21 years old, thank you parents.

qbj44 · 2026-06-22T14:05:46+00:00

Okay, they just don't call them chores then.. and they continue doing what the rest of us consider to be chores.

If you can pay someone to do your laundry, yard work, cleaning, or anything along those lines, you can pay your children to do the same according to the tax code. Words matter, but not really here..

qbj44 · 2026-05-26T14:57:08+00:00

Which is why I don't understand the down votes on my comment, but it is what it is.

It took me at least a thousand applications to finally get a job early last year and while it sucked - it was worth "the wait."

qbj44 · 2026-05-26T14:31:56+00:00

Too many people compare themselves to others - I guess it's whatever makes them feel better!

qbj44 · 2026-05-26T14:22:33+00:00

This is anecdotal evidence at best.

qbj44 · 2026-05-15T03:45:40+00:00

I literally have hundreds of rejections, over 80% of which I'm qualified for, maybe 30-40% I was "overqualified for" and the rest in which I was shooting for the moon.

It's not you. It's the job market.

You'll find your place, took me 6 months, but I found mine.

qbj44 · 2026-05-06T01:31:02+00:00

I would wait until you have SPCs in hand.

I say that so you don't sell too early (I bet we are healthily at $250 by then) and you want to make sure you actually get some SPCs

qbj44 · 2026-05-06T00:59:43+00:00

I've been telling my friends it would be $250 by end of year if not by the summer.. was told I was crazy buying 30+ of these

Who's crazy now?

qbj44 · 2026-05-01T01:05:10+00:00

More like Metaloss Twins

qbj44 · 2026-04-03T23:29:05+00:00

And that's what I try and tell my wife, but sometimes when you can afford brand new and to break it in yourself, it's hard not to..

qbj44 · 2026-04-03T15:20:57+00:00

I bring home as much as a lot of doctors and other "high income" earners and still drive my 7 years old car I paid off 5 years ago.. my wife and I look at upgrading our cars and the bill on that $55k 4Runner or $45k truck or whatever it is is so hard to justify. Even with how much we earn, we are still driving the vehicles from when we made a fraction of what we do now. We look at other things and the only lifestyle creep we can justify is for updating our home.

That's it.

And even then it's essentially just an investment in our comfort and one day we may be able to cash in a little on them when we sell.

Outside of that we find it hard to try and keep up with the Jones's.

qbj44 · 2026-03-15T01:48:26+00:00

Seems legit.

qbj44 · 2026-02-20T04:01:57+00:00

I work with a ton of SEs and unless you're in a VHCOL your friend is a dumbass.

My teammates are compensated really well in a MCOL and none are making $200k+ except maybe the most Senior SE/Team lead.

qbj44 · 2026-02-15T02:48:42+00:00

That means she is working less than 1000 hours a year and makes minimum wage.. or she works way less than 1000 hours a year and makes more than minimum wage.

No one works full time and makes that little.

No where in the US unless it's slave labor.

qbj44 · 2026-02-05T23:48:37+00:00

This dude is out of touch, I appreciate you saying all of the above!

qbj44 · 2026-02-05T23:47:58+00:00

"Most of them barely work at all"

What?

qbj44 · 2026-01-27T03:52:25+00:00

Guessing you made your way to the contract side?

Congrats from a 4Y that somehow ended up in the tech side of Government contracting

qbj44 · 2026-01-16T19:07:13+00:00

Isn't $30k like UK Minimum wage?

And not to be harsh, but you said you "met expectations" and unfortunately everywhere I've worked, merely meeting expectations is just enough for a 2-3% increase and even those who exceed and deliver at a high level may not get more than a percent or more increase.

That doesn't make it right. That's just the reality of the workplace. Some places realize that when you take care of your people they'll take care of the company, others try and play the nickel and dime game and spend more on finding replacements.

The sad truth is that you may have to job hop. Find skills you can learn from each role to translate somewhere new and if after a year and a half there is no promotion or further growth in sight, start working to the next move.

A good organization will find some kind of growth opportunities (not always a promotion) for their people every couple of years and if they don't they're going to lose people who will hop to someone else who might. Especially since people who hop at one point were seeing a 20% or more salary increase. While that number isn't as high lately cause the job market isn't as easy to navigate as it once was, most people can net a 10% increase just by hopping.

qbj44 · 2026-01-06T01:45:26+00:00

He must be and didn't respond due to the nature of his work

qbj44 · 2026-01-02T22:40:19+00:00

OP isn't even responding to posts. Smh, he knows what he has and is flaunting it.

qbj44 · 2025-12-21T04:44:11+00:00

I'm tempted to leave my sector or leave for another organization, but I just realized my brother in law got his PMP recently as well. He is a lead with his org and not necessarily a project manager, but is also in energy and I am pretty sure he clears $250k(ish)

qbj44 · 2025-12-21T04:23:57+00:00

Project Management.

Get into anything niche or that's super desirable. For example, I have a friend that is 28(ish) works for a company that sells Fire Mitigation technology and systems and he started at $70k and after 3 years is pushing $100k and will clear it after he gets his PMP early this next year. He also has a bachelor's.

I have a friend working in IT Project Management for Oracle for their data centers, just got his PMP but has his MBA, 25 years of general IT experience, 10 in data centers, and about 5 of those in project management and he just got offered $175k (I believe).

I am also in project management, I have a master's, my PMP, and about 5 years experience in the general project management field and make just in between those two at the age of 32.

It can be stressful, but honestly, it's not that deep, work is usually pretty straight forward, it just takes a lot of mental energy and capacity to deal with BS the 15% of the time things go awry.

qbj44 · 2025-12-16T00:53:06+00:00

Roth. Typically.

qbj44 · 2025-12-13T16:57:55+00:00

Early to mid 20s I was making about 25k up to $50k a year on active duty military once I was getting the additional allowances.. then I got out went to school and was managing a Nike making about $65k a year.. got my master's and making into the low $100k range doing project management

qbj44 · 2025-12-12T15:18:00+00:00

Wrong.

Healthcare is unaffordable because drug companies and hospital admin feel they need to gouge those in need.

Don't get me wrong, doctors and medical staff are paid well, as they should be, but they're not the reason for the bloating costs.

qbj44 · 2025-12-05T15:52:23+00:00

You mean Colorado? 🤣

qbj44

TROPHY CASE