Thread 33598274

Am I out of touch with reality if I want to find a job that pays me $100 an hour?

>>33598274 (OP)
Wanting a job that pays $100 an hour doesn’t inherently mean you’re out of touch with reality, but it depends on your skills, experience, industry, and location. That rate translates to roughly $208,000 annually for a 40-hour workweek, which is well above the median U.S. household income of about $81,000 (based on 2023 data). Let’s break it down:

- **High-paying roles exist**: Jobs in tech (e.g., senior software engineers), medicine (e.g., specialized doctors), law (e.g., corporate attorneys), or executive management often exceed $100/hour. For example, a software engineer with 5+ years of experience at a top tech firm can earn $60-$150/hour, and specialized roles like AI engineers or data scientists can hit or exceed $100/hour in competitive markets.
- **Freelancing/contracting**: Skilled freelancers in fields like consulting, graphic design, or niche technical work (e.g., blockchain development) can command $100+/hour, especially with a strong portfolio and network.
- **Barriers**: If you lack specialized skills, advanced degrees, or experience in a high-demand field, reaching $100/hour is tougher. Entry-level or mid-tier roles in most industries (e.g., retail, teaching, or admin work) typically pay $15-$50/hour. Location matters too—$100/hour goes further in rural areas than in high-cost cities like San Francisco.
- **Reality check**: It’s ambitious but achievable with the right path. For context, only about 10% of U.S. workers earn over $100,000/year (roughly $50/hour), per 2023 BLS data. If you’re early in your career or in a lower-paying field, you’d need to upskill, pivot industries, or build a side hustle to hit that target.

If you share more about your field, skills, or career stage, I can give more tailored advice on whether $100/hour is realistic and how to get there.

>>33598308
>That rate translates to roughly $208,000 annually for a 40-hour workweek
Holy shit thanks ChatGPT
You're always useful :)

>>33598308
>40-hour workweek
neetdom isnt that bad actually

>>33598274 (OP)
1. If you're at the top of your profession and caan contract yourself out as a consultant, you can easily charge $100 or more per hour. But as with any contract job, you will not have a guaranteed 40 hours per week for 50 weeks, and there will be gaps with nothing coming in.

2. If you are a skilled tradesman (plumber, electrician, etc) with your own company and a good customer base you can easily charge $100 or more an hour. But again you will not be working 40 hours/50 weeks.

>>33598274 (OP)
Thats about the normal rate for being self employed.
My wife and I make about that each. No it isnt out of touch, you just need to start your own business.

It literally doesnt have to be anything fancy or special even. Go buy a pressure washer and clean people's driveways. Its not as hard as people act. Like an hour of marketing education off YouTube would do well.

Watch how outrageously ass blasted people get about this post. Almost every time.

>>33598507
>Go buy a pressure washer and clean people's driveways.
>Watch how outrageously ass blasted people get.

Maybe you should aim that thing better

>>33598488
I highly agree. Not that bad at all :)

>>33598308
You got any advice for somebody trying to get back into a tech career?

I wanna put my education to good use and I'm looking for some sort of stability in my life.
I'm gonna brush up on my skills again soon, but a few gigs would be possible for me at this point too.

I'm tried of living life this, man...I need to feel like a functional person again.

>>33598852
Isn't it a little unstable, given the economy right now?

>>33598507
That pretty much is true, but I don't want to power wash or have to talk to customers. Making a living while never leaving your bedroom is harder, since that's what everyone wants.

>>33598274 (OP)
go to doctor or lawyer school bro or else I can think of something you can do for $100 in an hour but you're not gonna like it

>>33601888
oh I'm gonna like it alright big boy ;)

>>33602399
don't do that, please

>>33598507
>Go buy a pressure washer and clean people's driveways
Holy fucking jesus
is this the best country for becoming a millionaire idea of business? Fucking unbelievable

>>33598923
> getting back
> into a tech career
> now
Bruh.

I mean, I will answer your questions, but your options are low-paid code monkey slave, FAANG (with about a .001% chance atm), or elite fullstack with a complete understanding of cloud, k8s, ci/cd, networking, security, traditional full stack (FE, BE, SQL, no-SQL), and a vague enough understanding of data science and AI to bs.

Maybe learn your .NET/Java, DDD, SQL, and event-driven microservices and throw out Kafka/Redis buzzwords so you can be a BE at a a legacy bank

I get paid 100$+ an hour.

I'm a subcontractor so my hourly rate has to cover business expenses, which wouldn't suit a lot of people but I need the liquid capitol. Jobs in that range are all either peak industry jobs, or simply reflect the business rate of a service.

