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<p>that is relatively true. you will at least have your salary stagnate after you hit low 100k area (like 120k). the reason is that they can recruit the next batch of young whipper-snappers for grunt-level programming work who are more malleable to working extra hours and that know all the latest tech/languages/etc. thus you generally move up into management or stagnate (salary wise). </p>
<p>“tech expert” positions exist that are generally considered the apex of the technical path, which pay low-mid 100’s and you generally consult a variety of projects internally for tech issues. going pure tech can be a viable career as i mentioned, but just don’t expect to really make a ton of cash (like 150k or so). once again, this is a lifestyle choice that works for some and not for others. personally, it irritated me to no end that at the apex of my career i would be making less than starting attorneys (160k). </p>
<p>it can still be a fantastic way to start a career though because you do have management/business opportunities down the line and/or you can leave for further graduate study like business school.</p>
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<p>I can’t help but point out the obvious flaw in 100k*30 years = 3 million dollars. Taxes? General living expenses?</p>
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<p>If you’re single and making $100K, most would consider you well off. The individual median income in the US is $25,000. Take your $100K, and live frugally for a while, invest wisely and watch it grow. Get married to someone else making $100K and watch the savings grow. We have a lot of people in dual-professional households where I work.</p>
<p>I’ve seen many people do the growing rich slowly thing. It takes patience and all of the other good character traits. I guess many here have the impatience of youth.</p>
<p>That wasn’t my point. I was taking issue with your simple calculation and how you didn’t mention taxes or living expenses. I understand the concept of growing rich slowly, but 100k in salary times 30 years does not equal 3 million automatically.</p>
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<p>Sorry that I wasn’t clear. I’m in my 50s so, yes, I am familiar with taxes and living expenses. But you can’t get to a million with a 30 year income stream of $100K even with living expenses? Many asians typically save twenty to forty percent of their gross income.</p>
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<p>Yes, you have to save and invest wisely. But I assumed that you knew that. Bad assumption I guess.</p>
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<p>I knew that, but it did not appear you knew that by your apparent mathematical calculations that didn’t mention anything about investing – that looked like pure multiplication on the surface.</p>
<p>As I said: I’m in my fifties. I know a little about life, taxes, expenses, savings and the life of the software engineer.</p>
<p>I’m sorry if I was unclear - I assumed that people here knew about life.</p>
<p>There’s lot of opportunities for geeks. Unpaid though what Ive seen…</p>
<p>Mostly within SEO, Social media all those kind of internships…</p>
<p>Just google “SEO internship” or similar and you’ll find lots of opportunities!</p>
<p>Suffolk University in Boston still has REU slots open for Social Media. It seems that it’s a popular CS research area now. Google Summer of Code is open now too. They claim to typically hire about 3,400 summer interns a year.</p>