I once had people screaming bloody murder at me here on HN for suggesting that, for a professional North American software engineer making a typical US SWE income, a one-time $150 purchase of a tool you would use daily in your professional capacity was totally reasonable.
There’s a baffling disconnect here between how people perceive their own value of time while feeling entitled to the product of others’ time for essentially nothing.
I would imagine that depends on whether they’re employed by a hospital or incorporating themselves and running their own private clinic.
If you’re a salaried SWE, obviously expense the $150. But for a contracting SWE? $150 is really nothing compared to what a woodworker, wedding photographer, welder, or most any other self-employed professional has to spend on their tools.
Chefs provide their own knives. A lot of blue collar jobs require purchasing the uniform. Managers and execs in some industries still buy “work clothes” and though work pays for their travel they still buy luggage etc.
I keep my work on work owned hardware and my personal stuff on my own computer/phone etc. That means paying for my own 1password etc (I only use free dev tools, as it happens)
There’s a baffling disconnect here between how people perceive their own value of time while feeling entitled to the product of others’ time for essentially nothing.