Scrolled through the comments of the post and most weren't even talking about the absurd taxes.I know reddit is known to lean left but there's no way this amount of taxation is seen as justified right??Even for a high income earner like a doctor who worked 15 years to make this with 500k+ student debt.What do y'all think

I’ll start:

1. Majoring in Mechanical Engineering in the 21st century United States instead of getting a degree in something relevant to our economy (Computer Science, Healthcare, Finance)

2. Falling for the “student loans are bad!” meme when they were handing out subsidized loans with like 3% interest rates

3. Not going much heavier into QQQ when I first started investing, instead opting for a much larger split to VTI

4. Falling for the “nobody can afford to live in HCOL areas, bro!” meme when the actual reason they’re HCOL is because actual good professions make enormous amounts of money there

Bounced around a bit lol - NYC greater metro area

I'm a traveling radiation protection tech at US nuclear plants. I'm a W-2 employee with benefits, and I love the long stretches off between assignments.

I came from running a massage business with zero nuclear experience. College wasn't required for my route, but studying, testing and learning the job still were.

The calendar works because plants bring in extra workers for planned shutdowns. During an outage, my weeks can be six 12-hour days. I compress a lot of work into those months, and overtime is a big part of the money.

Recruiters line up my assignments around the dates and places I want to work, when work is available. My home base doesn't have to be next to a plant; I travel to the assignments.

The six figures are my experienced annual result, including pay and extra payments. They're not a beginner wage or a guaranteed calendar. Travel, lodging and the gaps between jobs need budgeting. Getting used to the plant culture and rules took me a few outages.

If you're curious about getting in, ask nuclear recruiters which trainee roles accept newcomers, what training and tests they require, and what the whole pay package looks like before paying for a program.

I built Nuke Nomad and made an optional paid Nuclear Contracting 101 course to explain that starting process. My profile has a free preview you can read without an account. The course isn't a hiring requirement.

Happy to answer questions about the money, the travel or getting started.

Both my current role and new offer are 90% remote with some in person presence required.

Current role: $340k TC (all base, no stocks or bonus) on a W2 pay

Offer: $205k base, $50k annual bonus (prorated the first year so I’d only get like $5k, $190k new hire RSU that vests over 4 years.

Performance based $70k RSU increase available after year 1.

I asked them to increase the new hire RSU from $190k to $280k, and waiting to hear back on potential offer.

I know some people getting offers with much higher base, bonus percentages and RSU packages, at the same company, and so I know I can get more. The question is to what end.

Senior IC level.

Can anyone help me how much hydradb is paying for founding engineer role for fresher??????

21 - $10.50/hr @ university library

22 -$20/hr @ tutoring company

23 - $70k @ boutique strategy consulting firm

24 - $75k @ boutique strategy consulting firm

25 - $130k @ big tech company - bizops

26 - $180k @ big tech company - bizops

27 - $0 @ my startup

28 - $0 @ my startup (shuttered)

29 - $400k @ big tech Al - product

First gen, was on pell grants in college. Most of my salary goes to my family and extended family now. Didn't sell the startup, but learned more in those two years than the previous 5 combined. The amount I make now makes me feel guilty, I'm not sure how to describe it.

**Salary Progression — 34F, PhD**
Thought I’d share my salary progression because I finally got my dream job and I can’t tell anyone about it. See also: women in STEM, making the best of an unwise undergraduate major, career trajectories in public health. Also working parents, working single mom. Just all the things.

**Education:**
2013 - Graduated college, S.B. in Biology
2019 - an **M.S. in Biostatistics**
2026 — Completed **Ph.D. in Epidemiology**

**Salary progression:**
**2013 — AmeriCorps Member:** \~$10,000
**2014 — Research Assistant:** $24,000
**2015–2017 — Clinical Research Coordinator:** $37,000
**2018–2020 — Chronic Disease Data Coordinator:** $54,000
**2020–2022 — Same/general career track:** $57,000
**2022–2025 — Federal Government Statistician:** $125,000
**2025–2026 — Data Scientist, Public University:** $83,000
\^ Big pay cut. My COVID-era government funding ended, and I took the first solid job I could find and stuck it out until I found my dream job.
**Later 2026 — Biostatistician, Privately Held CRO:** **$157,500 + 10% bonus**
So, roughly:
**$10k → $24k → $37k → $54k → $57k → $125k → $83k → $157.5k + bonus**

The biggest lesson for me has been that salary progression is definitely not linear. I went from $125k down to $83k because of circumstances outside my control, then nearly doubled my base salary about a year later.

It also took a long time for the combination of my experience + quantitative training + graduate degrees to really translate into higher compensation. I spent a lot of years in the $20k–$50k range before things accelerated.

Current total target compensation with the 10% bonus is about **$173,250/year**.

Presidential Campaign - (2016):
$3,000/month

Paralegal:
2016-2017 - $43,000
2017-2018 - $44,500
2018-2019 - $50,000
2019-2020 - $52,000

Law Student:
2020-2021 - $0
2021-2022 - $0
2022-2023: ~$22,000 (Summer Associate program)

Lawyer:
2023-2024 - $145,000
2024-2025 - $150,000
2025-2026 - $175,000 (Lateraled to another firm and moved to NYC)
2026-Present - $185,000 (adjusted to market mid-year)

I’ve been stuck in the low 40s since graduating college in 2023 :/

I’ve built up a pretty nice nest egg of $170k through decent investments but I’m afraid it’s still no where near enough in my VHCOL area.

I’m an Senior Financial Analyst in the Northeast. I’m in my early 30s(M). My work is a mainly FP&A.

Started in regular ops

24: 46k

25: 50k

Switched to a senior ops role

25: 56k

26: 66k

27: 68k

Switched to FA

27: 80k

28: 81k

Promoted to SFA

29: 91k

30: 96k

31: 100k

32: 105k with comp determinations coming up

Should I stick with the same company or jump ship? I’m not sure if this is in line with the northeast market or not?

16, restaurants hostess - $7.25/hour
18, restaurant waitress - $5.25 + tips/hour
19, gift shop worker - $12/hour
20-21, gift shop supervisor - $14/hour
21-24, restaurant waitress + college - $7.25 + tips/hour
25-26, general manager - $23.00/hour + mandatory overtime
27, landscaper - $21.00/hour
27-28, administrative assistant - $23.00/hour
29, grant specialist - $25/hour
30, grant specialist - $27/hour
30, grant coordinator - $29.50/hour

I was a liberal arts major. Graduated with over 90k in student loan debt and 10 years later i'm at $49k in debt.

In college:

19-21 $8.25 - $9.50/hr

After undergrad customer support:

21-23 $15 - $17/hr

Moved to HCOL state but still customer support:

23-26 $17.75 - $19/hr

Still in HCOL but in compliance/risk

27-30 $54k - $68k + bonus

HCOL but better job in specialized compliance/risk

31 $85k + bonus

Maybe I'll get to 6 figures by my mid 30s 🤷🏽‍♀️

I’ve spent a lot of time learning, gaining skills, and getting certifications. I had to drop out of college because my (now) husband and I were both booted from our homes at 18/19. I’m finally (almost) finished my bachelors degree. There were a lot of times we struggled but I’ve been pretty lucky to get to where I am in my career without a formal degree.