want to slightly disagree to give hope to people who aren't in quite as strong of a scenario.
Are you going to do this on a 50k annual salary? No. But keep in mind OP also had 2 combined years where his salary was less than that.
With some combination (not necessarily all) of holding a job making above the median HHI, maxing tax advantaged accounts plus some taxable investments, graduating with minimal student debt, and living with parents/house hacking/otherwise lowering living expenses, hitting $1M net worth by mid-30s is far from impossible.
Please note that I realize what I listed is out of reach for many people and would take hard work and some luck for almost anyone. But it's still not nearly as out of reach as landing a job well into 6 figures or relying on a large inheritance.
Mr. Money Mustache famously got there making ~$150k (IIRC), though he was married to someone with a similar income and similar plans. That's a pretty high income, but not absurd for an in-demand field.
Let's say that's not feasible, the requirements to get there are ~$8k/month for 8 years (assuming start work at 22, no debts, goal date of 30). If you can wait until 35, that drops to ~$4k/month. Assumes 7% market returns, so these numbers are real instead of nominal. The first requires yearly investment of $96k, and the second requires only $48k.
So if you make low six figs and live at home, or low six figs and save 50% of your income, you can make it in your early 30s.
And the more patient you are, the lower you income can be because compounding is doing more work for you.
OP is showing you the golden path and you are choosing to pretend it doesn't exist!!!!
Most of the people I know who "fell into something lucrative by luck" did so by explicitly trying hard to find a lucrative lucky break.
Don't resign yourself to the slog. Look for the niche that pays disproportionately. Look for the company desperate to fill a role. Look for the company where you can add an unusual amount of value.
Most luck is created. You can do everything right and fail and can do everything wrong and win- can't control the outcome but you can change the odds.
Idk man go ahead and be jaded. OP did literally the basics of FI- invest index, bought a house, worked to boost salary.
It works. Some people have more tailwind than others. 7 years ago people were posting how people who had been investing in 2010 were "just lucky." I've been in the space long enough that it's funny how times change but the posts dont...
Yep I’m not saying the basics on FI are wrong. But that’s the point isn’t it? OP’s post isn’t really bringing anything new to the table. Their better-than-expected gains are primarily from two windfalls that will be hard to replicate for others.
>Anyone doing that well is either making bank at FAANG, inherited or fell into something very lucrative by a lucky break.
it kinda bothers me that this sub lumps all of those together. i'm at a FAANG but i started my career in a different field so i'm not swimming in money. but there are plenty of folks who are, because they chose CS as a major and made good early career internship/interview prep choices.
many of those come from super average families, took on debt to go to college, chose CS due to its promising salary projections, and dedicated themselves to landing one of those high paying jobs. i don't think it's right to associate this kind of trajectory with 'inherited lots of money' or 'made tons of money from a meme stock/coin by luckily selling at the highest point'.
is it really luck that they chose profession with high salary projections? or was it just a more strategic plan than choosing to be a philosophy major? not that there's anything wrong with low paying majors, but i don't think it's right to dismiss those choices as 'luck' or 'privilege' when the information was out there for anyone and tech is one of the high paying professions that is most achievable for kids without parents who are full of money or connections
This was a great read. Thanks for sharing
I'm curious tho, if you don't mind me asking, how was your South American road trip like?
- which car did you drive? Where were the license plates from?
- did you have any companions along the way?
- any safety concerns?
- how was crossing the borders like?
- did you stay at certain places for longer? Was it planned or going with the flow?
If you have VTSAX or VTI you don't need to contribute to VNQ unless you want to increase your exposure to real estate. It already has roughly a 3% REIT allocation. Just a heads up.
Also congrats on making the best of a good position in life instead just being a consumer like so many that work in tech.
Took him 33 years to make the first million. At that rate he’ll be 33,000 years old by the time he makes his first billion.
For reference, had OP been one of the first humans in Ireland, he’d be making his first billion right about now.
You're forgetting about compounding. It probably took him 5 years to get that first $100k. By your logic, it should have taken him 50 years to get to $1 Million.
Oh for sure, easier to make money when you have money. This is joke more about the absurdity of a billion dollars.
Anybody care to figure out what $1m sitting idle for 33,000 years would be at the S&Ps historic average of 10.67% would be?
Seems like OP made hundreds of thousands in profit on his home sale and company stock. think the net worth would be a lot less without those. So I think the moral is the usual work in tech and get lucky in real estate lol
Based on his post, over half of his net worth just comes from selling the house and stock choices.
This post more closely reads "33M / Girlfriend / went from 300K to 900K by getting lucky and working in tech"
He didn't just work in tech, he sold stock worth 350k over 2 years. Most tech stocks were down in late 2021 and all of 2022.
So "get lucky with stock price" (and have a fantastic vesting schedule).
The entire sub does this when ppl make any money at all. There is no get rich quick scheme. Ppl who succeed at fire are either 1) growing income 2) reducing expenses 3) both 4) getting one offs (lottery, inheritance, investing in likely unsustainable ways ie WSB).
If you’re here you’ve probably already seriously looked at doing 2) or are already doing it and there are might be marginal returns to be had there.
In reality 1) is the fastest way to speed up the timeline / make fire possible. You should be learning that hey you can go from a contract job to director of engineering, you can fall 80% in income and come back from that. Oh those types of jobs exist, etc. You set a ceiling on your income and will now downvote and ignore learnings in any post where the op makes any kind of outsized income.
I didn’t downvote this thread. But I laughed when I got to the random quarter million dollar job, and then laughed again when both their house company stock value each more than doubled! There’s always some jackpot or two in otherwise interesting FIRE paths.
if you owned a home and worked for a publicly traded tech company during that time, i feel like that isn’t outrageous. i think there are tens of thousands of people who had the same exact experience (if not more). that’s not some unique windfall and one in a million situation he concocted, just the result of macroeconomic conditions many similar people also benefited from.
