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by pmarreck 3567 days ago
Software engineers make pretty decent money, and can work from anywhere. If you want an affordable mortgage, all you have to do is move out of range of the big cities. I'm also a software engineer and I am fully aware that we have a job that has one of the highest satisfaction rates AND pay in the world right now. I have no sympathy for you lol

But enjoy your time away, the creature comforts will still be there when you tire of not having them, and anyway, you will appreciate them more. ;)
3 comments
grecy 3567 days ago
> I have no sympathy for you

Sympathy? I think you're confused. I'm living a life dream, no need for any sympathy.

> the creature comforts will still be there when you tire of not having them, and anyway, you will appreciate them more.

Last time I drove Alaska->Argentina, and since then I've been living in the Yukon. I'm in no hurry to get back to creature comforts, trust me :)

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collyw 3567 days ago
In the States. Elsewhere in the world the salaries are much more average.
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beachstartup 3567 days ago
uh, who are you trying to convince, him or yourself?

i think he's already made up his mind.

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pmarreck 3566 days ago
I wasn't really trying to convince him, I just think making drastic life decisions based on what sounds in essence to me like "whining" is possibly less than ideal, he had many other choices available to him if simply paying a long mortgage was the prime motivating factor. I may also be showing an anti-millennial bias /sigh

I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-country bike rides for similar reasons and getting run over and killed, and that upsets me.

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grecy 3566 days ago
> I have also heard one too many stories of post-college kids doing cross-country bike rides for similar reasons and getting run over and killed, and that upsets me.

Do you propose they sit at a desk instead, and be scared to actually live?

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pmarreck 3566 days ago
It's cool to bash on desk jobs but for most it's low-risk high-income work, and there are surely plenty of guys doing very manual risky jobs who would be only so happy to trade up to a cushy air conditioned office job for the same or better pay.

But some folks will figure out what works for them eventually. And admittedly it's probably not for everyone.

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grecy 3566 days ago
> it's low-risk high-income work

Is that the goal of life?

> And admittedly it's probably not for everyone.

Of course, that's the point. If someone wants to quit so they can ride a bike across a country, that's as valid a choice as yours is to keep going to work. Nobody is wrong, everyone is just making their own choices.

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beachstartup 3565 days ago
he's bothered by the fact that his goals may not be the ones he thinks he wants, hence the projection and self-convincing. when you invest all day every day in something it hurts to see other people reject it, i guess.

i've sat at a desk my entire career, almost 15 years, and it's starting to get old. it's starting to make me feel old, and i'm not old, not by a long shot. it's starting to affect my social life and mental health. 3 months ago i decided to make a change, and have started to implement it. hopefully will be done within a year.

i promised myself if it seems like i'm being sucked back in, which happens when lots of money is involved, i'm going to cut and run on my 35th birthday. there's no fucking way i'm going to sit at a desk all day (a little is fine) at the mid-way point of this decade before 40.

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