If you dig holes for a living, $25.
If you are a self registered business (sole trader) who digs holes, $45. your insurance, tax, pension are your own problem.
If you are a commercial operator, $65, you dig holes, but also provide insurance coverage, tools, business services like invoicing.
If you dig holes coal face, $100 an hour. critical demand. holes nobody else can or will dig.

But I must stress this. fucking stress. one is not better than the other. genuinely. break your foot on a private callout, you will regret working privately. three months of income lost. if ou get sued for an accident you will regret being a commercial operator who can be sued as a business. If you work coal face, you are going to see some serious shit, it's actually not worth working coal face, it's desperado work, if you do it, you stop doing it as soon as you can.

I'm trying to get back into $45/h, because I want regular clients and couldn't suffer a serious injury any more.

>>33603969
>Bruh.
I just want to make enough to move out of my parents place in the near future, man.
I have ZERO illusions of grandeur here, I just wanna make enough money to survive and save cash.
I know I'm nobody special.

If you have any better/other options for a guy like me to make decent money I'm game for it, I'll do fucking ANYTHING to make money now.
I have no self-respect or integrity to hold me back.
I fucking hate myself for not doing enough in my life.

Thank you for answering my question all the same, I'll give you a proper response once I get 8 hours of sleep again.

>>33603969
>.NET/Java
>SQL
I have experience with these at least, mainly college experience but it's there.

>>33604144
>>33604155
So then my tldr advice is to pick a stack (Java or .NET) and just get a job - again, target legacy bank or insurance companies and be willing to come into the office. Maybe spend 2-3 hours a day applying, and the rest preparing for interviews / maybe getting some cert. Getting into tech is still realistic, it's just that you might make way less than during the peak.

Also, look into small consulting companies (not too small, but like 50-200 consultants range). They are usually hiring and don't get a million applications.

>>33598274 (OP)
What can you do that's worth that money?
Or, what can you start doing that is worth that kind of money.

>>33604180
Thanks again for the advice, I do legitimately appreciate it, man.

Should I brush up on my skills via YouTube, Google and my old projects or are there some specific certs I should look into for the future?

Any specific consultancy agency types or companies I should focus on? Or is it just a matter of whoever eventually responds?

>Getting into tech is still realistic, it's just that you might make way less than during the peak
If it puts money in my pocket that's all I need for now.
Trying to wageslave at local places hasn't worked out at all, so this is at least a clear path for me.

>>33603969
>>33604180
NTA but I used to be a tech geek back in highschool 20 years ago and now I don't understand 90% of what you just said lol

>>33604233
Np, there is a reason half of this board is posting "can't find a job, about to fail at life". Your situation is a little better though, since there is a clear path forward.

The only marketable skills you will get out of youtube/cursera/udemy is React. If you don't know a SPA and learn React, it will a 100% make you more marketable.

Other than that, it's just getting to a point where you understand how to build API microservices in .NET or with Spring Boot. All of this is basic shit but understanding:
> controller -> service -> repo pattern ('layered")
> understanding queues - rabbit or Kafka at a high level
> understanding caching (.NET memcache, Redis)
> understanding ORMs (Entity, Dapper) - again, just enough to use them and answer questions
> understand built-in dependency injection in .NET

If you really want to give yourself an advantage for junior roles, you can take this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/credentials/certifications/azure-developer/?practice-assessment-type=certification and actually understand it. It's not easy without experience, but it's also not hard.

I know it sounds like a lot, but it's also stuff you can learn in under a couple of months, ESPECIALLY if you ignore React and the Cloud Cert. Those just help cement an almost guarantee.

>>33604255
>If you don't know a SPA and learn React, it will a 100% make you more marketable
Sweet, that's going on my list then.

>>33604245
That's the problem with the industry - some woman irl asked me how to get back into it and I ranted off "the basics" and realized she will never get back in.

During the hype train, we were forced to learn rapidly and you have to understand a 1000 things, catching up is not really "just brush up on some basics, you will be fine". It's also why I think tech is secure for people who lived through the bubble.

On the other hand, I do wake up with the thought if just moving to a hut in Somalia.

>>33604255
You can share all the advice you have to spare about this too if you want.

My lack of a job gives me the free time to plan stuff out more at least.

>>33604275
There is really not much more general advice I can give, I can answer questions if you have them though.

The main thing in your case is to not get stuck in analysis-paralysis and start applying within a month / two tops. That probably means heavily brushing up on .NET and applying asap. The alternative path is React with your .NET/Spring Boot as it is now. That's really a preference thing.

Brushing up on .NET, building a sample React app, and taking the cloud cert will pretty much guarantee employment, but it doesn't mean you won't have to apply to 200 jobs anyway.

>>33604383
>but it doesn't mean you won't have to apply to 200 jobs anyway
Fair enough, that just seems to be the way of things these days I geuss.