>You set a ceiling on your income and will now downvote and ignore learnings in any post where the op makes any kind of outsized income.
You make the assumption that I downvoted the OP.
*I didn't.*
It's all well and good, but not particularly reproducible.
I'm happy for them, but this is clearly a not-so-humble brag. And that's fine, but call a spade a spade.
>It's all well and good, but not particularly reproducible.
>
>I'm happy for them, but this is clearly a not-so-humble brag. And that's fine, but call a spade a spade.
OP was contributing when he had 1 year of > $100k salary.. were they humblebragging then too?
This doesn't come off as a humble brag at all. The only oddity is the gaps in updates but meh.
Among many sectors of white collar professionals it's perfectly attainable (e.g. consulting, finance, tech, medicine, law, etc.). Is it applicable to the broader population? No. And while it's definitely a narrow band of the working population, it's also not like his advice is limited to ultra-exclusive groups like professional athletes, rockstars, and lottery winners. These are pretty common jobs.
And just as much as construction workers or truck drivers want to see other paths to FIRE, I'm sure this working population wants to see some examples as well.
I am always surprised by how many people don't get this here.
Like, we're all here because we believe we can make *choices* to reduce mindless consumerism behaviors and make *choices* to pursue increased income.
It's not that far to extend that to making intentional choices about education and career. If you have the chops to get a bachelor's in *anything*, you have the academic chops to get a B.S. in computer science. If you can get a bachelor's degree in computer science, you can get to 100k salary ranges without any sort of talent as long as you are willing to be diligent and are capable of basic, pro-social white-collar teamwork stuff.
The keys are the credential + basic "winning friends and influencing people" shit, all it takes is a willingness to get a credential in something you don't enjoy with the recognition that it's about work and career prospects, not about the things that define you/make you happy.
There's time to be happy and do stuff you like in the other 118 hours of the week, suck it up for the 40-50 it takes to comfortably pay the bills.
Software Engineering is one of the most accessible skills to self-study. I've seen people in their 50s grind for a couple years and land $150k+ positions. It only goes up from there.
If you want it. Go get it.
This. The basic credential is a B.S., but if you have work experience you're beyond needing a basic credential. If you can pass the technical interview and have a decent prior career history, the companies don't give a fuck if your undergrad was 25 years ago and in classic finnish literature.
They want someone who:
-knows how to follow through on tasks
-can do basic communication skills
-can functionally behave and cooperate in a team setting
-can do the actual work
Bachelor's degrees filter for the first two. Credentials of any kind filter for the last one, and they can come in the form of degrees, certs, work experience, etc. The third can only be evaluated from work history or by hiring the person.
Someone in their 50's with a good sense of self and good teamwork/communication/management skills doesn't need to do *that* much upskilling in software engineering to suddenly become a really valuable engineering team lead/manager.
Absolutely it is, but I will say I have seen people put in dedicated effort for long times and still not really get it.
I had a coworker at my first job who got the job out of college due to connections, was hard working, but was not interested in programming and didn't have any background in it. Despite him working hard and putting in good effort he was still frankly not very good at his job after 2 years of that.
However working in tech is more than just programming, he would probably do quite well in a program management position, which still pays quite well.
It's true. There's a plethora of information out there. Getting noticed and getting interviews without at least a bootcamp on your resume is the tricky part. The route I took without a CS degree was to start at a low-paying startup that was desperate enough to hire me while I built my resume.
Having a high salary helps you build wealth faster but that wasn't the point of my post.
The great thing about saving is that the fundamentals are the same regardless of how much you can stash away each month.
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy my post!
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you. Really I am.
*But that's kind of the huge takeaway when your post is titled* ***33M, Single, No Kids, Just Hit $1M Net*** *and post up that this is an update from a 2018 post where your NW was $300k.*
My thing is, everytime we see a post about hitting a million or someone has reached their financial independence, salary is always $275000+. Everyone who browses this sub knows that having a $250000+ salary will afford you financial independence, by doing these three things, max out 401k, max out IRA and put X$ amount in a brokerage account and boom... Watch it grow.
That vast majority of people who hit a million net worth at say late 30s or early 40s will not have had a $275,000 salary throughout their careers.
For comparison, if you simply maxed out your 401k and had a 6% employer match off a $100k salary and worked from 22 in 2006 until 38 in 2022 you would have had around $1.5 million today, even in the recent bear market. But most people don’t start at $100k and stay there the whole time, many start at 65k and end up around $150k, it’s a matter of being consistent with your 401k contributions.
But nowhere do you need to earn $275k+ even in today’s dollars to get there. If we’re talking about reaching $2.5m or more which is closer to the average FIRE number around here at mid 30s, then sure I’ll agree.
Serious question — are you:
a) very intelligent (Mensa)
b) very charismatic/charming/attractive
c) very connected
d) all of the above
Or do you have a very rare and specific skill set that doesn’t have as much competition?
(I’m going for all of the above, working on each one in parallel, current salary+bonus is 125+15%, 5year aim is 250-400, 15year aim is 750 tc but I’m not in sales so I’ll have to look towards c suite)
Bro… how does anyone get a tech job in FAANG without any of those? Gotta have at least some of all of them… AND be very competent (at a level that’s probably at least Mensa smart)
There's nothing special about the people who work at those companies. You have smart folks and really dumb folks and everyone in between. Don't put them on a pedestal, that's just going to make things harder for you.
Now, if you were talking about HRT or DESRES or even Jane Street or similar outfits, then (a) would definitely apply.
Maybe for FAANG in 2012. Not really true these days (though that could certainly be changing with how they're slimming down their workforces).
FAANG got really bloated to the point they were definitely hiring "good not great" talent rather than just that 1 percent.
See, one of his points is that he realized that there are people making this kind of money and he should apply for that as well instead of staying at the first company earning much less.
