Making $150k/200k a few $1k investments shouldn't break the bank too much. If you are good at Internet research, finding new crypto's with groundbreaking tech before the masses can get you some good return. It may not last forever, but I think it's here to stay and the best ones will remain just like the dot-com bubble era.
Just for example, I bought few Ethereum when it was around $70 and sold half of it and took money out of market when it hit $300. Now I do not care if I loose my rest of money. I just invest in other cryptos for long run and watch where the market goes.
Most people here are used to thinking that if there's something that looks too good, it's probably a scam and/or someone else is already doing it better. But just by being a software engineer and reading HN you are probably in the top percentile of people qualified to evaluate (and invest in) ICOs.