Without giving away too much info:
I work in the upper midwest as a software dev. 3-4 years ago, I was working at a good company, but was underpaid with good benefits: $70-$75k a year (with about 6 years of experience), depending on bonus. Not where I wanted to be, and not enough to get my family into the city/schools I wanted them to be in.
So I looked around, adjusted my skillset, invested time into knowledge building, took a job as a contractor at a company where I would get better pay (without benefits) and a place to really work on my skills. I parlayed that into my current job, a fully time employee with really good benefits and (for my area) top pay, about double what I was making before.
It's doable, but it won't happen overnight. Work out a plan, adjust and improve your skills, and in a couple of years you can greatly improve your income/position. The people who you see doing this aren't special, they're just working on the things that need to be worked on.
Comments
Without giving away too much info: I work in the upper midwest as a software dev. 3-4 years ago, I was working at a good company, but was underpaid with good benefits: $70-$75k a year (with about 6 years of experience), depending on bonus. Not where I wanted to be, and not enough to get my family into the city/schools I wanted them to be in.
So I looked around, adjusted my skillset, invested time into knowledge building, took a job as a contractor at a company where I would get better pay (without benefits) and a place to really work on my skills. I parlayed that into my current job, a fully time employee with really good benefits and (for my area) top pay, about double what I was making before.
It's doable, but it won't happen overnight. Work out a plan, adjust and improve your skills, and in a couple of years you can greatly improve your income/position. The people who you see doing this aren't special, they're just working on the things that need to be worked on.