Is it worth enrolling in a local public college for programming? I think its a 2-3 year course but would it have good bridges to actually getting experience and emplpyed in software?
Might have to do it part time but id still be into getting out of my current job which i cant see myself lasting long-term in. I need something with more latitude and definitely better pay, prospects. Im at a dead end and nughtmare i cant wake up from if i stand still any longer
What do they do, _exactly_? Because in the real world out of YC, the rest of us can barely top $200,000 a year unless we move into management or Executive level roles.
Software engineers. None of us work for YC, we are based in Texas. No oil/gas, nor defense, nothing like that.
Years ago I had a recruiter that wanted to hawk me and I asked for 180k comp and he told me it was "impossible". Hung up, was hired at 185k a few weeks later. Wasn't even much of a negotiation when I asked for it.
1. Be willing to accept non-cash comp. Stock of various forms, etc. This works with later stage companies better for obvious reasons.
2. Go into all negotiations ready to explain to the other side what they are buying. Remain calm if not slightly bored. Repeat your ask as if the other side has forgotten them (that sort of bored, calm tone). Do not argue.
3. Actually deliver business value. None of this "Well that's not my job". If I need to fly to a datacenter and run a power off test, I will. If I need to mop the floor and wipe down the breakroom, I'll do that too. Own problems, not positions.
This is the right mindset although I'd have to caution on those comps, very low probability of it turning beyond 4 figure best case or 5 figures in fantastic case, might as well buy a lotto for 6 figure expectation. It's as good as monopoly money and I always ask for cash or time. Time is good for me since I work 3 remote jobs so whatever one is willing to give up I can do better balancing acts.
#2 and #3 are excellent. I also might add : "Be willing to walk". Desperation signals compromises that they will exploit. Know exactly what you are offering to the business and walk when they say "thats too much , impossible, bad engineers ask for money like you". 100% those roles have high turn over, stress, and managerial issues.
Bad managers penny pinch because they can't use resources efficiently. Good managers pay more for talent because they are competent at managing resources.
job market is insane today. its hard to find a job in retail in some places, software is way more competitive. retraining to some in demand trade takes money you might not have and its still not guaranteed success. and even if you get hired for a stable job theres no guarantee your company will let you work your way up to 200k when they know you cant afford to quit.
the uncertainty of crime is better than endless waiting for an offer that might never come. if you take 10 scammers or drug dealers one of them will get rich, 3 will go to prison and the rest have a relatively normal life. that might be genuinely better odds than a mainstream career for some.
crime has short term certainty with long term uncertainty. a legitimate job has short term uncertainty with long term certainty. its stupid silly and dangerous way to view it as an escape from your current job situation.
I don't know why people keep whining about job markets. I'm currently working 3 different remote jobs each past 200k/yr point
my total salary is close to 800k. if one of them fires me i can easily hop to another job. I've been doing this for well over a year now and everybody is happy.
there's really no need to justify criminal behavior when legitimate options are in front of you and you are too lazy, weak willed to see the upside.
A silver lining is that at least a lot of these AI generated malware and phishing scams are easy to disrupt with mild white hat skills. Often the people behind them lack the knowledge on how to prevent themselves from being disrupted by said white hats.
The most laughable I've seen was a scam that put a captcha on the frontend to stop me from flooding their free email system on the backend and rate limit them. However, the captcha was clientside only, so I didn't even notice until I looked to see if they rotated emails, but also the captcha was a textbox with the code set as the placeholder.
If you expect it to be easy like a handout then thats the wrong attitude because then everybody would be doing it so already this points to lack of context and self awareness. If you are getting paid $200k/year, you have to be willing to see it from the other side of the table, what are you offering really?
It's also not as hard or dire as you think it is but without knowing more about your situation or what you tried, its pointless because I suspect that its going to just turn into a moping session.
I am working on 3 remote jobs that pay over 200k/year, it takes time and effort, and yes it was relatively easy for me but not in the way that you think it should be.
Probably was not able to get into MIT or another prestigious school that many of those companies look for on a resume.