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Why I'm making my finances public

I've decided to make my finances public going back as far as I can get data for, which looks to be around early 2017. What this
means is every month I will post how much I've earned in this spreadsheet. Here's why I'm doing this:

Career Visibility

I've been lucky enough to land some amazing jobs and fortunate enough to work with some amazing people. I'm also a white, male,
programmer and I understand that opportunities open to me aren't open to others. By sharing my financial story you'll
also get a glimpse into my professional story. You'll see how much I've earned at different check points in my
career. I can't say if this information is valuable but I hope it can be a reference point to others as they reach similar check points in their careers.

Digging into discomfort

The mere thought of my finances in the public domain makes me uncomfortable and so I started asking myself
why. I'm worried that coworkers might judge me if I make more (or less!) than they do. I'm worried what my family will think. Surely
there is a good reason why no one in my family has ever talked about how much they make?! Will the people of the internet judge me? The list could
go on and on. I spent weeks thinking about it, I talked to friends and mentors. The more I thought about it the more excited I got. The more I dug into the
discomfort the easier it got. So the final step to rid myself of the taboos around money is to write this post and make everything public.

If anybody has thoughts about this post and/or questions or thoughts about my career or finances please reach out! You can email me (stephen@merimerimeri.com)
or connect with me on twitter (https://twitter.com/_smeriwether).


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