Reoccuring Theme: Too expensive, Low paying jobs! (San Diego, Encinitas: fit in, top neighborhood)

[MrNiceGuy06]

Every thread, same story...which is why I'm curious.


(1) How many of you are college educated? Any advanced degrees??

(2) What's your profession?

(3) Define low paying. Relative to what??

(4) Define expensive. Relative to where??

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by MrNiceGuy06

Every thread, same story...which is why I'm curious.


(1) How many of you are college educated? Any advanced degrees??

(2) What's your profession?

(3) Define low paying. Relative to what??

(4) Define expensive. Relative to where??

(1) Yes and Yes

(2) Medical Engineer amongst others

(3) Relative to what I think I should earn

(4) More than I want to pay

Happy New Year

[MrNiceGuy06]

(1) Bachelors.

(2) Navy Contractor.

(3) Less than $50000 per year (or about $25 per hour).

(4) From Wash D.C. and have found the rental and home prices quite comparable. Yet, I haven't heard so much whinning about how expensive D.C. is compared to anywhere else. Why??

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

(1) Yes and Yes

(2) Medical Engineer amongst others

(3) Relative to what I think I should earn

(4) More than I want to pay

Happy New Year

(Sorry, I couldn't resist )

[MrNiceGuy06]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

(Sorry, I couldn't resist )

I was going to suggest you demand a raise, find more reasonable housing and cut-out unnecessary expenses, but I won't.

Happy New Year!

[NYSD1995]

(1) Bachelors

(2) Software / Web Development (10+ years)

(3) Pay levels are on par with Denver, Philly, Portland. NYC, DC, SF, LA will pay 30%+ more for the same skillset

(4) Cost of living is on par with DC or LA but with Denver salaries.

If I moved to Philly, Denver, Austin or Portland, and made the exact same money as I do in San Diego, and paid exactly what I'm paying in housing costs in San Diego, I'd be living in a top neighborhood in those cities.

[Olivenhain]

So many of this same thread... OK, this is a relatively expensive area. Either you simply deal with it, or don't move here/stay here. That's what's called the weather tax. Pay up, or get out.

San Diego environs treats motivated people very well. It also makes laggards feel unable to keep up. While a college degree will certainly open doors, what you do from there on, is up to you. Creative innovators thrive here. Folks who constantly compare SD to whatever burg they came from, won't last long. We also don't treat immigrants from out-of-state poorly, like our neighbors in the Northwest (OR, WA, MT) do. You want to move here? Fine. Just leave your New York/Chicago/ wherever mindset at the border. You come here, be a Californian. You've got an equal chance to make it. Come sit on the beach all day and tend bar at night, don't expect to buy a house. Work your butt off developing a new web protocol or cancer vaccine, and you'll do fine.

[Encinitan]

Originally Posted by MrNiceGuy06

Every thread, same story...which is why I'm curious.


(1) How many of you are college educated? Any advanced degrees??

(2) What's your profession?

(3) Define low paying. Relative to what??

(4) Define expensive. Relative to where??

1) Bachelor's degree (journalism) and Juris Doctor degree
2) Internet marketing for law firms
3) Low paying is where you don't make enough to pay your bills
4) Expensive is when things cost too much.
Maybe I'm missing the point on 3) and 4) above. Not sure what you're going for with those.

[NYSD1995]

Originally Posted by Olivenhain

You want to move here? Fine. Just leave your New York/Chicago/ wherever mindset at the border. You come here, be a Californian. You've got an equal chance to make it. Come sit on the beach all day and tend bar at night, don't expect to buy a house. Work your butt off developing a new web protocol or cancer vaccine, and you'll do fine.

That's a simplistic and almost antagonistic response. You also neglected the wealth effect of dramatic booms in housing equity and a well-connected old-boy network. LA and SF are both in California by the way. No "web protocols" have come out of San Diego either, unless you count Divx which is about to tank. Web startups in San Diego fold at an almost ridiculous rate, because that business is just not really here. One-man "internet marketing" operations are more the norm than Yahoos, Googles, or even plain-old Oracles.

The reality is that a big city has to support everyone at every income and socioeconomic level. That attitude works well for Encinitas, but there's another 2 million, 900 thousand some-odd people that have to fit in somewhere too. Not everyone can be a research biologist, and research biologists can't support the economy of a top-ten US city. New York, for all it's faults (and there are many), manages to keep at least a few million people employed in some very high-paying industries. LA can claim that too. Can San Diego?

[MrNiceGuy06]

Originally Posted by Encinitan

1) Bachelor's degree (journalism) and Juris Doctor degree
2) Internet marketing for law firms
3) Low paying is where you don't make enough to pay your bills
4) Expensive is when things cost too much.
Maybe I'm missing the point on 3) and 4) above. Not sure what you're going for with those.

Low paying IMO would be either a certain threshold or relative to salaries in a similar environment. Many say low paying jobs, but not defined by a certain career field or compared to any other place. To me that makes little sense.

You, the journalist and doctorate say, low paying is where you don't make enough to pay your bills...I also place that in the "makes little sense" category. While you may have little control over your income, your expenses aren't static and can be managed. If you make less than you pay out, that's no other person and certainly no place's fault...its yours!

"...When things cost too much." - Again, I asked relative to what? Maybe that's what you're missing. I asked what are you comparing your "feelings" or observations to...it does seem like you missed that. You control what you pay for, so what's there to complain about?