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....and you are correct, it is overrated. People make it out to be heaven on earth. Well, its not. It does however offer educated people an opportunity at an amazing life while having amazing city benefits with the restaurant, culture and social scene, in nice weather with an amazing location and outdoor activities in your backyard.
If I lived at home I would make 1/4th the salary and lose 70% of my benefits. I rent from an amazing, highly ranked, upscale and modern property management real estate company with a heated pool, jacuzzi, two story gym, front desk doorman, bbq grills, club house, garage, and free shuttles everywhere, not some guy named Bob that I'm making rich. Financially, my set up makes perfect sense, but thank you for your input, bmw.
Actually ceo bob and his shareholders are taking you to town. But that's besides the point.
....and you are correct, it is overrated. People make it out to be heaven on earth. Well, its not. It does however offer educated people an opportunity at an amazing life while having amazing city benefits with the restaurant, culture and social scene, in nice weather with an amazing location and outdoor activities in your backyard.
I could say fluffy things about Somalia to justify living there
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,068,851 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by Passion4_Cars_Travelling
Well on your income, you would need a roommate even in Kansas.
Exactly
Quote:
You can do MUCH better than that though.
I definitely agree. I'm working on it. These things don't happen overnight. It didn't help that I wasted eight years working for exactly minimum wage at Goodwill while trying to save to do different things (I wasn't in a program with them or anything, just worked there like one would work at McDonalds). I finally gave up on that plan and decided to start moving on.
Quote:
I'm not sure what your situation currently is, but you can do really well in the Bay Area....easily 5-8 times more than you are making now. A degree will be needed though as well as a proper career in order to make great money here.
Oh no, not a degree. Just the right certifications. For example I did an interview with a famous IT company, and generally speaking I would say I do not want to do that for a job, but I was doing it to get away from Goodwill at the time. I would have been doing tech support over the phone. If I were to take an IT job, I would prefer for it to be in the server room maintaining the network, not taking calls from customers, but like I said I was trying to move on from Goodwill. Anyway they said I'm a very promising candidate and my knowledge of the UNIX command line is very impressive, but ultimately they wanted someone with CCNA. It was entry level and they said if I came back with CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) they were prepared to offer at least $20/hr. They said it would go up sharply as I gained experience. Level III would presumably have been closer to $40/hr. That's 76k before taxes, no degree required. I figure I could take a shot at junior UNIX sysadmin after doing Level III for a couple years.
I may end up going back to them once I get that CCNA even though it isn't REALLY what I want.
Ultimately what I would really like to do is get into the merchant marine. That is what is referred to in Britain as "the Merchant Navy". It might surprise you that someone who knows how to do computer stuff would want to do that, but I was in the real US Navy and I learned there that I like the adventure of going to sea.
Merchant marine just means you work on a ship that is registered in the USA and flies the US Flag, and you are carrying cargo for a company; for example, hauling Natural Gas for Chevron, or hauling bananas from Hawaii to Oakland, or hauling iPhones from China to Oakland. Ships that go from one port in the USA to another port in the USA must be US Flag (this is why many cruise ships go out from LA, stop somewhere in Mexico, and then come back to LA; if they just went in circles off shore from LA they would have to be US Flag). They have to hire US citizens that have Coast Guard certified training. Their US Flag also means that in time of war, the US Navy can order them to do things. The crew is all union. After logging four years of sea time as "enlisted" (in the Navy we call it in enlisted...civilians call it "unlicensed"), making a minimum of $30/hour, you can take the test to become and officer. Officers on container ships are union and are paid well. The lowest ranking officer is paid $140k. I think $140 is a decent middle class salary in Silicon Valley.
What I might end up doing though is going through Military Sealift Command first. It is part of the Navy but they do non-combat missions and the ships are operated by non-military federal government employees who are certified as Merchant Marines. For example they refuel US Navy ships and they do the supply missions to Antarctica. They also run the hospital ships. They are paid about 10% better than the Navy but far less than the private industry ships. The big advantage is that they have a more "regular schedule", such that I could work another job and give notice to the employer when they are ready to take me. With the industry ships, you have to go up to San Francisco regularly and see if they have work, and if they do, you have to leave in the next few days. Plus they pay for the required STCW class; without them I would have to go to CSU Maritime in Valejo and pay $1500 to take the class. Down side is that, while the union's web site says the industry ships are currently looking for people right now as we speak, Military Sealift Command only hires "entry level" once a year.
