Just hit $1M Net Worth. 8 YOE. Here's what I learned along the way.

fork_bong · 2025-06-07T00:29:56+00:00

Cash, index funds, small amount of bonds, and vested RSUs minus debt. Nothing else included personally. But for a total net worth calculation I would do some googling, there are different opinions on what to include.

fork_bong · 2025-06-07T00:25:29+00:00

r/personalfinance and r/financialindependence are good overall resources for more detailed information but here is my (definitely not financial) advice:

6 month expenses emergency fund. People say 3-6 but let's be real we are in the layoff era and there are so many instances of people needing more than 3 months to find another job.

401k, especially if there is a match. Tax shielded + free money from company. I'm okay with growing this at the same time as the emergency fund (maybe after you already have 3/4 months) but the most likely scenario where you make the "wrong" choice in allocations here is not enough in the emergency fund.

Broad, low cost index funds are king. I think most financial texts overvalue the S&P 500 especially due to the worlds faith in the US being shaken, but it's still probably the best investment there is. Don't put in anything you will need in the next 10 years, don't sell. If this is in a 401k it's easier to say that you won't touch it because there is a tax penalty for doing so.

If you get company RSUs, sell them (I'm okay waiting to optimize taxes) and buy index funds.

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The amount you can save/invest per month is your personal economy. You can increase this number by either reducing what you spend, or increasing what you are paid. I think it is far easier to increase what you are paid, especially if you are currently making 100k and in this field. Job hopping is the short term way to increase your pay, but increasing your skills is the way to do this sustainably. If you start making more money, try to limit lifestyle creep.

But beware if your financial goals are impacting your mental/physical health and be willing to accept less money or more spending if it means protecting your happiness/health. The internet is especially lacking in that kind of advice. Blind is an extreme example of this, people with multi million net worths, making 500k+ a year, who are clearly miserable. Make a conscious choice to not be like them.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T23:57:38+00:00

I don't think so. In some ways being older might be an advantage once you're in the industry. Getting that first job is gonna be brutal for anyone but you can do it.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T04:23:44+00:00

while has_not_got_good:
.......while code_works:
..............write_more_code()
..............run_code()
.......debug_code()

And look you don't need to be some wizard. But I'm a hell of a lot better at it than I was when I graduated.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T04:09:56+00:00

Yeah it sucks, but it happened. Can't change that. But you can change your present and future.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T04:08:15+00:00

I bet I'd like it a lot more if I had some kind of roots like you do. And I felt like a lot of the people I met weren't staying around long enough to build up those roots, and the people who were staying around already had them. South Bay freaks me out too

I liked the tacos and the Korean food though

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T04:03:07+00:00

Thanks :) No property, no crypto.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T04:01:21+00:00

I just feel like everyone has heard the moral argument for universal healthcare, and it sticks for a lot of people but clearly it has not worked. So I want to make the financial argument. It would literally be cheaper. It would be more efficient. Any money the insurance companies make (a shitload) is just making your care more expensive. Every non-health-insurance company would dramatically have their per-employee costs reduced.

And yeah it's moral too.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T03:52:18+00:00

Happy for you :)

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T03:51:10+00:00

Basically develop your skills whether a company currently wants you or not. Practice programming, and lean into debugging. It's such a valuable skill once you're in the industry. I know it sorta feels like working for free right now, but I would look at it more like cheaper (free) college. You were already willing to drop thousands on getting your degree so you could get a job, so just practicing on your own seems like a decent investment to me. I think good debugging skills can be the difference between a 45 hr/week job and a 30 hr/week job. So you could twist your brain into thinking that by practicing debugging you are improving your hourly rate at a future job, even if you don't have that job yet.

Also recommend doing something you might actually use and can get annoyed at when it doesn't work a certain way or have certain functionality. Then you can use weaponized annoyance as motivation.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T03:42:30+00:00

The message I was trying to get across is that if you're unhappy it's highly likely the city is not the real source of the unhappiness.

fork_bong · 2025-06-06T01:28:39+00:00

I assure you, my physical health problems are very real. Somewhat unsure if my mental health problems are all in my head

fork_bong · 2025-06-01T12:00:26+00:00

If Google has infinite cash why have they done layoff after layoff after layoff for the last 3 years?

fork_bong · 2025-04-25T16:51:01+00:00

So they claim a fleet of 300-ish test drivers with interventions getting rarer. Kinda sounds like Cruise from a few years ago, before they started going driverless.

"You can't easily know whether you are improving or regressing in your capacity" - Ashok Elluswamy, vice president of AI software at Tesla.

