I think progressing at Dark Plateau is very hard because of the high level requirements. A small tip: Work at BunMasters, because the pay is more than enough and the programming research is just time-consuming. Now, I don't know what actually happens when you're CEO, but I think you could extend the duration until the aliens come. I hope I could help somebody with this :D
How do you calculate the multiplier for job level-ups? i think its log(lvl) or something... btw, i worked at BunMasters for 42 years and am still alive... :D