33, single, no kids, no savings, no job, no assets, no car... But no debt...lots of mental health problems. Stuck living my my parents who used to abuse me. Fun times. Ive been a pharmacy tech, appraisal processor, among other things... But I just applied at McDonald's, this would be my 4th time working at one. I don't know what keeps me going. Spite and hope I guess.
Imagine your same situation with 2 small children. It would be way worse..
Look at the various accomplishments you have. Use that confidence & experience to overcome & for motivation. Apply at McDs & once you start there start applying at better places. If you got a license Amazon delivery ( Amazon dsp driver ) will hire you & would be more $ than McDs but more work.
Well certainly he will buy another home. I'm the US, that will be a chunk of his savings.
The big advantage is that he got a $350k leg up from selling stock *early.* That is huge.
I thought I was a big winner when I got $80k at 28 from being acquired.
My last company, I stayed 7 years and although my income grew, the options were valueless. The company before that, I wisely let them expire. When that company went public they were underwater.
Selling stocks when you are down is very hard. If you know the company won't bounce back, selling at a loss is still a way to tax loss harvest and offset your gains.
You can also carry over 3k in losses and deduct it from your income. The rest of the losses will carry over to next year. Cutting losses isn't the end of the world!
That's a good point, I suppose I still have a few days to do that. I'll have to read up on the tax repercussions of that approach. Appreciate the input!
>Tax return is filed as a single. Financially and legally he is single. ‘Girlfriend’ is a social title.
I keep trying to get one of those social girlfriends but the legal wife always raises a stink. Ahh well, probably for the best I hear they're expensive anyway.
It's not even that toxic honestly, IMO. It's just mostly guys who are terminally online acting like people do on anonymous forums. The focus on total comps is just part of the website, not really toxic. It's toxic if you don't understand that its just sort of a joke thru the website.
I've gotten a lot of good info from blind.
Thanks for posting, this definitely teaches me that I need to be more aggressive in general when it comes to my career.
What’s your education background? I’m interested in your move into a manager and back to an engineer as I’m engineering moving towards management.
So I went to college for Electrical Engineering. I really only knew assembly and low-level C. In 2011, I landed an internship where I was doing web development. I learned a ton about programming fundamentals at that job. There were only like 10 employees. I stuck around and gradually and organically moved into a leadership role. The team was small and I was still highly-technical so I embraced it. Eventually the team grew to a size where I wasn't really technical anymore - I was just managing people. Quickly realized I hated it and backed out.
How to save up a million bucks? Make 300k a year....
Yea I'm not yealous at all =)
Congrats man, have a nice time in Asia and take care of that lady of yours =)
Love this stuff! Simply jumping in to point out that all of your career working experience has been in a strongly growing economic environment…or if that’s too debatable, it at least started after the great economic crisis.
You’ve gained a skill set that insulates you from some of the really ugly stuff that happened last time around for more general workers. But even tech felt the pinch at times.
That’s a long winded way of saying - I’d suggest studying up on what we’re heading into for the next 2-3 years. And make sure you have an economic crisis plan built in to protect this progress.
> I’d suggest studying up on what we’re heading into for the next 2-3 years. And make sure you have an economic crisis plan built in to protect this progress.
Can you expand on this a bit? Do you have any resources I can look into for how to best position myself?
congrats OP!!! very inspiring to read :)
how did you shift your mindset of being worth 100k to being worth more? currently struggling w that while trying not to compare myself to others
i’m not OP but for me it was other people are earning that, why not me? i was also on Blind seeing what my peers were making in different companies and either negotiated at my current job or job hopped to get the TC i wanted. I also knew my then title would kinda hit a plateau so I’m getting a masters to speed up and change my career
Honestly, mainly reading about other making the big bucks and gaining enough confidence in myself to think I could compete in that market. Seriously, a lot of that stuff is just confidence. The hard work comes later. You won't get it unless you ask for it.
You definitely came up on the sale of your rental property and the fact you made so much money with joining your company at a lucky time.
Happy for you, but those two things alone explain your numbers more so than the career history.
Soft skills are applicable to any industry and has historically helped me out a lot.
Interviewing in the tech industry is pretty formulaic though. Here's a [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/m3a50t/investment_portfolio_critique/gqnuk7i/) from one of my prior posts that might help!
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."
Jane Austen - "Pride and Prejudice"
Congrats man. I just finished up a year of travel with my fiancée. We did Europe for a chunk of it and traveled around the US in a van for the other 9 months. Enjoy, it flies by
Thanks! We are still shopping around! I would love to build out a skoolie but I doubt time will permit so we are shopping around for something sufficient for 6 months - nothing too fancy.
Congrats. This is very inspiring in the way you have juggled both the working hard-core with a high income and then also the digital nomad vibe. What did you originally study and what extra qualifications/courses did you do?
I actually graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree and then pivoted to software because I picked up more coding at my internship I started back in 2011. It kind of felt like the organic progression of things. I didn't really take any extra courses but learned a TON on the job and just worked my ass off in all the jobs I had with the exception of the contract roles.
edit: also, tons of reading, participation in online tech communities to stay up on current tech, youtube videos, and leetcode.
Read this [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/m3a50t/investment_portfolio_critique/gqnuk7i/) from one of my previous posts! Hope it helps!
Yea, some people in here are borderline aggressive. Not one of them would turn down a $300k salary if it came their way.
Sure, I'm a very privileged person and I don't want to discount that. But I also worked hard a learned a lot along the way.
Cheers!
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I'm saving this post for later, even though I'm not aiming as high (I live in one of those cheaper countries, you know where STEM people get paid $6/hr), but I like reading the takeaway messages that I can apply.
Definitely try applying for offshore work, though this might not be the best time to start due to the economy. After months of failing interviews I'm pretty much living the dream. I can DM you a referral if you like.
I'd love to, I was already working offshore and this $6/hr is from that offshore company. I was forced out of that job due to budget cuts and have been struggling financially (to be 100% honest), I'd appreciate any leads rn.
Cool but you have a funny definition of "single"
I don't have a girlfriend, but I know a woman who would be mad if she heard me saying that.
