55k??

That is a completely normal programmer salary in many countries, Silicon valley wages are just nuts. For example in Finland 55k before taxes is pretty good for ordinary non-wizard guy who can code, if you are a junior 40k is more realistic (and finding job in the first place can be a huge chaĺlenge..).

	▲	drnick1 13 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		We are talking about the U.S. here, and no, 40k or 55k are not good salaries at all. It may be OK in Europe with the lower cost of living, etc., but the price of a new car is 50k in 2026, and a basic fast food meal pretty much anywhere is well north of $10.
	▲	thewebguyd 44 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It's also a completely normal salary for non-dev, non-IT roles in most of the US that aren't major HCoL cities, which are the roles I was referring too mostly where the cost tradeoff of AI vs. Hiring humans isn't as clear cut as the labs marketing departments want everyone to believe. Even in the US, only about 23% of workers earn $100k/year or more. According to the US BLS, the median income for "knowledge workers" is ~$65k-$72k/year. People in SF, NYC, etc. live completely different lives from the rest of the country.