If it makes you feel better: there was, and remains, a tech subculture more focused on the tech than the money, but it’s been drowned out over the past 25 years because a gold rush makes for better press. Unfortunately that press attracts people who like that sort of thing.

So if you like what you are doing and can live comfortably you are at the top of your game. The rest is merely froth.

Says the Cygnus Solutions cofounder. Wow. Where are people like you working today?

Since the Cygnus days I have worked on on small solar thermal power plants (fit in a pair of containers), pharmaceutical chemistry, distributed databases, Symbolic AI, and Rand CastAR for a while.

Some programming, some hardware, some chemistry, always lots of fun.

Right now I’m working on data control and privacy.

Data control and privacy are two of the most important things. I wrote a popular open source project where I've sought to improve that. Would you be interested in taking a quick look and offering candid feedback? See https://justine.lol/redbean/ and discussion thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26271117 and interview https://youtu.be/1ZTRb-2DZGs and polyglot executable format https://justine.lol/ape.html Someone like you could help me know if I'm doing it in the best possible way, since studying the influence of groups like cygnus was what helped me learn the hacking stunts that allowed me to pull it off in the first place.

This is beautifully captured. I work in a city I love (consider Charleston, SC - y'all) at a rate that puts me in a very similar position to myself. I'm so grateful to be able to have the space to not obsess over optimizing comp. I also like the knowledge/"feeling" that I can choose to focus on this in the future - and realize the benefits.

> I am reminded of how MSFT is 'low balling' company. That I could be making 2x if only I kept up with interviewing.

It doesn't take much to interview and double your comp. You don't have to interview at Google or Facebook to double your comp - many pre-IPO startups are paying up and their interview processes are often less rigorous.

If you're happy with your situation then more power to you. But something tells me deep down inside, you're not OK with it. I'm here to tell you that a couple weeks of prep and looking around can go a long way.

Maybe if you're already in a famous company, but I've been itnerviewing/applying for a while and it's absolutely draining, especially with a lot of companies just trying to mimick the hiring practices of FAANG. Many are going to require a 1-2 hr coding test just to apply (not that I've been bothering with those). After that, a series of 3-6 interviews, and it just scales like shit. So I really have you read your comment as "If you've already got a famous company on your resume, are extremely lucky, or very well-known for some other reason or have great contacts in hiring positions at other companies, then you can double your comp easy!"

Interesting thread. I thought everyone was clinging. How would you prepare if you had the rest of the summer?

> the hedonic treadmill is infinite

It actually diminishes very quickly for most people, which I suspect is why they aren’t that motivated.

Still true that being content with what you have can be a wise choice.