I definitely agree. I'm working on it. These things don't happen overnight. It didn't help that I wasted eight years working for exactly minimum wage at Goodwill while trying to save to do different things (I wasn't in a program with them or anything, just worked there like one would work at McDonalds). I finally gave up on that plan and decided to start moving on.
Oh no, not a degree. Just the right certifications. For example I did an interview with a famous IT company, and generally speaking I would say I do not want to do that for a job, but I was doing it to get away from Goodwill at the time. I would have been doing tech support over the phone. If I were to take an IT job, I would prefer for it to be in the server room maintaining the network, not taking calls from customers, but like I said I was trying to move on from Goodwill. Anyway they said I'm a very promising candidate and my knowledge of the UNIX command line is very impressive, but ultimately they wanted someone with CCNA. It was entry level and they said if I came back with CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) they were prepared to offer at least $20/hr. They said it would go up sharply as I gained experience. Level III would presumably have been closer to $40/hr. That's 76k before taxes, no degree required. I figure I could take a shot at junior UNIX sysadmin after doing Level III for a couple years.
I may end up going back to them once I get that CCNA even though it isn't REALLY what I want.
Ultimately what I would really like to do is get into the merchant marine. That is what is referred to in Britain as "the Merchant Navy". It might surprise you that someone who knows how to do computer stuff would want to do that, but I was in the real US Navy and I learned there that I like the adventure of going to sea.
Merchant marine just means you work on a ship that is registered in the USA and flies the US Flag, and you are carrying cargo for a company; for example, hauling Natural Gas for Chevron, or hauling bananas from Hawaii to Oakland, or hauling iPhones from China to Oakland. Ships that go from one port in the USA to another port in the USA must be US Flag (this is why many cruise ships go out from LA, stop somewhere in Mexico, and then come back to LA; if they just went in circles off shore from LA they would have to be US Flag). They have to hire US citizens that have Coast Guard certified training. Their US Flag also means that in time of war, the US Navy can order them to do things. The crew is all union. After logging four years of sea time as "enlisted" (in the Navy we call it in enlisted...civilians call it "unlicensed"), making a minimum of $30/hour, you can take the test to become and officer. Officers on container ships are union and are paid well. The lowest ranking officer is paid $140k. I think $140 is a decent middle class salary in Silicon Valley.
What I might end up doing though is going through Military Sealift Command first. It is part of the Navy but they do non-combat missions and the ships are operated by non-military federal government employees who are certified as Merchant Marines. For example they refuel US Navy ships and they do the supply missions to Antarctica. They also run the hospital ships. They are paid about 10% better than the Navy but far less than the private industry ships. The big advantage is that they have a more "regular schedule", such that I could work another job and give notice to the employer when they are ready to take me. With the industry ships, you have to go up to San Francisco regularly and see if they have work, and if they do, you have to leave in the next few days. Plus they pay for the required STCW class; without them I would have to go to CSU Maritime in Valejo and pay $1500 to take the class. Down side is that, while the union's web site says the industry ships are currently looking for people right now as we speak, Military Sealift Command only hires "entry level" once a year.
Anyway that's like my dream job right now lol.
What about that time you advised Robert S McNamara to stand up to Fidel Castro? Have any other cute stories for us?
I definitely agree. I'm working on it. These things don't happen overnight. It didn't help that I wasted eight years working for exactly minimum wage at Goodwill while trying to save to do different things (I wasn't in a program with them or anything, just worked there like one would work at McDonalds). I finally gave up on that plan and decided to start moving on.
