You need an absurdly high emergency fund
The generic financial advice is 3-6 months of an emergency fund. If you are in this field toss that out the window. I will dare to say the minimum for us is two years savings as soon as possible
This field pays incredibly well IF you can get and keep a job ELSE you are in a world of trouble.
And even if you do get a crazy high paying job say $500k a year at Netflix odds are you are in a VHCOL area and you won't actually last more than a couple years there.
We get so caught up in the salary number in this field that we fail to consider anything else.
The faster the rise the harder the fall.
If you make $500k a year at netflix today you better put the majority of it away for the next few years youll spend unemployed when you are let go as a result of the stack ranking system or some executives delusions about AI
Our field is a field of extremes. And it all balances out. If you are fortunate enough to be making FAANG money now plan ahead before they let you go