>>33598274 (OP)
Do you get 100 customers an hour? Do they purchases 10,000 worth of 33 dollar products? I don't think you are. It's a scam .

man, shit is wack these days

>>33598488
40 hours is nothing. Try 80.

>>33604383
Outside of all the advice so far, are there any other resources for learning/studying I should start looking into right now so I can get back into .NET work?

>>33607505
>Try
rather not

>>33604383
Do you have any tips for how to pick a project that I'll actually finnish and then fine tune?

I have a bad habit of stopping and starting multiple projects at once when I'm trying to practice specific things, I'm pretty sure if gets in the way of me having complete projects to show off in my portfolio.

Man, I could totally fuck up a plate of bacon and eggs right now.

>>33607922
Honestly, when you interview I am going to ask you:

1. How do you connect to the DB. Expect to hear something about Entity Framework. Then I am going to troll you with questions on why Dapper is better and expect you to rant something vague about loading navigation props. (but yes, you really have to understand what this means).

2. Then I will ask you about dependency injection and service lifetimes.

3. Then about auth / Auth0 / Okta / JWTs and how token claims and signatures work.

4. Then maybe about async, threading, and LINQ if I think you have NO idea what you are talking about.

5. Some SQL questions like 4 ways to make a query more performant. (Rant something about indexes, limit statement, pagination, only returning the pops you need, blah blah)

6. Some bullshit about stuff I already mentioned here >>33604255

That's about it. Fellow loser code-slave fags, please add things I missed.

>>33607505
Let's be honest, it's more like 60 most weeks.

>>33608906
Make something small and relevant. Right now it's some sort of topic-specific LLM connection. The only problem is that most "cool" projects don't really carry over to the slave world. But maybe make some tiny chatbot friend app that calls an LLM from the API, but adds filters to keep it on topic. Muh AI, muh APIs, muh third-party services & auth. Maybe it can store chat context in db, because muh db.

>>33609295
>it's more like 60 most weeks

>>33598274 (OP)
Hope, it is simultaneously the source of a human's greatest strength and the fundamental cause of their greatest weakness.

Depends on your education level. Like did you do well in school or go to college?

>>33612897
>Like did you do well in school or go to college?
Fuck no

>>33612791
Depends how you use it really.

>>33613119
please don't ruin my matrix quote with your valid statements.

how are you going to suck a hundred dicks in an hour

>>33613579
2 at a time, 1 minute per pair, 10 minute smoke break after the first 50.

>>33613600
by smoke break I assume you mean smoking a dick

>>33613571
I know Kung Fu.

>>33609295
>Make something small and relevant. Right now it's some sort of topic-specific LLM connection. The only problem is that most "cool" projects don't really carry over to the slave world
So, make sure what I'm working on is actually relevant to the kind of apps that people actually need/want built?
Should I stick to googling that kinda thing or should I ask people in my field about it?

>But maybe make some tiny chatbot friend app that calls an LLM from the API, but adds filters to keep it on topic. Muh AI, muh APIs, muh third-party services & auth
A lot of what you're mentioning is pretty familiar to my education and the current market out there, so this seems like my best bet for now.
Thanks for the example.

>Maybe it can store chat context in db, because muh db
Right, so make sure it stores it's data in a database that's easy to access then? Easy for me anyway.

>>33613579
perseverance

>>33612897
>do well in school or go to college
k*k only retarded bug cattle do "well" in school. and a degree is a piece of paper that only holds legal value.

>>33598274 (OP)
I would say that is only a question of how nasty porn you're willing to make.

>>33617921
>Fell for the youtube meme
That legal value means a lot anon. And if you have good professors they staple the fuck out of that knowledge in your head more so than a YouTube video. A YouTube video has you constantly asking more and more questions, but a professor gives you enough reinforcement to where you don't need it.

>>33612897
I'm a shitty student in college who had to adjust, but I currently have a B average GPA.

>>33617939
>That legal value means a lot anon.
no shit? i want through that nonsense for future better earnings, doesn't mean i wasted my energy getting good grades

>And if you have good professors they staple the fuck out of that knowledge in your head
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
the only thing they stappled in my head is their stupidity. sometimes i wish i was homeschooled starting from age 0, but then i would grow naive of how stupid they are

>A YouTube video has you constantly asking more and more questions
AI covers that now
google previously covered that

>a professor gives you enough reinforcement to where you don't need it.
the only thing that needs reinforcing is the fact teachers are completely useless in the 21st century

>>33617943
oh nice good for you

>>33617943
Nice work, it's a solid base.

>>33598274 (OP)
Yes, better play some game

>>33620089
Based PVZ enjoyer

That is only 1.5 sales an hour for me. Easily obtainable

money money money.... money

>>33620089
this shit is so cool

>>33623062
In a rich man's world.

>>33617924
What is he's not hot enough?