I grew up poor and started working as an engineer in 2013 making $65k/yr after I graduated with a mechanical engineering degree I paid for out of pocket. I worked night shift at a cookie factory to do this, and I made enough with my union job to afford to get through school working 12am-8am 5 days a week.
I got married and had our first child in 2016 and bought a house. I was working as a project engineer making just over $100k. Our house was $185k and it has 2300 sq ft, low interest, we took vacations, two new cars, and we were making a large dent in our student loans. My wife didn’t work, she stayed home and raised our child. We did not budget at all. Things just took care themselves and life was good for most people.
Today I am an engineering manager making over $200k and I honest to god feel like I was better off as a staff engineer 7 years ago with half the salary. We have had to cut back our spending, I cannot afford a larger house, and we have to follow a strict written budget to not go negative every month. I still have the same house and I’m trying my best to save up so my doughter can have a shot in this world.
I’m not writing this as some “woe me” piece, but as a goddamn wake-up call that things have gone to absolute shit. I was lucky enough to come of age soon enough to earn a great salary before the world decided to turn. And even for high earners things have not improved because the top 1% is sucking us dry too. People who are trying to walk the same path as me do not have nearly the same opportunities I did. And I’m not that fucking old!
Rant over. Fuck us all. Solidarity!