Income Before: $18,000. After: $85,000.

As a software engineer in my 20's back in the 80's, I had my own office and we used to fly first-class everywhere. Today, you'll most likely be stuck in an open office plan with a bunch of smelly Indians who steal your code.

Regards,

PTR
 
PoundTheRock said:
As a software engineer in my 20's back in the 80's, I had my own office and we used to fly first-class everywhere. Today, you'll most likely be stuck in an open office plan with a bunch of smelly Indians who steal your code.

Regards,

PTR
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LOL. I have to admit the H1B types are often useless and the equivalent of plumbers who use duct tape to connect joints.
 
qlai said:
Strongly disagree. Cannot take a an online class for that and be consistently profitable in a few months.

Obviously without knowing your situation I cannot know what is best for you, but I agree with what @nooby_mcnoob is saying. The industry had changed a lot from when I started. If you like coding, getting "a day job" may be the worst thing to do. You may end up with 10% coding and 90% soul sucking BS. By the time you realize this, you may be too deep in. Some industries are easy to get in, but hard to stay in. Some, like Doctors, are the opposite. If you have a choice, give it some thought.
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Fortunately I don't need a day job. I learn programming to see if I can forecast stock price movement, to augment chart reading. :D
 
nooby_mcnoob said:
LOL. I have to admit the H1B types are often useless and the equivalent of plumbers who use duct tape to connect joints.
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Be nice. Don't forget Google, Microsoft and a few other big techs are run by immigrants from India. There are lots of smart cookies coming out of there.:finger:
 
nooby_mcnoob said:
Yes you're right, thanks for calling me out.
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:thumbsup::thumbsup:

You are right about one thing: Today's programmers/coders are probably the 21st century's equivalent of blue collar workers for the 20th century. You really don't need a college degree to learn it and the jobs pay a lot better than flipping hamburgers.

By the way I am enjoying my VBA class.
 
nooby_mcnoob said:
The one thing I regret in my career is not staying at the flagship companies... Those that look really good on someone's bio. Problem is that I'm just a terrible employee. I tell my kids that they should expect to be fired around 40-45 so go hard from grad and plan your exit ~35-40. Save, invest and network and they'll never need a day job after 35.
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I don't know. I used to think that way until I realized time IS the most valuable asset. Why slave away in the cubicle farm just so you can retire with your best years behind you?

Sure, money pays for stuff. I get it. Anyways, not here to start a 50 pager thread.
 
tsznecki said:
Why slave away in the cubicle farm just so you can retire with your best years behind you?
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I don't think it's either/or. Youth is wasted on the young, and in my case, I just kept seeing bigger and bigger. Big tech/finance was not enough. But really, the friends I still have at these places live very nice, balanced lives. They get to do what they enjoy, make good money and still have time to hike/bike/travel with their family.

50 pagers are the best.
 
ironchef said:
Today's programmers/coders are probably the 21st century's equivalent of blue collar workers for the 20th century.
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Yes, kind of. There were two major reasons for it:
1) Globalization and acceptance of remote work leveled the playing field. There's lots of talented people overseas willing and able to work for a lot less.
2) Commoditization of programming via libraries, API, AWS, open source, etc. 90% of coding work can now indeed be done with minimal skill and it will be "good enough"

There's still good opportunities for talented programmers, but it's becoming harder to differentiate yourself, especially when you deal with non-technical client/management.
 
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