I'd consider myself in the same boat. Also been a professional developer for 20 years. Wouldn't say I'm full stack anymore as I'm a little out of the loop with all of the changes with front-end development in recent years, but trying to improve in that area and become a better, more-rounded developer.
Also in Florida and in the low $100k range. Always a bit surprised to hear these stories on HN and elsewhere of developers making $150-200k+ salaries, and wonder how I can get to that level.
Imposter syndrome is very real for me too, especially in my current role where my coworkers all seem much smarter and more technological-savvy than me.
Would also like to contribute to open source projects, but not really sure where I'd start and whether I am good enough.
fastest way to big bucks is to create an auction market (have multiple simultaneous offers) at companies with revenues growing fast enough that they don’t care
Sounds like you're my technical doppelganger. Hopefully some of the comments on my post are helpful to you as well. I can't change location right now, so I think I'm going to work on the imposter/confidence aspect and try to find some projects to contribute to.
They might not ask health questions, but if you're not careful and don't disclose anything material, they're probably going to find a way to get out of paying when it comes to it.
Travel insurance for older people with prior conditions can be expensive. My parents visited the US for a few weeks and their insurance cost something like $800 with a $500 deductible. Wasn't even that good either, with a stack of pages with terms and conditions. Fortunately they didn't have to use it.
The tech industry in Central Florida has grown in recent years and seems to be quite strong at present with companies like Disney, Universal, Deloitte hiring lots of tech folks, and a small but growing startup scene.
Salaries aren't going to be the same as the west coast though (obviously), and most of the senior developer roles I've seen cap out at around the $100k-ish mark. With the far cheaper cost of living though, it goes a lot further.
Practically, I know it should go further. I think about doing it all the time. But it sure sounds daunting to take a 30-50% pay cut to move to an area with (significantly) fewer jobs.
Many years ago, I deposited a check from my business account to my personal account, where both accounts were held with the same bank, and somehow, they messed up where the check was for something like $1500, but they only deposited $500 into my personal account and deducted $500 from my business account. Called them up, and they deposited the missing $1000 into my personal account but didn't take the funds from my business account, effectively giving me $1000 for free.
Tried calling them several times and explaining what had happened, though the customer service folks were useless. Seemed like no-one really cared about resolving the issue.
Eventually, after something like 9-10 months, someone realized and one morning, my business account was suddenly debited for $1000.
Can't remember where I saw it, but recall reading that a significant number of deals do fall through. Mark Cuban actually had one of the higher success rates with about 80% of deals actually succeeding, and I think both Lori and Robert were at around 45%.
Edit: From this AMA on reddit with Mark Cuban 3 years ago, he says that about 25% of deals have something wrong (and therefore presumably don't work out).
It's interesting that the Wired article mentions the recent controversy about claims that aircraft systems can be hacked, but explicitly ignores the incident last week as having any possible relation to these events, where a bigoted employee denied a Muslim passenger an open can of Diet Coke because it "might be used as a weapon", while giving the passenger in the adjacent seat an open can of beer.
The blowback hit them and they changed the response (and removed the original response)
>>>
UPDATED: Jun 3, 2015 at 1:45PM
While United did not operate the flight, Ms. Ahmad was our customer and we apologize to her for what occurred on the flight.
After investigating this matter, United has ensured that the flight attendant, a Shuttle America employee, will no longer serve United customers.
United does not tolerate behavior that is discriminatory – or that appears to be discriminatory - against our customers or employees.
All of United’s customer-facing employees undergo annual and recurrent customer service training, which includes lessons in cultural awareness. Customer-facing employees for Shuttle America also undergo cultural sensitivity training, and United will continue to work with all of our partners to deliver service that reflects United’s commitment to cultural awareness.
<<<
1) The beer isn't free, the passenger paid for the entire can or used a 1K drink chit.
2) UA flight attendants are famous for making up rules and many try to avoid handing out entire cans of soda, and this one wasn't even a United flight attendant.
3) What on earth would that have to do with today's event?
Whether or not the beer was free has absolutely nothing to do with this. It's not about the beer or diet coke, but about the blatant bigotry exhibited by an employee against a passenger on a United flight, as well as inexcusable behavior by another passenger.
Similarly, whether or not this was a United flight attendant is also of absolutely zero relevance. They may have technically been an employee of Shuttle America, but were part of the cabin crew and a representative of United on that flight, working under the United brand and wearing United uniforms. Therefore, when United releases a statement making no apology for abhorrent behavior exhibited by their representative, it reflects directly on them.
It may have nothing to do with this event, just as Chris Roberts tweeting that he hacked into the in-flight entertainment system may have nothing to do with this event. It's merely interesting that Wired explicitly ignored the actions of United as having any possible relationship to this event.
Also in Florida and in the low $100k range. Always a bit surprised to hear these stories on HN and elsewhere of developers making $150-200k+ salaries, and wonder how I can get to that level.
Imposter syndrome is very real for me too, especially in my current role where my coworkers all seem much smarter and more technological-savvy than me.
Would also like to contribute to open source projects, but not really sure where I'd start and whether I am good enough.