[almostgotcaught]

> Not even just talking about the case where someone's worked in the tech industry long enough with a low enough expense lifestyle that money literally does not matter to them anymore...

This is the most out of touch (and also irrelevant) take you can have. I work in FAANG in the bay. The people around me are solid upper middle class but mortgages, day care, regular cars, medical bills, aging parents, college tuitions, etc etc etc mean very few of them can retire today and continue to live in the same place.

> A lot of people will work specific jobs not because they're trying to optimize for the most possible money.

Then you just work in a completely universe than I do because at every single job I've ever had, from lowly bus boy to FAANG ML engineer, not a single person has ever said to me "I'm doing this for the love of it". Quite the opposite in fact - many people I know would quit at the drop a hat if not for "golden handcuffs".

[marssaxman]

I'm doing this for the love of it. I never meant to make it a career, originally; I just spent so much time at it when I was young that it became a career, whether I liked it or not. I've never sought to maximize my compensation; I just need to get paid enough that I can comfortably keep doing the work, because the work is what I want to do.

Yes, I have a family and a mortgage and bills, blah blah blah. All this is adaptable.

Lest you simply dismiss me, I will say that I have worked at two FAANG companies and another tech giant which was larger than any of them; but my ambition is measured in terms of technical impact, not money.

[brian_cunnie]

> not a single person has ever said to me "I'm doing this for the love of it".

I'm doing this for the love of it.

Maybe "love" is too strong a word, but I certainly "like" what I'm doing, and I "like" computers, and I have a computer side project that I "like" doing and don't get paid for. Heck, when I was a summer student at IBM I couldn't believe they were paying me for something that was so fun!

[almostgotcaught]

congrats you're an extremely privileged and exceptional person. basketball players also generally love their jobs but they happen to be on average 6'7" so i'm not sure how either your experience theirs apply to me and the people i work with.

[ClaraForm]

You’re getting awfully close to being rude. There’s no reason to try to go around imposing your perspective when it’s just you venting about feeling stuck. We all feel stuck from time to time, the solution is generally to wait it out until something that genuinely excites you comes along and you ask to hop on that opportunity. That’s possible in all work cultures, including egalitarian flat organizations.

[dmoy]

> This is the most out of touch (and also irrelevant) take you can have. I work in FAANG in the bay. The people around me are solid upper middle class but mortgages, day care, regular cars, medical bills, aging parents, college tuitions, etc etc etc mean very few of them can retire today and continue to live in the same place.

I don't know the particulars of your budget, but up here in Seattle an FAANG E5/L5/etc makes over 3x median Seattle household income. And has medical insurance with like a <$10k OOP max. And can rent a house, and drive a $10k used car (like me) that gets replaced once every 10 years. Add public Uni tuition and $150k for 5 years of daycare (or have one working parent, see above r.e. 3x median income from one person), and say $30k/yr of elder parent support, and you can still run a 50%+ savings rate. That won't let you retire in 5 years, but it very likely will in 20 years.

I've met quite a few FAANG who've been at it long enough with a modest enough lifestyle that they don't need to work after 20 years. Some quit, some quit and moved to cheaper local, but some are still at it 'cus they like the problem solving.

I've also met several FAANG who bought a house worth 5x their income, are saving for $100k/yr of private Uni for 2-3 kids, drive $100k cars, etc, and save <10% of their income.

It's all tradeoffs.

And yea probably earning 3x median income makes someone out of touch to begin with. But what you do after that income is kinda up to you, and different choices yield different possibilities.

> Then you just work in a completely universe than I do because at every single job I've ever had, from lowly bus boy to FAANG ML engineer, not a single person has ever said to me "I'm doing this for the love of it". Quite the opposite in fact - many people I know would quit at the drop a hat if not for "golden handcuffs".

Well you can count me as one. I've met several others, and was on a team where most were like that for awhile.