As a 27-year-old black man, I've taken an unconventional path in my career. After leaving my $400,000/year job as a software engineer to become an influencer, many may wonder why I made such a drastic change. In this article, I'll share the extraordinary reasons behind my decision.

A Fulfilling Career

In January 2022, I joined Oscar Health as a full-time software engineer. My skills and education (an MS in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon) enabled me to negotiate a higher-than-average total compensation package. The offer letter details included:

  • A starting salary of $145,000/year
  • A performance bonus of 10% ($14,500/year)
  • Restricted stock units or RSUs ($45,000/year)
  • A sign-on bonus ($10,000)

This added up to a whopping $214,500 – not bad for a 24-year-old! But it got even better. Due to exceptional performance, I was promoted to Software Engineer II within one year at the company, which came with a significant increase in compensation.

The Turning Point

After two years of uneventful growth, my base salary increased to $165,800, and my annual bonus increased to 15% of my salary. With all this, my compensation peaked at an unbelievable $486,154/year. However, I decided to leave it all behind to pursue a new passion – becoming an influencer.

The Journey Begins

As a tech guy at heart, I'm still passionate about building innovative solutions. My next project was creating a new type of investing platform that would change the game. To get started, I needed to create my own marketing channel and build a loyal following. This led me to become an influencer, focusing on fixing the broken retail trading system.

The Problem with Retail Investing

The majority of retail investors are degenerate gamblers who don't understand what it means to build a trading strategy. They're obsessed with getting rich quick, but lack the knowledge and discipline to create a successful plan. This is where I came in – building NexusTrade, an AI-Powered trading platform that lets retail investors create, test, optimize, and deploy algorithmic trading strategies.

The Power of AI

NexusTrade uses AI to solve real problems faced by retail investors. The reviews from users have been overwhelmingly positive, with one institutional investor, Jeffrey Fan, praising the platform's capabilities. As the Managing Director & Global Head of Equity Research at Scotiabank, he was impressed by NexusTrade's features and functionality.

In conclusion, my journey from software engineer to influencer has been filled with excitement and purpose. By leveraging my skills in fitness app development and applying them to the world of finance, I'm creating innovative solutions that are changing lives.