Student loans are a thing, unfortunately.

> Student loans are a thing, unfortunately.

Average student loan debt is $29,400. For what most developers make, that should be easy to pay off within a year or two.

I have a student loan to pay off that's around that amount, and I was employed at a web startup right out of school making a whopping $42,000/yr after taxes. California rent is $1,000/mo. If I paid the whole loan off in a year, I'd be in the negative after interest.

For what it's worth, I did quit; partially because the pay was so low for the 55 hours of week they expected developers to put in.

I know this is only anecdotal, but shit does indeed happen.

> For what it's worth, I did quit; partially because the pay was so low for the 55 hours of week they expected developers to put in.

Agreed. That's outrageously low, and you definitely made the right choice in quitting.

After Taxes (federal) Taxes (state) and Rent (insane) more then half of that 100k you reference is gone. Without a gold spoon it's not as easy as you make it seem. Food for thought, I had more disposable income making 65k/Year in Florida then I do making Far more in the Bay Area. I'm not saying that there are not benefits to living here but it's not a golden ticket. Also, clearly you don't have a family to support.

> Also, clearly you don't have a family to support.

Nor does the prototypical HNer. Though I am helping my dad buy a house.

> Without a gold spoon it's not as easy as you make it seem.

What do you mean? I definitely don't have a golden/silver spoon, but have been able to save up a good amount despite ludicrous NYC living & taxes.

I'm not quite sure you know what the "prototypical HNer" is I live in the Bay Area, I know a lot of people who also spend a lot of time on HN, if I were to make a guess my sample size is larger then yours and I think your assumptions are off but I'll leave it at that.

Could you explain? I'm alway interested to know how my assumptions are wrong.

Do you have anything to support those numbers? Honestly curious.

I don't know if you lucked out. You chose a market-friendly position which you are mentally equipped to do. You might have lucked out in being born in America and being in a stable enough financial position to pursue that career - but after that, it is as much careful planning and work as it is anything else.

Poets choose to be poets knowing that they will most likely never be on stable financial ground. That is not unlucky, it's simply a hardship they've chosen to accept in pursuit of something they'd rather attain than wealth and ease of life.

> Poets choose to be poets knowing that they will most likely never be on stable financial ground.

I chose to major in math without the expectation of ever having some great financial payoff for the choice. I was so ignorant of money at the time that when I made that decision I probably would have considered $40k a huge salary. I was interested in programming when I was 12 and didn't have the slightest care in the world about money.

I feel pretty lucky that interests that I've cultivated since a young age happened to turn into a high-paying comfortable career. I easily could have been like most of my friends and instead had interests that fulfilled me intellectually but didn't pay much at all.

I thought the science culture wars were over, but apparently people are still pushing them.