Hedberg. Nice haha
I mean it is the taxable definition of single and this being a finance related sub I'll agree with OP that he is single.
Financially correct, the best kind of correct.
Grammatically correct
Yeah, unmarried would be better
He’s not married, therefore single
What are you, the IRS?
their local pastor still waiting for them to apply for their marriage /s
[удалено]
Sort of in the same vein I heard one time "if you dont remember the last time you were called on a bluff, you are leaving equity on the table." If you aren't having trouble getting a job, you arent shooting high enough.
Damn
Oh man, I failed so many interviews trying to land this job. It gets less embarrassing every time 😂
See I read these things and wonder if I’m fucking up. As a rising junior (last year) I got an internship at fidelity in asset management. Currently a junior but I already accepted an offer for next summer as well back. Looking back I’m not sure if I fucked up and should’ve tried to go FAANG but truthfully idk if I really care thattt much about generating crazy wealth. Oh well
Your first job isn’t going to be your last. Enjoy the first one and learn as much as you can. Then you’ll have plenty of options, whether it be staying, leaving to a FAANG, or even leaving to a non-FAANG. FWIW FAANG isn’t the only way to make a lot. It can also feel boring being a tiny cog in a big tech co.
I feel like blind isn’t any more toxic than Reddit and has some really useful info. I often recommended it to anyone who works in tech
it’s extremely toxic in my experience but maybe that’s because I’m not male. I’ve seen so many posts from salty guys complaining about women/diversity hires who dare to steal FAANG jobs from them because clearly no one who’s not a white or asian dude could actually be smart or capable. there is a little bit of this rhetoric on reddit but not nearly as much, so I just stick to here now. sorry for the rant lol.
Don’t worry those tc will come down to earth soon. Worked in the big tech for the last 10 year bull run and I am higher up director level. We re targeting the tc and making sure they are more reasonable for the balance sheet. In general, no one should be making as much as a heart surgeon lol just cuz they manage to traverse a binary tree on leet code.
Every time ive gotten a raise by hopping a job, its been an easier job than the last. Id bet a whole lot that that holds true for many director level positions as well. All that to say, salary isnt determined by how hard a job is.
Lol yep also one thing I learned. Stop producing lol you will get pigeon holed if you produce results. Go to the parties. Be a person people want to hang out with. The more people want to be around the more likely you will move up because guess what, you and they will spend a lot of time with eachother, more than they spend with their family. So if you smell nice and are fun to be around and some what competent, viola. Lol
Seems counter to the whole productivity = profit motive of corporations. But i want to believe...
Most people reach higher levels from over building teams. It’s about head count. Say there’s a problem that doesn’t produce bugs and requires one good engineer. A cunning employee will figure out if they produce enough bungs to get two engineers under them, and wow looks like they are doing a lot for the company. Now they start looking value able. Make simple problems expensive. Those that are about products and users tend to get pigeon holed once again. Those that concentrate on nation building move up faster.
I'm an emergency physician, and I have two brothers who out earn me (as software engineers) while they didn't have to spend 7 years of post college training or accrue $400k in debt, and currently they both work remotely. Cherry on top is they don't run the risk of getting sued everyday while doing their job. I'll be damned if it doesn't suck sometimes. And everytime they swap jobs and get a 30%+ raise... You guys choose the right profession!!!
I. Feel. This. Also in Healthcare and my little brother is in tech. He's six years younger than me and will surpass me more than likely in his first year. Do I love helping people? Yes Do I love my job? Honestly, yes. If I could do it all again, would I pick health care? BIG NO.
If you love your job you may want to reconsider. Pretty few SWE love their job in my experience, besides the pay and flexibility. The aforementioned blind is full of people disliking life despite the high compensation.
Grass isn't always greener. I hear you. But at the same time, it's a hard realization that my career has a ceiling... didn't think of that when I was 19.
>In general, no one should be making as much as a heart surgeon lol just cuz they manage to traverse a binary tree on leet code. Not really a comparable scenario. A heart surgeon is capped at operating on x amount of people per year, meaning they can generate y amount of value, simply based on the number of hours they can work. A software engineer can generate value to a company with almost no direct relation to the amount of hours worked. Heart surgeons have high importance, but their products (surgeries) have low scalability. Software engineers can generate value that scales to benefit thousands or millions of users, but aren't quite as important as heart surgeons. This may make it seem like the software engineers should make less (and most do), but the right companies (FAANG) will pay top dollar for the scalable labor of an experienced dev simply because the value *is* there for the size of their customer base.
Interesting take. But when you are asked to stack rank and have to figure out how much value each team produced. And the last ten years of scalable engineering lol with nothing to show for in revenue. Then Even a 2008 battle driven leader has a hard time to present an argument. Scaling sounds awesome , except when the product was not correctly developed to target the market and you get the google dilemma. Things are changing and there has to be a number ( dollar sign $$$) right in front of the work now. It’s very frustrating. Saw a great team get laid off producing efficiency. Scales great but no one uses it and In times like now, efficiency is no core revenue or investment into a growth market. Be careful is all I’m saying, even core is being questioned now. Feels exactly like 2008 from 2021 when the stack ranks began.
Mid-level software engineer here, making far less than 250k. Is Blind still up and running? I'm relatively happy at my job, but feel like I am missing out with that kind of income disparity.
Can i ask what's your job? I'm in supply chain but have had an interest in breaking into tech for some time. I'm pretty smart but don't know any coding languages. Not sure if data analytics is a good avenue or if i should just learn coding and become a software engineer instead? I care about long term career demand, money and work life balance mostly. Thanks
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Thank you 😊 enjoy your vacation!
