We started a contract and they gave us Windows laptops with 2GB of RAM. For coding Java. I probably should have run at that point but I was new. I’m fairly sure 2GB is either an IDE or running the app. We could use our own hardware though, or the contracting company could cough up a few.

I had just upgraded my personal laptop and my old one was 16GB of RAM and 2nd Gen SSD so you’ll never guess what I did.

I just... What did you even do in that time? (Sincere question; if I started a job and didn't have a machine I don't think I could work, and I assume a financial place won't let you BYOD)

That's the crazy thing actually, virtually the entire company is BYOD with Citrix access to a Windows VM hosted in a datacenter. Only software developers need a specific machine.

I spent the whole time watching compliance training videos, no joke.

> financial concern

The probably unintended double meaning works great