[horatiocain]

What location are you in? In my experience, Seattle and Boulder have open slots for junior devs that pay pretty okay, just show up and be ready to sling some code. Agree banking is the pits.

That said, it sounds like you have a pretty good gig. Might want to start shopping around.

[throw_this_one]

NYC, making close to 90k at age 26. Part of me doesn't even know if I like dev! But I think it's because I was never on an energetic team getting stuff done, which would probably be enjoyable (even if the domain itself is worthless imo).

I don't know if I have the skills to freelance/consult at this point, but I'd love to do that while traveling (not hedonistic, but stay in a place for a few months and learn the language, build groups of friends, etc).

I think I'd like to either stay in NYC and work on something meaningful or just make a lot of money, or just go off and do the freelance/consult/build a standard niche marketing product type of online business. At least I'd get the travel/language bug out of my system and have a good story to tell.

[frou_dh]

Here's a human factor that makes it even worse... Being aware of the low standards unfortunately does not stop one from internalising them at some level as the correct way to operate. So they do not only stunt your current growth as a developer, but also your potential future growth, too.

[throw_this_one]

Agreed. It's just a downward spiral and my fault is that I've stuck myself in it for so long. So maybe it is worth bailing asap? My 401k vests in August, which would be about 8k extra.

I don't want to be a developer even 5 years down the line. For me it is simply to develop this toolset, so that I can better understand how to build solutions for REAL problems (banking doesn't seem real enough to me). Something in the environmental or healthcare field seems interesting to me.

[dabockster]

Seattle here. Most of the junior roles seem to be subcontracting around here. Unless you can get a referral, you're probably getting ghosted.