I have been a developer for as long as I can remember.
By developer, I mean that I use computers as tools. I use them to develop mostly backend software and tooling, manage infrastructure in the cloud as DevOps, do research in computational physics, algorithmic trading, data analysis. And more.
That said, almost 10 years ago I moved to the U.S. After about 3 years of arriving, I was granted a work permit, and then I could start looking for work.
After dozens of interviews, some of which I had to reject because the company offered too low of a salary (never allow people to exploit you or underpay you; know your worth in the world, at least), or others where it was clear they didn’t know what they were doing as a company, others with millennials skateboarding between rooms, etc…
I finally landed a great position as a DevOps Engineer in a multinational marketing company. I stayed in the company for about 5 years. I learned a lot and went from a starting mid-level engineer to a Senior Engineer and Manager.
I wasn’t laid off until one year after the pandemic.
In those five years, I could save a humble nest egg that has kept me afloat in Queens, NY, where I now live (before, I lived 5 minutes walking distance from the office in Lower Manhattan).
From the first days on the job, as I was meeting some of my colleagues, I can recall my surprise at hearing some of them complain about their (great) salaries and positions. It was an impact to me that people working in an office in Downtown Manhattan could even complain about these things.
On the other hand, I could see those same people splurging money on stupid stuff (food, bars, clothes, cars).
Coming from a very bad economy in my home country and arriving in the land of the free, the situation was all-shocking to me. People complaining about having a lunch that costs a month’s salary in other parts of the world.
What shocked me the most was seeing the lack of agency in the world that some of these people felt. They felt trapped, even though they were free. They looked at me with some skepticism as my attitude seemed weird to them. For some reason, they didn’t feel as empowered as I felt. I can explain this probably because of where I came from and where I had landed. All in all, I had managed to help/continue/build the internet side of my father’s student information system for schools.
My colleagues were in a much better position economically, without a doubt. I just had debts at the time, after three years of burning my savings while waiting for the work permit.
I didn’t give it too much thought until today.
A New Vision on Money
Today I can see more clearly that the feeling of agency they lacked in their lives can be attributed to the idea that we need money to succeed.
Since there will always be people with more money than us, it feels hard to achieve their success. Because the world has taught us, or most, to measure success with numbers in a bank account.
If not money, maybe followers, engaged readers, prizes, or something else.
We worry way too much about what our surroundings think we are, and most feel that they are defined by this.
After being laid off, a first shock always emerges. What now? What am I going to do? Bills? Work?
I decided to chill down a bit and think, instead of mindlessly or desperately doing something or anything. Good thing I decided this for myself.
Not long after, my life changed for the better.
The details can be read in these series of posts I’ll be making about ‘money’, undoing our current vision on money and developing a new, better one, adjusted to reality.
I hope you are interested in reading the next posts about ‘A New Vision on Money’. I promise this is a life-changing thing to read.
I am humbly the messenger and translator. These posts were originally made in Spanish by an old friend.
Without further ado, here is the general Introduction.
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