Comment by lapcat

> In a country with not much of a social safety net and runaway medical/elder care costs is there really another option?

Yes, there is really another option, because most people don't even have the option of taking Google-level compensation.

Indeed, it's very likely that working as a software engineer for less than BigCo compensation will still put you ahead financially of most people.

"How is it an option to live like 99% of the people actually do live?" seems like a very strange idea to me.