Oh no, not a degree. Just the right certifications. For example I did an interview with a famous IT company, and generally speaking I would say I do not want to do that for a job, but I was doing it to get away from Goodwill at the time. I would have been doing tech support over the phone. If I were to take an IT job, I would prefer for it to be in the server room maintaining the network, not taking calls from customers, but like I said I was trying to move on from Goodwill. Anyway they said I'm a very promising candidate and my knowledge of the UNIX command line is very impressive, but ultimately they wanted someone with CCNA. It was entry level and they said if I came back with CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate) they were prepared to offer at least $20/hr. They said it would go up sharply as I gained experience. Level III would presumably have been closer to $40/hr. That's 76k before taxes, no degree required. I figure I could take a shot at junior UNIX sysadmin after doing Level III for a couple years.
I may end up going back to them once I get that CCNA even though it isn't REALLY what I want.
Ultimately what I would really like to do is get into the merchant marine. That is what is referred to in Britain as "the Merchant Navy". It might surprise you that someone who knows how to do computer stuff would want to do that, but I was in the real US Navy and I learned there that I like the adventure of going to sea.
Merchant marine just means you work on a ship that is registered in the USA and flies the US Flag, and you are carrying cargo for a company; for example, hauling Natural Gas for Chevron, or hauling bananas from Hawaii to Oakland, or hauling iPhones from China to Oakland. Ships that go from one port in the USA to another port in the USA must be US Flag (this is why many cruise ships go out from LA, stop somewhere in Mexico, and then come back to LA; if they just went in circles off shore from LA they would have to be US Flag). They have to hire US citizens that have Coast Guard certified training. Their US Flag also means that in time of war, the US Navy can order them to do things. The crew is all union. After logging four years of sea time as "enlisted" (in the Navy we call it in enlisted...civilians call it "unlicensed"), making a minimum of $30/hour, you can take the test to become and officer. Officers on container ships are union and are paid well. The lowest ranking officer is paid $140k. I think $140 is a decent middle class salary in Silicon Valley.
What I might end up doing though is going through Military Sealift Command first. It is part of the Navy but they do non-combat missions and the ships are operated by non-military federal government employees who are certified as Merchant Marines. For example they refuel US Navy ships and they do the supply missions to Antarctica. They also run the hospital ships. They are paid about 10% better than the Navy but far less than the private industry ships. The big advantage is that they have a more "regular schedule", such that I could work another job and give notice to the employer when they are ready to take me. With the industry ships, you have to go up to San Francisco regularly and see if they have work, and if they do, you have to leave in the next few days. Plus they pay for the required STCW class; without them I would have to go to CSU Maritime in Valejo and pay $1500 to take the class. Down side is that, while the union's web site says the industry ships are currently looking for people right now as we speak, Military Sealift Command only hires "entry level" once a year.
Anyway that's like my dream job right now lol.
Sounds like quite a plan and I wish you the best with it. You would be much appreciated for serving our country! You're from Britain? That's so cool. Thank you for choosing to make California your new home
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,068,851 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by Passion4_Cars_Travelling
Sounds like quite a plan and I wish you the best with it. You would be much appreciated for serving our country! You're from Britain? That's so cool. Thank you for choosing to make California your new home
I already served my country in the US Navy But I'm interested in potentially serving her again in Military Sealift Command before transferring back to private industry on a merchant ship!
I'm not from Britain, I was just saying that in Britain they call it "The Merchant Navy". I was born in the USA and grew up here in Silicon Valley.
Location: "Silicon Valley" (part of San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA)
4,375 posts, read 4,068,851 times
Reputation: 2158
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perma Bear
What about that time you advised Robert S McNamara to stand up to Fidel Castro? Have any other cute stories for us?
I've never met Robert McNamara. I am defnitely against Castro, although I support the President's actions in trying to normalize relations since Casto is believed to be close to death from natural causes and/or cancer.
I have done many interesting things in my life but I don't really have any cute stories. My stories actually happened.
If you are under 35, you should enlist. To put oneself in danger to protect others is honorable.
You would also have VA Guaranteed Loans when you get out, meaning that you can borrow 100% of the value of the house and you don't have to give them a down payment. Plus you have the GI Bill to go to college if you haven't yet. And free healthcare from the VA as long as your income is low. If your income increases beyond the limit you have to pay a small amount.
Service for many was a traditional way to education, a career and home ownership...
It is something that is often conveniently forgotten by those that have not served.
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