Do you get actual offers or do you get asked to interview with them? There's a difference.

Yeah, a lot of my co-workers including myself don't like it because we're helping the rich get richer plus associated consequences.

And if you're good you can make $140K base outside of finance (and outside of NYC and SF, too) without too much digging, too.

In most places $140K is about the ceiling. In NYC it's not. Plus finances pay bonuses.

Furthermore, what does it mean to be good? If you're smarter than your interviewer or know more, they'll reject you. In general, I would say selling yourself has nothing to do with your programming skills.

My total take-home at my last job was about $180K. I'm 27. I'm not top-of-market in Boston; top-of-market is around $220K and that's assuming an average-ish bonus situation. And, no, I tend to be better prepped and, usually, more knowledgeable than my interviewers, because that's what they would be paying me for. Because I am good at what I do, I have a deep and wide base of knowledge and have significant successes in my past, and they know it.

You're digging a real deep hole and making your project seem remarkably unserious. I would suggest that you stop.

Ok, thanks! Let's stop.