why getting rich as a developer is shockingly easy

SUMMARY

Bgo, a former NASA and Fortune 500 software engineer turned entrepreneur, challenges stereotypes confining senior developers to 9-5 coding roles, urging them to embrace business ownership for greater freedom and wealth.

STATEMENTS

Software engineers, especially seniors earning six figures, are often trapped by stereotypes that limit them to isolated coding without engaging in broader business aspects like management or sales.
The speaker rapidly advanced from developer to manager in three years at a Fortune 500 firm, overseeing technically superior seniors who had stagnated for decades without major promotions.
Many veteran engineers accept minimal 1-3% annual raises and report to younger managers without protest, viewing it as normal due to ingrained role boundaries.
Engineers tend to treat job descriptions and rules as absolute, avoiding any deviation that falls outside their defined responsibilities, much like following a sign without question.
This rigid mindset prevents engineers from pursuing entrepreneurship, despite their high intelligence and ability to quickly master non-technical skills.
Software engineers possess superior logical thinking and problem-solving, making them ideally suited to learn business disciplines faster than professionals from other fields can learn coding.
The stereotype of the "hermit engineer"—isolated in coding and hobbies—leads to wasted potential, as they underestimate their capacity for leadership and innovation.
Breaking free from these stereotypes enables engineers to build self-reliant businesses, achieving time, location, and financial independence.
The speaker has mentored dozens of engineers to launch successful $25k–$50k/month client firms, proving their innate capabilities with minimal non-technical guidance.
Corporate environments exploit engineers' skills to enrich bosses, neutering their potential unless they step into ownership roles.

IDEAS

Younger managers leading decades-older technical experts feels inherently wrong, yet seniors embrace it because stereotypes normalize their subordination.
Veteran engineers repress career frustrations, only voicing them after a catalyst like a colleague's departure, revealing deep-seated acceptance of unfair hierarchies.
Engineers mirror hermits by confining lives to coding routines and video games, sidelining family and broader ambitions for a predictable existence.
A parking lot sign declaring "full" despite visible space exemplifies how engineers take digital or rule-based information at face value, forgoing verification.
High-IQ engineers rarely consider entrepreneurship because the idea lies so far outside their self-drawn professional boundaries that it never enters their mindset.
Teaching finance or marketing to an engineer takes far less time than instructing a business major in software engineering, highlighting an asymmetric learning advantage.
Driving a Ferrari through Monaco defies the dowdy engineer image, as strangers assume the speaker couldn't possibly be a coder based on appearance and lifestyle.
Technical mentors, despite genius-level problem-solving, delay promotions for over 20 years because they view business involvement as beyond their role.
Engineers' first-principles thinking undervalued in corporations translates directly to entrepreneurial success, yet stereotypes blind them to this transferability.
Dozens of mentored engineers build thriving businesses not through new technical skills but by applying existing logic to sales and client acquisition.

INSIGHTS

Self-imposed stereotypes transform versatile intellect into rigid isolation, perpetuating cycles of underachievement in high-potential fields like software engineering.
Rapid promotions expose how corporate stagnation stems not from lack of talent but from reluctance to navigate beyond technical silos.
Blind adherence to rules, even flawed ones, stifles innovation by prioritizing compliance over critical verification in both professional and personal decisions.
Engineers' foundational skills in logic and systems thinking provide a competitive edge in entrepreneurship, far outweighing the barriers others face in technical domains.
Mentorship acts as a catalyst to unlock latent capabilities, proving that guidance in non-core areas amplifies rather than supplants inherent strengths.
Transitioning to ownership liberates engineers from exploitative structures, redirecting their problem-solving prowess toward personal and financial sovereignty.

QUOTES

"The biggest stereotype that software engineers fall into is putting themselves inside this box. They draw this line and they say that they will never step out of this specific box or this specific light."
"It's easier to teach a software engineer about finance, about marketing, about sales, about all these other skills than it is to teach any other major, any other individual about software engineering."
"Software engineers by nature are the best fit to become entrepreneurs. We have on average one of the highest IQs in terms of the IQ bell curve."
"They have so much potential that simply goes wasted. And it hurts me to kind of see that because I just think back to myself."
"You're supposed to sit behind your computer and just code and use your technical skills to write lines of code that solve a specific problem and then go back to what it is that you were doing."