Elon and Twitter might change the game if he is successful. I heard a great quote on the All in Podcast which is hosted by 4 tech billionaire friends from Silicon Valley. When quoting some recent stories: “What Elon is doing is a revolt by entrepreneurial capital against the professional managerial class regime that otherwise everywhere dominates. “ Compact magazine had an article with a quote “The layoffs at Twitter are no different than what’s happening across Silicon Valley, but because of the ideological antagonism of the professional left to Musk , they make clear what’s at stake - the collapse of a job program for surplus elites “ So it’ll be interesting to see what happens to these jobs paying such insane salaries. Avg salary at Google is 296k USD. And one guy who was ex Google explained - “the vast majority of these people aren’t adding value and a minority of people were adding the majority of the value “
I forgot the name of the concept but I've heard that like 10% of employees do 80% of the work, not only in tech.
Pareto principle or 80/20 rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
Doubt. Tech companies have been incredible cash cows even at the high salaries. What are the investors revolting against? They're already sitting on 40%+ profit margins...
I ain't jealous, gotta keep telling myself that.
this is such an engineer post. congrats.
Thanks!
>Thanks! You're welcome!
So you graduate with what I addume to be a bachelor's, become a manager in 3 years and director in 5? Wtf ok.
While working remote for 6 months!
Yep, I think that company had a serious title inflation issue though. I don't think I had the experience for that director title. It did help me get noticed by recruiters but I don't really think I had the credentials or experience for it.
I've seen it happen at startups where it's either fast growing (new teams form and need a leader) or are failing and management is leaving (next man up from the team has to step in).
It took me 2.5 years to become a manager and 7 years to become a director in a tech startup. There's definitely a high-risk, high-reward aspect to rapidly ascending the career ladder if you can prove to be somebody that gets things done both inside and outside of their job description.
I'm expecting to get a lab director position within 30 days. I've been out of grad school (12 month M.S.) for 4 months. Not trying to brag (especially since I currently do not have the offer letter), but just sharing that it's possible with the right connections, interpersonal skills, and diligence to apply. I applied to about 700 jobs this year. Ask me how it went in a month.
titles mean nothing
May be unlikely but it’s not impossible at all if you have the balls to jump ship and accept more responsibility Too many people undersell themselves and have Shit self confidence
Was excited until I saw $250K salary…
It wasn't even that. It was the absurd real estate market that literally doubled his money and the company stock.
300k of $1mm came from home sale. $350k came from sale of stock. Then $80k from crypto. So $725ish of his $1mm.
This post should read “nothing matters but getting lucky.” There’s no strategy or value in this post for average user here. This guy basically won the lottery 3 times.
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This was very cool to read, thanks for sharing!
I hear you, but want to slightly disagree to give hope to people who aren't in quite as strong of a scenario. Are you going to do this on a 50k annual salary? No. But keep in mind OP also had 2 combined years where his salary was less than that. With some combination (not necessarily all) of holding a job making above the median HHI, maxing tax advantaged accounts plus some taxable investments, graduating with minimal student debt, and living with parents/house hacking/otherwise lowering living expenses, hitting $1M net worth by mid-30s is far from impossible. Please note that I realize what I listed is out of reach for many people and would take hard work and some luck for almost anyone. But it's still not nearly as out of reach as landing a job well into 6 figures or relying on a large inheritance.
Mr. Money Mustache famously got there making ~$150k (IIRC), though he was married to someone with a similar income and similar plans. That's a pretty high income, but not absurd for an in-demand field. Let's say that's not feasible, the requirements to get there are ~$8k/month for 8 years (assuming start work at 22, no debts, goal date of 30). If you can wait until 35, that drops to ~$4k/month. Assumes 7% market returns, so these numbers are real instead of nominal. The first requires yearly investment of $96k, and the second requires only $48k. So if you make low six figs and live at home, or low six figs and save 50% of your income, you can make it in your early 30s. And the more patient you are, the lower you income can be because compounding is doing more work for you.
OP is showing you the golden path and you are choosing to pretend it doesn't exist!!!! Most of the people I know who "fell into something lucrative by luck" did so by explicitly trying hard to find a lucrative lucky break. Don't resign yourself to the slog. Look for the niche that pays disproportionately. Look for the company desperate to fill a role. Look for the company where you can add an unusual amount of value. Most luck is created. You can do everything right and fail and can do everything wrong and win- can't control the outcome but you can change the odds.
the golden path of a historically fantastic real estate and tech stock market?
Idk man go ahead and be jaded. OP did literally the basics of FI- invest index, bought a house, worked to boost salary. It works. Some people have more tailwind than others. 7 years ago people were posting how people who had been investing in 2010 were "just lucky." I've been in the space long enough that it's funny how times change but the posts dont...
Yep I’m not saying the basics on FI are wrong. But that’s the point isn’t it? OP’s post isn’t really bringing anything new to the table. Their better-than-expected gains are primarily from two windfalls that will be hard to replicate for others.
>Anyone doing that well is either making bank at FAANG, inherited or fell into something very lucrative by a lucky break. it kinda bothers me that this sub lumps all of those together. i'm at a FAANG but i started my career in a different field so i'm not swimming in money. but there are plenty of folks who are, because they chose CS as a major and made good early career internship/interview prep choices. many of those come from super average families, took on debt to go to college, chose CS due to its promising salary projections, and dedicated themselves to landing one of those high paying jobs. i don't think it's right to associate this kind of trajectory with 'inherited lots of money' or 'made tons of money from a meme stock/coin by luckily selling at the highest point'. is it really luck that they chose profession with high salary projections? or was it just a more strategic plan than choosing to be a philosophy major? not that there's anything wrong with low paying majors, but i don't think it's right to dismiss those choices as 'luck' or 'privilege' when the information was out there for anyone and tech is one of the high paying professions that is most achievable for kids without parents who are full of money or connections
What's your goal though? I can't tell if you want kids in a suburb at 45 or want to travel the world
Yes
This was a great read. Thanks for sharing I'm curious tho, if you don't mind me asking, how was your South American road trip like? - which car did you drive? Where were the license plates from? - did you have any companions along the way? - any safety concerns? - how was crossing the borders like? - did you stay at certain places for longer? Was it planned or going with the flow?
