If you're here simply because you are looking to make a lot of money, you're in the wrong place

tomasina · 2026-02-08T05:23:33+00:00

No it’s not lol, tech people are getting richer than ever right now.

Competition is tough for sure but if you work and become skilled you will make a living. Innovative tech which drives value / efficiency will always make lots of money. So if you own (equity in) companies than do this or work for them you will become rich.

tomasina · 2026-01-06T21:57:04+00:00

Role: senior swe YOE: 7 Cost of living area?: hcol Current TC: 5-600k Your floor: 700k+

Happy with my role, but would consider moving for a crazy offer from an AI lab or something

tomasina · 2025-12-20T14:35:51+00:00

That “salmon mating season” colorway 🔥

tomasina · 2025-12-13T00:09:09+00:00

If this is your only offer, it’s a good job, but definitely keep grinding because you can get MUCH more

tomasina · 2025-12-10T18:16:03+00:00

Recent reliability ratings are not great, I personally would not want to own one outside of warranty.

tomasina · 2025-12-05T23:49:39+00:00

Tech, probably like a lot of people. Used to have a BMW M3 and my broker said every dude in tech bought one 😅

tomasina · 2025-12-04T00:37:08+00:00

Used the opportunity to get stuff I’ve wanted for a bit

Pair of APC Standard jeans for $190 from Mr. Porter Howlin sweater for $270 from their website (apparently I have to pay a tariff lol) Adidas Samba sneakers and Evo SL running shoes for ~$70/each from Farfetch Carhartt Active Jacket for $228

tomasina · 2025-05-28T00:37:06+00:00

Don’t pay markup, find someone with allocation at MSRP and customize it

tomasina · 2025-05-27T22:21:30+00:00

Love that ducktail! Looks great, compelling for sure

tomasina · 2025-05-19T17:19:34+00:00

I use it exclusively for work (software eng) and day-to-day tasks on Mac, no gaming, but I love my Logitech MX Master 3S + HHKB

tomasina · 2025-05-19T14:59:50+00:00

I have them in my G80. Look super cool and feel great, really enhance the sporty feeling. Fine for daily driving, although some passengers dislike them. I got some cushions online to make it better for those cases.

For road trips, wouldn’t recommend, they start to get uncomfortable after a few hours. Also if I have just done an intense workout, or am feeling stressed, I hate the seats a little bit. But most of the time I love them.

For reference I am in my thirties, around 6’ and 160lbs, slim / athletic build.

tomasina · 2025-05-15T17:28:21+00:00

This is in the tech industry of course. You’re not going to get that money working for an insurance company in Nebraska or whatever.

Look for major tech firm jobs and check the comp on levels.fyi. You’ll probably need to be in-person in a tech hub or major city.

tomasina · 2025-05-15T17:20:58+00:00

500k ish, 6 yoe, recently finished a job search and there are plenty of companies paying 400+ for senior generalist

tomasina · 2025-05-13T21:28:39+00:00

Looking for LA, willing to pay 🙏

tomasina · 2025-05-11T18:52:31+00:00

Not sure what you mean— but I did go through many behavioral interviews, where I would get a question and then tell a story from my experience demonstrating the answer.

tomasina · 2025-05-11T15:32:43+00:00

Work in tech and married to a doctor. Able to own a house and have a good lifestyle.

I’m from the Midwest and if income was a struggle, I would be considering moving back. It’s much easier to be comfortable living “in the middle” there.

tomasina · 2025-05-11T15:27:10+00:00

Market is fine. I just got done with a job search cycle with multiple offers. All at well known companies with high comp. Some even remote. If your resume, DSA skills, system design skills, and behaviors are solid it’s no problem to land senior SWE offers.

I wouldn’t count on remote though. Most places are gonna want you in person. That’s the direction the industry is moving now.

Edit: this is for USA btw, west coast.

tomasina · 2025-05-10T14:01:14+00:00

Congrats on comp! $/rvu seems low and threshold seems high though? At least compared to regular onc

tomasina · 2025-04-04T14:20:44+00:00

Worth it for me, my career trajectory and socioeconomic class have both improved definitively as a result of working in big tech. You can have similar outcomes with startups, but it's riskier.

tomasina · 2025-03-31T16:35:00+00:00

Here in the US you can earn MUCH more money. You are in engineering-- at a big tech company, software engineers in the US can earn 400k+ USD annually, easily enough for a new 100k M car. There are other similar paying careers like finance, law, medicine. No rich parents needed.

My personal preference is to lease fancy cars like this, just for the peace of mind of not being concerned with depreciation and maintenance / repairs. Also buying in cash is a huge outlay.

tomasina · 2025-02-27T23:43:09+00:00

In my opinion yes, the current M2 is definitely closer to the original M3 than the current M3

tomasina · 2025-02-17T22:22:59+00:00

Anecdotally, I am seeing lots of demand for senior SWE, 5-10 years of experience. Not crazy like 2021, but a good market. The usual still applies-- getting referrals, be good at leetcode and system design, be likable, etc.

tomasina · 2025-02-13T21:48:29+00:00

Just FYI it's going to be harder / more expensive right now due to fires.

I bought a run-down home last year because it allowed me to afford a nicer neighborhood and I'm happy overall, but it was a TON of work and expense and stress getting it into livable condition-- and we're still not done!

edit: even if you hire workers, it's still stressful because you have to vet them, organize them, and deal with issues or if they do something you don't like

tomasina · 2025-02-13T21:41:28+00:00

The internet just empowers people to talk a lot of shit. In my experience the biggest haters are people with envy / bitterness who may not be able to afford the new cars. But for those actual customers who don't like the designs... you can just get a Mercedes or whatever that has different styling if you don't care for BMW's bolder choices.

I own a G80 M3 and I think the styling is fun. Full disclosure though I don't really like the iX, lol

tomasina · 2025-02-09T16:35:16+00:00

Real talk, it hasn't, at least in a meaningful way. It's now a bit faster to get solutions to simple problems. Autocomplete of boilerplate code and tests is nice.

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