HABITS

Dedicate time outside work to studying marketing and sales skills, applying logical thinking to business contexts.
Actively seek accountability through mentorship to push beyond comfort zones and launch entrepreneurial ventures.
Question and verify rules or assumptions in daily life, like checking a "full" parking sign, to build risk-taking intuition.
Reflect on the broader business impact of coding contributions to foster a ownership mindset in current roles.
Branch out from isolated routines by networking and exploring non-technical hobbies that challenge the hermit stereotype.

FACTS

The speaker achieved record-breaking promotions to senior and manager levels within three years at a Fortune 500 firm.
Senior engineers at the firm received only 1-3% annual salary increases, regardless of tenure or performance.
The speaker's technical mentor worked over 20 years without major advancement until shortly after the speaker left.
Software engineers demonstrate higher average IQs compared to many professions, including accounting or finance.
The speaker has personally mentored dozens of mid-to-senior engineers to generate $25k–$50k monthly in client businesses.

REFERENCES

UCLA human conscious research opportunity.
NASA computer engineering role.
Fortune 500 software engineering consultancy.
Mentees including Marco, John, Sandra, and Dom via Code to CEO program.

HOW TO APPLY

Identify personal stereotypes by reflecting on how strictly you've adhered to job roles, then consciously challenge one boundary weekly, such as contributing ideas in a business meeting.
Allocate 5-10 hours per week to free online resources for learning sales techniques, practicing by pitching a small project idea to a peer or online community.
Analyze your current coding work's business value by discussing with colleagues how it drives revenue or efficiency, then propose one improvement that ties technical output to company goals.
Connect with a mentor or join an engineer-focused entrepreneurial group for bi-weekly check-ins, sharing progress on a side business idea like freelance consulting.
Experiment with low-risk entrepreneurship by offering coding services on platforms like Upwork, starting with one client to test sales skills and build a portfolio of independent work.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Senior software engineers can shatter stereotypes to build prosperous businesses using their sharp logic for effortless wealth.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Dismantle the hermit engineer image by prioritizing visibility in business discussions over solitary coding sessions.
Invest in quick-win business education, focusing on sales funnels tailored to tech services for immediate income boosts.
Transition from employee to owner by leveraging coding expertise for high-margin client consulting rather than corporate ladders.
Cultivate risk tolerance through small experiments, like verifying assumptions in everyday scenarios to rewire literal thinking.
Build a support network of fellow engineers pursuing entrepreneurship to foster accountability and shared breakthroughs.

MEMO

In the sun-drenched curves of Monaco's coastal roads, Bgo grips the wheel of his Ferrari, a far cry from the fluorescent-lit cubicles of his past. Once a NASA engineer who rocketed through Fortune 500 ranks to manage veterans twice his age, he now crusades against the invisible chains binding software developers. "You're supposed to sit behind your computer and just code," he says, his voice cutting through the engine's hum. For too many senior engineers pulling six figures, this stereotype isn't just a trope—it's a prison, confining brilliant minds to incremental raises of 1-3% while younger upstarts claim the corner offices.

Bgo recalls the unease of leading a team of grizzled experts in their 40s and 50s, men with children older than him, who reported without resentment. One mentor, a technical wizard who'd toiled for over two decades without a major promotion, confessed the injustice only after Bgo quit. "It's not my role," the mentor admitted, epitomizing the box engineers draw around themselves—rigid lines excluding sales, marketing, or leadership. This hermit-like isolation, Bgo argues, wastes potential on Netflix binges and video games, blind to the high-IQ edge that makes coders natural entrepreneurs.

Yet herein lies the revelation: engineers' logical prowess eclipses the learning curve for business skills. While an accountant might struggle years to grasp coding, a developer masters finance or sales in months. Bgo's own journey—from UCLA research to building a seven-figure firm without funding—proves it. He's mentored dozens, like Marco and Sandra, to $50,000 monthly client empires, needing only guidance to apply their problem-solving to profit. "They were already capable," he insists, decrying how corporations exploit this talent to fatten executive bonuses.

The parking lot anecdote in France underscores the peril: a sign blared "full," yet space awaited those bold enough to check. Bgo urges engineers to similarly defy digital decrees, questioning the 9-5 gospel that dooms them to mediocrity. In an era where AI reshapes humanity, he warns, coders must lead, not follow. Break the mold, learn the business of your code, and claim the Ferrari—not as fantasy, but as the logical endpoint of untapped genius.

For the mid-career developer staring at another promotion-less year, Bgo's message is a wake-up: stereotypes are self-fulfilling, but shattering them unlocks sovereignty. No virality required—just the persistence to step outside the box. As his Monaco drive winds toward Cannes, the invitation lingers: why code for someone else's riches when your skills can rewrite your own story?