[jacobyoder]

Have gone through spells of no income (job loss, etc) and doing it with no savings vs savings is... far less stressful. And the sun rises in the east - Capt Obvious here. With a tightened, budget, we've got a burn rate of around $3k/month. Loose budget, might be $4k/month. At this rate, we've got probably 2-3 years of cash to weather some 'no income' time period. There's still some stress and other emotions come up without 'real income' coming in, but nothing like going slowly in to debt while not seeing any way out.

Glad you got another job, and hopefully you're getting out of debt again, and ideally you can build a larger safety net for the future.

[themitigating]

I won't be out of debt for another year. I'm not blaming anyone either. I had savings but not enough and I should have been more careful.

I do get angry when I see people practically foaming at the mouth when Twitter employees get fired. When they are asked about whether it's right their response is something like "big tech employees deserve".

[jacobyoder]

Somewhat similar reaction - not specifically to Twitter folks, but in general 'techbro' type situations, where people think $500k comp is normal, expected, or hell, even 'deserved'. You got lucky (genetics, right place/right time, etc) along with whatever talent and hard work you've put in.

Have been in your situation where I got in to debt (mid 5 figures). Even after getting new jobs, it was a few years of grind to get back to 0, then several more to have some semblance of long-term savings, all while reducing consumption/expenditures dramatically.

Unsure what "not enough" was, but the standard "3 months" savings advice - even doubling to 6 - is really at the low end. For mid-career software folks, I recommend people aiming for at least a couple years of cash-like savings. Yes, it's hard, but it's easier than in many other professions.