5 tips to land a high paying Software Engineering job during COVID-19

It is sad to see a lot of talented, former colleagues of mine get impacted as a part of the broad layoffs at companies like Lyft, Uber, and Airbnb. There will be at least dozens of thousands of highly skilled tech professionals out of work when it’s all said and done. And those who are fortunate to not be laid off, have already seen pay cuts (e.g. Lyft cutting 10% of base pay) or will see decreased future compensation (e.g. no yearly bonuses, suspension of promotions). On the bright side, there are still tech companies out there who are still hiring. As of the writing of this article, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple are hiring. So if you’re looking for a new job, you still have the opportunity to earn the big $$$. The following are 5 tips I would give to anyone looking for a software engineering job today.

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How much did I spend in 2019

Now that 2019 has come to an end, I took some time to review my finances. The week between Christmas and New Year is my favorite week of the year. Other than the obvious reasons of getting to spend time with family/friends and getting a breather from work, I get to spend time reflecting and reviewing the previous 51 weeks. And I often learn something that significantly impacts how I operate in the following year.

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How engineers can FIRE in 15 years and have $4,000,000 in net worth

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One of Silicon Valley’s prominent venture capitalists, Marc Andreessen, once said, “software is eating the world.” Profit margins for software are high, and at the same time, distributing software is becoming cheaper and easier. As a result, engineers are handsomely compensated in today's labor market. This is especially true in tech hubs such as Silicon Valley, Seattle, and New York City. In this article, I'll step through a hypothetical, but realistic scenario of a software engineer starting their career in Silicon Valley in 2019 at a big tech company. We will see how long it takes to reach $4,000,000.

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Buying vs Renting a House in Silicon Valley

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Go to school, get a job, get married, and buy a house. This is what my parents have always told me to do. And I’m not alone. Owning a home is one of the major milestones in achieving the American dream. But what about owning a home in the Bay Area where a decent townhome can cost $1.4M and a decent single-family home will cost $1.8M? In this article, I'll break down how I ran the numbers and decided that it was not financially worth it to buy a house in the Bay Area, in 2019.

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Is $350k a year really middle class in a big city? Response to Financial Samurai's take

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Recently there was an article that Financial Samurai published which outlines why a $350k household income is barely middle class in big cities like San Francisco. This was a pretty controversial article that raised a lot of eyebrows. Both from big-city dwellers as well as middle America. I previously shared my budget for a family of three and it is nowhere near the budget that Financial Samurai laid out for a family of four. In this post, I'll convey my personal take on each line item in his budget.

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