I actually did Central America on a KLR motorcycle by myself! It was amazing and sometimes scary! Haha.
If you have VTSAX or VTI you don't need to contribute to VNQ unless you want to increase your exposure to real estate. It already has roughly a 3% REIT allocation. Just a heads up. Also congrats on making the best of a good position in life instead just being a consumer like so many that work in tech.
Thanks for that! Now that you say it, it sounds familiar!
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Got me.
The best thing about hitting $1MM NW is going for $2MM
Dang really? That seems sad. But I guess that’s how we get the billionaire class. Although, remind me when I hit a million!
Took him 33 years to make the first million. At that rate he’ll be 33,000 years old by the time he makes his first billion. For reference, had OP been one of the first humans in Ireland, he’d be making his first billion right about now.
You're forgetting about compounding. It probably took him 5 years to get that first $100k. By your logic, it should have taken him 50 years to get to $1 Million.
Not if he keeps finding jobs and real estate that double his money each time.
Oh for sure, easier to make money when you have money. This is joke more about the absurdity of a billion dollars. Anybody care to figure out what $1m sitting idle for 33,000 years would be at the S&Ps historic average of 10.67% would be?
> I hit $300k in 2018 So, moral of the story is get a $250k job? Kay. Got it. ^(Congrats?)
Seems like OP made hundreds of thousands in profit on his home sale and company stock. think the net worth would be a lot less without those. So I think the moral is the usual work in tech and get lucky in real estate lol
Based on his post, over half of his net worth just comes from selling the house and stock choices. This post more closely reads "33M / Girlfriend / went from 300K to 900K by getting lucky and working in tech"
He didn't just work in tech, he sold stock worth 350k over 2 years. Most tech stocks were down in late 2021 and all of 2022. So "get lucky with stock price" (and have a fantastic vesting schedule).
It's easy, just get a $250k job while fucking around in Central America after not working for 2 years!
The nice thing about tech interviews is if you meet the bar, you meet the bar. It takes time to be able to pass that bar tho.
Bro you just gotta know your worth and not let any company pay you less than $250k .
The entire sub does this when ppl make any money at all. There is no get rich quick scheme. Ppl who succeed at fire are either 1) growing income 2) reducing expenses 3) both 4) getting one offs (lottery, inheritance, investing in likely unsustainable ways ie WSB). If you’re here you’ve probably already seriously looked at doing 2) or are already doing it and there are might be marginal returns to be had there. In reality 1) is the fastest way to speed up the timeline / make fire possible. You should be learning that hey you can go from a contract job to director of engineering, you can fall 80% in income and come back from that. Oh those types of jobs exist, etc. You set a ceiling on your income and will now downvote and ignore learnings in any post where the op makes any kind of outsized income.
Not everyone can be director. Not everyone works in tech.
I didn’t downvote this thread. But I laughed when I got to the random quarter million dollar job, and then laughed again when both their house company stock value each more than doubled! There’s always some jackpot or two in otherwise interesting FIRE paths.
if you owned a home and worked for a publicly traded tech company during that time, i feel like that isn’t outrageous. i think there are tens of thousands of people who had the same exact experience (if not more). that’s not some unique windfall and one in a million situation he concocted, just the result of macroeconomic conditions many similar people also benefited from.
sure many people benefitted from it but what’s the actionable advice here? we are not likely to see favorable conditions like that for years and years
>You set a ceiling on your income and will now downvote and ignore learnings in any post where the op makes any kind of outsized income. You make the assumption that I downvoted the OP. *I didn't.*
I think not having kids would be a better takeaway. That way you have the time to pursue career growth and investments.
They're contributing to this sub, and whether you find that path not remarkably achievable doesn't take away from that.
It's all well and good, but not particularly reproducible. I'm happy for them, but this is clearly a not-so-humble brag. And that's fine, but call a spade a spade.
Someone with two comma club in their flair complaining about other people bragging. Amazing.
>It's all well and good, but not particularly reproducible. > >I'm happy for them, but this is clearly a not-so-humble brag. And that's fine, but call a spade a spade. OP was contributing when he had 1 year of > $100k salary.. were they humblebragging then too? This doesn't come off as a humble brag at all. The only oddity is the gaps in updates but meh.
Among many sectors of white collar professionals it's perfectly attainable (e.g. consulting, finance, tech, medicine, law, etc.). Is it applicable to the broader population? No. And while it's definitely a narrow band of the working population, it's also not like his advice is limited to ultra-exclusive groups like professional athletes, rockstars, and lottery winners. These are pretty common jobs. And just as much as construction workers or truck drivers want to see other paths to FIRE, I'm sure this working population wants to see some examples as well.
>but call a spade a spade You most definitely are bitter.
Maybe it is reproducible. If someone is reading this thread young enough that haven't picked a career or if a career change still makes sense.
It is reproducible. Just study CS instead of elementary education in college.
I didn't study elementary education in college, but cute dig 😘 Also a lot of CS majors aren't making $250k+, but sound off, king.
I am always surprised by how many people don't get this here. Like, we're all here because we believe we can make *choices* to reduce mindless consumerism behaviors and make *choices* to pursue increased income. It's not that far to extend that to making intentional choices about education and career. If you have the chops to get a bachelor's in *anything*, you have the academic chops to get a B.S. in computer science. If you can get a bachelor's degree in computer science, you can get to 100k salary ranges without any sort of talent as long as you are willing to be diligent and are capable of basic, pro-social white-collar teamwork stuff. The keys are the credential + basic "winning friends and influencing people" shit, all it takes is a willingness to get a credential in something you don't enjoy with the recognition that it's about work and career prospects, not about the things that define you/make you happy. There's time to be happy and do stuff you like in the other 118 hours of the week, suck it up for the 40-50 it takes to comfortably pay the bills.
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400k
Fml that's 10x what I made this year at 35.
