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We Are Not Taking Underpaid Jobs; We Are Trying to Survive
A response to the privileged man that advised me to “value my work.”
When I was 16, I took an advanced programming course for two years. I liked software engineering, and it was my dream to be able to graduate from that career.
However, my parents had made it clear that it was not possible to pay for college. And in my country, only private ones offered that degree.
For that reason, when I turned 18, I started looking for a job to pay for it.
After several months of searching, I got a job as a junior programmer in a company, and two months later, my first client for a simple page for his civil engineering company.
The job paid me a little more than the minimum wage in my country, and for my first client, I charged practically the same monthly salary I had: 300 dollars.
I know that many of you will think I was crazy by this point. But this salary allowed me to pay for my studies at a good private university, my bills, and save for my first car.
And most importantly, I was gaining experience in my area.
I was completely happy and proud of myself for everything I had achieved in such a short time until I attended a seminar of…
