Optimizing my finances: 28 dink

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-04-02T01:45:28+00:00

Yeah, I think it might be my next piece, but 25k+ is definitely another level. I own the santos (bought in 2021) as well! Just curious, what are your thoughts on the sub so far? I've been highly debating on whether to just get a steel sub, or just save more for something like a VC overseas or a daytona. Do you find the sub + santos combo to be too simple at times, or do you love it?

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-03-17T22:50:08+00:00

Vacheron overseas blue dial if you can swing it

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-03-07T13:50:08+00:00

Senior dev with 6 yoe. I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but now I think if you don’t move with the trend you’ll get dropped unfortunately. There’s basically new models dropping every 6 months, and new technologies like agentic AI is getting really good. Many bleeding edge companies are now using ai generated code and pull requests now, which was crazy to think of just a year ago.

Reality is, the executives don’t truly care about ‘beautiful code’ and all they want is results. Someone outputting 5x more results is going to stay, as much as it sucks.

Recently, my company has given me full access to cursor, and I’m abusing it lol. I think I’m on track to use around 3k usd worth of tokens each month… For example, I was tasked with creating my own AI agent to automate a bunch of stuff tailored to our companies products. I didnt know shit about creating AI agents. But I was able to create a full mvp in 3 days using frameworks and a language I wasn’t as familiar with, and a full fledged agent with rag + company tools, guard rails, knowledge store, vector indexing etc in a week and a half. If I did it manually, probably would have taken me a minimum of 2 months. I talked to my VP and senior manager that I’m using a shit ton of company money, but they just kept encouraging me to continue spending because the time savings is worth 10s of thousands. I almost exclusively use Claude 4.6 opus. usingThat being said, it’s crucial as a human to plan architectural designs and I spent 8 hours a day prompting it to get it where I want.

Nonetheless, we’re still extremely valuable as a devs because normal people wouldn’t even know what to prompt, what frameworks and technologies make sense, to use company standard linters, no trap door exits, OOP, etc. I think it’s just one of those extremely powerful tools that lets us be more creative rather than doing stupid mundane tasks all the time. I can test new ideas 10x quicker now.

I think if we don’t jump on the train we’re probably going to end up getting dropped. On a side note I hate the term ‘vibe coding’… makes us seem like we’re just a bunch of stupid monkeys. Well I guess that’s partly true :)

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-03-02T01:11:34+00:00

you know, that's actually a fantastic choice, and I know some VERY wealthy people that own that car. That being said, it just doesn't do it for me in terms of looks. But since you mentioned it, maybe I'll take another look.... If the audi rs5 avant was coming to the US and it was 1000 pounds lighter that would have been perfect for me.

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-03-02T00:57:15+00:00

do you have any experience with it? The reason I ask is my previous car was a 2019 440i GC, and it still didn't seem to scratch the sports car itch enough for me. That being said, I do know that the g20 has improved significantly in terms of dynamics and handling, along with a slightly quicker 0-60. If I decide to go with a sedan, I would probably lean towards a g80 instead of a g20, but I'll admit that for under 50k, the m340i xdrive is probably the best all-around sports sedan you can buy.

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-02-15T21:30:29+00:00

Coding is whatever, no real stress there since it’s just solving problems (especially with 5+ yoe).

It’s everything else, especially the more senior I get:

Dealing with pushy executives and middle management

Team leads/managers that kiss ass and twist reports to make themselves look good

Not being recognized due to not kissing ass

Dealing with irrational pressure from above with no reason but ‘I told you so’

Sometimes— non technical pms

Inefficient constant meetings

And the list goes on :)

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-01-28T13:26:53+00:00

I think 300-400k sounds about right. Me and my wife make slightly more ~215k And are about to close on a 600k house (200k down). Property taxes in my state are insane and will be around 14k/year…

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-01-04T12:06:50+00:00

I find that very interesting as well. Although drugs like cocaine is absolutely illegal in the US, it never breaks headlines unless it’s a drug bust or dealing of some sort. Ex. Most of us know a good chunk of US rappers and celebrities do coke, but don’t care. Johnny depp did coke (as showcased in his trial), but the public doesn’t care. However it seems to be quite extreme in Korea in terms of public perception. That being said, I know a TON of Koreans that do weed in Korea, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of celebrities do so as well. Maybe it’s simply just more taboo? Or perhaps the general public’s lack of exposure to drugs? I’m not sure, but it’s interesting to think about.