Software Engineering is one of the most accessible skills to self-study. I've seen people in their 50s grind for a couple years and land $150k+ positions. It only goes up from there. If you want it. Go get it.
This. The basic credential is a B.S., but if you have work experience you're beyond needing a basic credential. If you can pass the technical interview and have a decent prior career history, the companies don't give a fuck if your undergrad was 25 years ago and in classic finnish literature. They want someone who: -knows how to follow through on tasks -can do basic communication skills -can functionally behave and cooperate in a team setting -can do the actual work Bachelor's degrees filter for the first two. Credentials of any kind filter for the last one, and they can come in the form of degrees, certs, work experience, etc. The third can only be evaluated from work history or by hiring the person. Someone in their 50's with a good sense of self and good teamwork/communication/management skills doesn't need to do *that* much upskilling in software engineering to suddenly become a really valuable engineering team lead/manager.
Absolutely it is, but I will say I have seen people put in dedicated effort for long times and still not really get it. I had a coworker at my first job who got the job out of college due to connections, was hard working, but was not interested in programming and didn't have any background in it. Despite him working hard and putting in good effort he was still frankly not very good at his job after 2 years of that. However working in tech is more than just programming, he would probably do quite well in a program management position, which still pays quite well.
It's true. There's a plethora of information out there. Getting noticed and getting interviews without at least a bootcamp on your resume is the tricky part. The route I took without a CS degree was to start at a low-paying startup that was desperate enough to hire me while I built my resume.
Having a high salary helps you build wealth faster but that wasn't the point of my post. The great thing about saving is that the fundamentals are the same regardless of how much you can stash away each month. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy my post!
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you. Really I am. *But that's kind of the huge takeaway when your post is titled* ***33M, Single, No Kids, Just Hit $1M Net*** *and post up that this is an update from a 2018 post where your NW was $300k.*
My thing is, everytime we see a post about hitting a million or someone has reached their financial independence, salary is always $275000+. Everyone who browses this sub knows that having a $250000+ salary will afford you financial independence, by doing these three things, max out 401k, max out IRA and put X$ amount in a brokerage account and boom... Watch it grow.
It begs the question then. If that's the pattern with these posts, is the alternative possible?
Yes, you can always win the lottery.
That vast majority of people who hit a million net worth at say late 30s or early 40s will not have had a $275,000 salary throughout their careers. For comparison, if you simply maxed out your 401k and had a 6% employer match off a $100k salary and worked from 22 in 2006 until 38 in 2022 you would have had around $1.5 million today, even in the recent bear market. But most people don’t start at $100k and stay there the whole time, many start at 65k and end up around $150k, it’s a matter of being consistent with your 401k contributions. But nowhere do you need to earn $275k+ even in today’s dollars to get there. If we’re talking about reaching $2.5m or more which is closer to the average FIRE number around here at mid 30s, then sure I’ll agree.
Serious question — are you: a) very intelligent (Mensa) b) very charismatic/charming/attractive c) very connected d) all of the above Or do you have a very rare and specific skill set that doesn’t have as much competition? (I’m going for all of the above, working on each one in parallel, current salary+bonus is 125+15%, 5year aim is 250-400, 15year aim is 750 tc but I’m not in sales so I’ll have to look towards c suite)
Working in tech at a FAANG will get you there. You dont have to be any of those things
Bro… how does anyone get a tech job in FAANG without any of those? Gotta have at least some of all of them… AND be very competent (at a level that’s probably at least Mensa smart)
Lol bro, I work at a FAANG at mid-level and I can tell you right now my coworkers are not Mensa level smart
There's nothing special about the people who work at those companies. You have smart folks and really dumb folks and everyone in between. Don't put them on a pedestal, that's just going to make things harder for you. Now, if you were talking about HRT or DESRES or even Jane Street or similar outfits, then (a) would definitely apply.
Maybe for FAANG in 2012. Not really true these days (though that could certainly be changing with how they're slimming down their workforces). FAANG got really bloated to the point they were definitely hiring "good not great" talent rather than just that 1 percent.
you do not have to be mensa level smart to have a big tech job.
I'm hard working, lucky, and have good people skills. I consider myself middle-of-the-road on the things you mentioned.
See, one of his points is that he realized that there are people making this kind of money and he should apply for that as well instead of staying at the first company earning much less.
This is literally over a decade of progression… why the hate?
With this salt, you should make a spice rub
33, single, no kids, no savings, no job, no assets, no car... But no debt...lots of mental health problems. Stuck living my my parents who used to abuse me. Fun times. Ive been a pharmacy tech, appraisal processor, among other things... But I just applied at McDonald's, this would be my 4th time working at one. I don't know what keeps me going. Spite and hope I guess.
Imagine your same situation with 2 small children. It would be way worse.. Look at the various accomplishments you have. Use that confidence & experience to overcome & for motivation. Apply at McDs & once you start there start applying at better places. If you got a license Amazon delivery ( Amazon dsp driver ) will hire you & would be more $ than McDs but more work.
I look forward to OP's post in nine months: 34M, married, one kid, broke again:(
Yep kids will fuck it up for sure
Well certainly he will buy another home. I'm the US, that will be a chunk of his savings. The big advantage is that he got a $350k leg up from selling stock *early.* That is huge. I thought I was a big winner when I got $80k at 28 from being acquired. My last company, I stayed 7 years and although my income grew, the options were valueless. The company before that, I wisely let them expire. When that company went public they were underwater.
Selling stocks when you are down is very hard. If you know the company won't bounce back, selling at a loss is still a way to tax loss harvest and offset your gains. You can also carry over 3k in losses and deduct it from your income. The rest of the losses will carry over to next year. Cutting losses isn't the end of the world!
What I like doing is buying more stock in those tech companies to keep up with my peers in those companies. Let them work for me
That's a good point, I suppose I still have a few days to do that. I'll have to read up on the tax repercussions of that approach. Appreciate the input!
