[maxawaytoolong]

I was actually at my happiest when I made about $75K in the bay area. I lived in a house in SF with all my friends and I was a lower level startup grunt and didn't care too much about my job. I just figured that I could always get another stupid $75K programming job. So I did my best at work but also spent a lot of time goofing off, hanging out with my bros, going snowboarding on weekends, riding my bike around, etc.

When I started making about twice that I realized I was in a unique position and better buckle down and be more serious about my job, which was far less fun and often quite stressful.

Once you get beyond that it's still not as fun but at least one is banking a lot of money so when the gravy train ends you can just retire to somewhere cheap for a few years.