I bring great energy to my teams, but technically I’m not incredible

> Making $80k a year is a GREAT salary. That’s going to invoke a hearty yawn from many when comparing to dev salaries. I'd like to draw a distinction here: $80k is very good, by the standards of what most people can get. $80k is middling-to-poor compared to how fast the cost of living is going up. Housing prices are skyrocketing, people have no savings, can't afford emergencies. The economy is leaving people behind. In my area, SWE pay moves closer to "normal difficulty" every year, while everyone else moves to "hard".

There's a lot of places in America where $80k is not a great salary. Unfortunately, as much of America slides further and further right people who don't fit the right's ideal have to be more and more selective about where they live.