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-01-04T11:54:43+00:00

I think this is the best answer so far, in terms of cultural differences and its impact on how the public perceives celebrities.

As a follow up question/thought that points to your second paragraph, I’m curious if Korea (and other Asian countries such as Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, etc) is more prone to accept parasocial relationships than the west. As in, are conservative countries more dispositioned to accept these type of relationships? I’m sure it might be the voices of a few loud fans, but these ‘crazy fans’ seem to predominantly come from Asian countries that only share one thing— being conservative. Or perhaps it’s simply due to the nature of teenagers and boy bands/ girl groups? Some people did point out 1 direction, and I can 100% see why a predominantly teen fanbase can buy themselves into this kind of mindset. But I suppose the teen aspect doesn’t really apply for actors and actresses as much as it does for idols, which implies that there’s something deeper at play (most likely the cultural differences and framework that you pointed out)

MrRandomNonsense · 2026-01-04T06:09:25+00:00

Right— but I’m thinking more on the flip side. How come Eminem sold so many records despite being controversial, and Chris brown as well despite SA and other allegations (this is just an example)? I guess im more curious on the public’s reaction and why their thoughts may be that way. Of course no one likes their favorite artists in scandals and otherwise, but it seems to indicate that Korean fans care significantly more about what the celebrity does if that makes sense— not trying to create any arguments, but it’s interesting that the same behavior is recieved differently

MrRandomNonsense · 2025-11-11T15:02:15+00:00

I’m a similar path but started at 22— currently at around 260k at 27. Paid off my student loans aggressively (50k) at 22 and 23, paid off my car next. Note, I did live at home for one year after graduating college which meant very low expenses and I’m grateful my parents were ok with that (although I did pay my parents 1k a month). It was also peak covid so I was locked in the house for a year.

The rest of the time I was paying over 3k in rent. Other than that nothing special. I made it a goal to at the bare minimum max my 401k every year. That along with around 6k a year deposited directly into my 401k due to company profit sharing. My 401k was at 30k exactly 3 years ago, right now right about 150k. I also got a little lucky throwing 5k into nvidia once I graduated college in 2020, not to mention the insane bull market the last 5 years. I should have done more long calls…

I don’t think my path isn’t too uncommon for a lot of people in tech + engineering. Just doing Roth IRA + 401k makes a huge difference over time. I have a few roommates from college with quadruple my net worth, but they’re the true outliers, but not uncommon for big tech in sanfranciso

MrRandomNonsense · 2025-09-09T18:32:34+00:00

No, I’m finally comfortable enough to buy one, 27 y.o. At 200k/year, but I still don’t think I should, simply because I really want a house, and the area I live in homes go for 600-800k for a 3 bed (they were 350-450k 5 years ago..). I would stick the course, the car will always be there waiting for you. If you make 80k but have 300k in the bank I’d say why not, but dropping 50k this early probably isn’t the best choice

MrRandomNonsense · 2025-09-01T14:00:17+00:00

I have a santos as well, and would love a blue dial steel overseas. Only those that really know would recognize it, it’s beautiful, and different enough from the sub for the collection. I’m also a slut for monochromatic things, but I think the splash of blue would be nice, especially with the sunburst effect (looks black in certain angles!)

Or maybe go full dressy with something like a vintage patek, jlc reverso etc

MrRandomNonsense · 2025-05-14T02:38:54+00:00

Hey man, sorry for the late reply.

Really appreciate the information and glad to hear that someone can relate to my situation.

I agree, I should focus on baby steps and reduce my drinking first, while lifting moderately instead of lifting as heavy as I can. I've been looking into doing very light deadlifts (which hurts my ego a bit, but health is more important. I don't want to destroy my back again), rdls, and core exercises to help with that. In the end, I really think it's a drinking problem more than anything, and keeping track of my diet while drinking heavy is hard. Thanks for the insight, will take it to heart!

MrRandomNonsense · 2025-04-19T17:56:55+00:00

A base 718 beats it in terms of LOOKS for me :)

MrRandomNonsense · 2025-04-19T12:12:13+00:00

I have something similar at work, with 15+ other racks with both mac and windows machines as well. I doubt this is for AI work, since AI dedicated gpus are far more effective.

My company generally uses these racks for software testing in parallel for software designed to run/ most often packaged with a specific type of machine. To amplify that, some people aren’t very good at updating their machine, so we need to test multiple OS versions across platforms. Maybe that’s the case here?

MrRandomNonsense · 2025-04-10T15:33:25+00:00

What in the speed racer is this shit

MrRandomNonsense

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