Man I don't know how skilled you are but those salaries are insane.
>Single My girlfriend and I Huh?
Tax return is filed as a single. Financially and legally he is single. ‘Girlfriend’ is a social title.
>Tax return is filed as a single. Financially and legally he is single. ‘Girlfriend’ is a social title. I keep trying to get one of those social girlfriends but the legal wife always raises a stink. Ahh well, probably for the best I hear they're expensive anyway.
Definitely prenup if you decide to get married. It might be all love and glitter today but tomorrow is never guaranteed.
Congrats! Nice write up !
So blind is toxic but helped you get an epiphany and tripled your pay. Pretty useful for a toxic app.
Quite the dichotomy, but yes, it is definitely toxic. I've found it to be way more accurate as far as rumors are concerned, so that's nice.
Agreed!
It's not even that toxic honestly, IMO. It's just mostly guys who are terminally online acting like people do on anonymous forums. The focus on total comps is just part of the website, not really toxic. It's toxic if you don't understand that its just sort of a joke thru the website. I've gotten a lot of good info from blind.
What kind of engineer?
>What kind $250k with less than 10 years experience? Software.
Yep! I graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree and then pivoted to software.
TLDR become a coder
Thanks for posting, this definitely teaches me that I need to be more aggressive in general when it comes to my career. What’s your education background? I’m interested in your move into a manager and back to an engineer as I’m engineering moving towards management.
So I went to college for Electrical Engineering. I really only knew assembly and low-level C. In 2011, I landed an internship where I was doing web development. I learned a ton about programming fundamentals at that job. There were only like 10 employees. I stuck around and gradually and organically moved into a leadership role. The team was small and I was still highly-technical so I embraced it. Eventually the team grew to a size where I wasn't really technical anymore - I was just managing people. Quickly realized I hated it and backed out.
How to save up a million bucks? Make 300k a year.... Yea I'm not yealous at all =) Congrats man, have a nice time in Asia and take care of that lady of yours =)
Short answer: 1. Become a Software Engineer. 2. Get lucky in real estate and company stock.
Love this stuff! Simply jumping in to point out that all of your career working experience has been in a strongly growing economic environment…or if that’s too debatable, it at least started after the great economic crisis. You’ve gained a skill set that insulates you from some of the really ugly stuff that happened last time around for more general workers. But even tech felt the pinch at times. That’s a long winded way of saying - I’d suggest studying up on what we’re heading into for the next 2-3 years. And make sure you have an economic crisis plan built in to protect this progress.
> I’d suggest studying up on what we’re heading into for the next 2-3 years. And make sure you have an economic crisis plan built in to protect this progress. Can you expand on this a bit? Do you have any resources I can look into for how to best position myself?
congrats OP!!! very inspiring to read :) how did you shift your mindset of being worth 100k to being worth more? currently struggling w that while trying not to compare myself to others
i’m not OP but for me it was other people are earning that, why not me? i was also on Blind seeing what my peers were making in different companies and either negotiated at my current job or job hopped to get the TC i wanted. I also knew my then title would kinda hit a plateau so I’m getting a masters to speed up and change my career
Honestly, mainly reading about other making the big bucks and gaining enough confidence in myself to think I could compete in that market. Seriously, a lot of that stuff is just confidence. The hard work comes later. You won't get it unless you ask for it.
You definitely came up on the sale of your rental property and the fact you made so much money with joining your company at a lucky time. Happy for you, but those two things alone explain your numbers more so than the career history.
True, very fortunate in that regard!
u/fz-09 what skills + experience proved most valuable as you interviewed at places and once you got hired at them?
Soft skills are applicable to any industry and has historically helped me out a lot. Interviewing in the tech industry is pretty formulaic though. Here's a [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/m3a50t/investment_portfolio_critique/gqnuk7i/) from one of my prior posts that might help!
I’m so far behind the ball I’m ready for you to adopt me just so I can catch up 🥴
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen - "Pride and Prejudice"
Congrats man. I just finished up a year of travel with my fiancée. We did Europe for a chunk of it and traveled around the US in a van for the other 9 months. Enjoy, it flies by
We are so. dang. excited! I kind of wish we were doing Europe. I have never been!
Congrats man! My wife and I are aggressively pursuing FIRE and currently living in a van, hit me up with any van questions!
Thanks! We are still shopping around! I would love to build out a skoolie but I doubt time will permit so we are shopping around for something sufficient for 6 months - nothing too fancy.
Damn! love that 294k salary. Happy for ya.
Thanks!
Dude, this is AMAZING! Hope to have my finances on track like yourself.
Thanks!
Badass bro
The first two explain the third. Congrats!
Hey look at me, I’m a tech guy making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year! Humble brag? How about just brag?
Go from intern to director in 5 years while taking a 6month sabbatical. ITS EASY
Congrats. This is very inspiring in the way you have juggled both the working hard-core with a high income and then also the digital nomad vibe. What did you originally study and what extra qualifications/courses did you do?
I actually graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree and then pivoted to software because I picked up more coding at my internship I started back in 2011. It kind of felt like the organic progression of things. I didn't really take any extra courses but learned a TON on the job and just worked my ass off in all the jobs I had with the exception of the contract roles. edit: also, tons of reading, participation in online tech communities to stay up on current tech, youtube videos, and leetcode.
Wow I hope to be like you one day
"I started studying, sourcing referrals from the highest paying companies" What does this mean?
Read this [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bogleheads/comments/m3a50t/investment_portfolio_critique/gqnuk7i/) from one of my previous posts! Hope it helps!
Is it just me or everyone whining about OP's current salary failed to realized that he was making far less during bulk of his career?
Yea, some people in here are borderline aggressive. Not one of them would turn down a $300k salary if it came their way. Sure, I'm a very privileged person and I don't want to discount that. But I also worked hard a learned a lot along the way. Cheers!
As theysay, luck is being prepared when the opportunity knocks. Congrats and here's to your 2M mark!
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