California dreaming ....don't think it will happen for me this life time (Temecula: apartment, living)

[drshang]

Originally Posted by EuroDuderino

I can't find the specific post atm, but a couple weeks back or so s.o. mentioned that job marked in L.A. was quite saturated even for all sorts of IT professions. So I'm not sure how "quick & easy" still applies here.

IT is not programming. There are way more programming jobs than there are programmers in the tech community. This is pretty much a national trend. It is not "quick and easy" to make 100k as a programmer, but it is the "easiest" way I would say.

Quite frankly there are many top programmers that START at 100k these days. I am not going to suggest people can self teach or do some cram school for programming and get there, but software engineering is a great field and is super employable and will likely remain so well into the future, unlike last decades hot fields of nursing and pharmacy school. Programming has been a hot field since the 80s really.

[harhar]

Yeah, I tried programming and it's neither quick nor easy. And I'm in the "hardware" trenches in IT. There's a certain type of person who can do programming and it ain't me.

Being pragmatic is good advice though. It all boils down to having a skill and being marketable. If you're the only person who has skill X and is willing to take $xx,xxx for it, it's much better than someone who has skills who everyone else has and wants $xxx,xxx+.

In smaller cities you can get away with having a lower skill set because the CoL is lower (mainly rent). You could more easily survive in other small towns outside of California on minimum wage and tips, though it still isn't easy.

My job would pay less than half in any other state beside California. Heck, it'd only pay 2/3rds outside of the county.

[drshang]

MS in Accounting is another solid degree to get for people who have a "useless" college degree and want a pretty bankable field. Not quite as good as programming and doesn't quite pay as high as programming, but it's a solid living with a pretty bankable career. Lot of those programs will take people without a business degree (may need some prereqs - depends on the program) and usually only take 1 year.

[EuroDuderino]

Originally Posted by drshang

IT is not programming.

In what sense, please?
IT is comprised of many fields, and I have always encountered programming to be one of them.
Unless you mean "programming your VCR/TiVo", which I don't assume.
Also, for the sake of this argument, I propose programmer to include the terms software developer and software engineer, etc. - there are more specific forums where it has already been debated to death wether there are distinctions between them and how those look like.

Maybe you are referring to how "the job market" terms and labels these? Job sites sometimes have their own organizational reasons to relabel groups of professions in funny ways.

Originally Posted by drshang

There are way more programming jobs than there are programmers in the tech community. This is pretty much a national trend. It is not "quick and easy" to make 100k as a programmer, but it is the "easiest" way I would say.

Quite frankly there are many top programmers that START at 100k these days. I am not going to suggest people can self teach or do some cram school for programming and get there, but software engineering is a great field and is super employable and will likely remain so well into the future, unlike last decades hot fields of nursing and pharmacy school. Programming has been a hot field since the 80s really.

So even in L.A. one would still have an advantage looking for coding gigs?

Btw, learn JavaScript, pays a lot these days, but that's already off-topic I guess.

[drshang]

Originally Posted by EuroDuderino

In what sense, please?
IT is comprised of many fields, and I have always encountered programming to be one of them.

What I am referring to is being a code monkey, writing code, making software. Whether you consider that to fall under the umbrella is fine, I do not really care to have that type of debate, but what I want to make clear is jut because you are in the "IT" field does not mean taht you are a code monkey and many IT/tech jobs do not have nearly as good of a job market as a code monkey does. Whether you call a code monkey a programmer, software engineer, software developer, etc. doesn't really matter. Even if you are called those titles and are not writing code all day, this job market similarly does not apply. I just don't want to give the false impression that people can go to some BS ITT tech type school, learn "IT" (i.e. low level tech support) and think they can make 100k in a few years.

So even in L.A. one would still have an advantage looking for coding gigs?

I know lots of coders and not a single one has ever not had a job for any reasonable length of time. LA and OC has lots of startups with lots of demand for coders. Silicon valley is still the strongest market for coders in the US, but there is demand in pretty much every major metro for coders, and LA is no exception.

[macmyapples]

What types of programming are out there? is there something that doesnt require plain boring code and calculations?

[EuroDuderino]

Originally Posted by drshang

What I am referring to is being a code monkey, writing code, making software. Whether you consider that to fall under the umbrella is fine, I do not really care to have that type of debate, but what I want to make clear is jut because you are in the "IT" field does not mean taht you are a code monkey and many IT/tech jobs do not have nearly as good of a job market as a code monkey does. Whether you call a code monkey a programmer, software engineer, software developer, etc. doesn't really matter. Even if you are called those titles and are not writing code all day, this job market similarly does not apply. I just don't want to give the false impression that people can go to some BS ITT tech type school, learn "IT" (i.e. low level tech support) and think they can make 100k in a few years.

Very good. Then we are in full agreement after all!

Originally Posted by drshang

I know lots of coders and not a single one has ever not had a job for any reasonable length of time. LA and OC has lots of startups with lots of demand for coders. Silicon valley is still the strongest market for coders in the US, but there is demand in pretty much every major metro for coders, and LA is no exception.

Thank you, this changes my perspective on the market in the city.

[mercikaleb]

LOL I am ALWAYS amazed when people on here talk about how broke they are, and how they dont have enough money for this and that, yadda yadda yadda...

They dont KNOW real poverty.

50k a year wont buy you a nice house in Los Angeles but if you budget, and are frugal you can live nicely..


Shop at Goodwill for clothes
Watch what you spend money on...

The best things in life are FREE

You cant BUY the beach, GREAT weather or Friendships...

So do what you WANT and take the neccesary percautions and planning but remember
It's NEVER the right time

[bophisto]

Hmm yeah true...but some people want to LIVE and not just survive .

[Outofthematrix]

Yea its not cool to feel as if you are just existing and not living.