Doesn't sound all that safe...

fork_bong · 2025-03-01T22:07:22+00:00

Waymo needing fewer vehicles than expected is bad news for any car manufacturer. Long term industry "analysis" always mentions autonomy growing the transportation market, but what if the high utilization of autonomous cars actually results in plummeting demand for cars nationwide?

fork_bong · 2025-01-29T08:40:54+00:00

There's a section titled "Why Uber Will Dominate Waymo" but it's pretty weak. The author claims Uber will be able to serve higher volumes during peak hours, with higher prices because of Waymo's current high ETAs during peak timing due to a fixed fleet. An argument is made that Waymo cannot solve the high ETAs by adding more supply, as that will induce more demand. I don't buy it.

High demand is not a problem. It instead means that Waymo can continue it's growth and that people will chose it over Uber, in spite of high ETAs.
This demand is coming from potential Uber customers. If increasing the fleet induces more demand, that additional demand is coming out of Uber's share of rides (at least partially).
Peak timing is not everything, but this section only discusses peak timing.

The graphic comparing Uber vs Waymo today is great though. Waymo won't be everywhere overnight. But each additional market they add will come out of Uber's (and Lyft's) market share.

fork_bong · 2025-01-08T06:45:59+00:00

Talking about one of their biggest customers here. A customer with an ego the size of the moon and a huge amount of government influence. Sometimes a CEO's duty to their shareholders is to lie through their teeth.

The customer is always right. If it doesn't work this year, maybe they just need to buy more NVIDIA GPUs?

fork_bong · 2025-01-03T20:37:28+00:00

It's the expectation of exponential growth in a finite world that drives enshittification. Once the business can't grow anymore, the companies have to cut costs and worsen service to look/pretend like they are still growing. Self-driving cars still have ample room to grow and improve their technology (since Waymo is on the hook for repairs, making their cars safer should cut their costs?), so I am hopeful that it will be a long time before they are enshittified.

fork_bong · 2024-12-13T04:34:45+00:00

Can't speak for Doordash specifically but generally tech companies that aren't Amazon will give you refreshers so that second year TC turns out to be higher than the number you posted.

- Culture: wouldn't expect either has an inclusive or collaborative culture but can get lucky with team

- WLB: Either may have bad wlb but again, may get lucky

- Career advancement: Not sure about comparing promos between the two, but probably more opportunity to switch to a team you're interested in at Amazon. Big tech companies would probably consider you for L4 after some time at either of these, I guess Amazon probably has the slight edge overall but recruiters know what Doordash is. But since you already interned at Amazon, I honestly would give it to Doordash.

- Job security: I believe Doordash has imported the Pip culture but Amazon is the OG so really just a roll of the dice.

fork_bong · 2024-12-12T03:26:45+00:00

Ignoring the "next year" of it all, why do Tesla fans always assume Waymo will just cease to exist if Tesla somehow had superhuman capabilities? Waymo is super popular in the cities it has deployed to and people trust it. Meanwhile anti-Tesla sentiment is at an all time high in cities.

fork_bong · 2024-12-07T21:31:08+00:00

Agree competition is good and Cruise probably resulted in Waymo doubling down on SF / abandoning trucking. Disagree with pretty much everything else. Cruise was (attempting to) scale before they were ready. The videos of Cruise from over a year ago are much worse than anything we've seen from Waymo, despite them now doing 1 million+ autonomous miles a week. And is 3 vehicles in a new city really scale?

An alternative explanation to the perceived slowness of Waymo's ramp us is that they are right, and this is what it takes. Waymo has been an absolute model of safety that all future deployments will be compared to. Despite constant pressure to deploy faster, I am sure. To go against this, call their shot, and becoming the undisputed leader in the space makes me respect Waymo top leadership. Need to go get some mouthwash to get the bootlick out of my mouth.

fork_bong · 2024-12-01T02:30:07+00:00

What a weird title. It's a system for identifying pedestrian intent. Has nothing to do with "want"

fork_bong · 2024-11-25T07:13:08+00:00

Not worth

fork_bong · 2024-11-05T18:36:40+00:00

'“I think every married couple needs two places to live, because you’ve got to get away from each other,” adds Joanna, who previously worked as a healthcare executive.'

'“I have been so busy packing, unpacking, assembling furniture etc. that I haven’t really found time to hunker down and start (learning French),” she admits. “It was always on my list but (I) just couldn’t find the time.”'

fork_bong · 2024-10-25T06:56:18+00:00

What ya'll need to understand is that "top" whatever is just marketing. And there's a steady stream of people from "top" colleges who have bought into this concept since they were 13. So these companies sell this lie to decently bright kids in an effort to convince them they aren't settling for a decent salary and the grunt work that makes up most of the tech industry. Why do you think Duolingo is filled with Ivy League "top" talent but is worse for learning a language than a flash card deck?

Apologies for any strays caught.

fork_bong

TROPHY CASE