Tech Jobs Over 200K (2013, credit, loan)

[jonlovet]

@nutrino
"Are you kidding? At 100k they can buy a Tesla and all kinds of other awesome stuff. "

-does not make sense when we consider food, clothing,health,education and shelter are primary necessities for a person's life. Transportation is secondary. Tesla fits no where in the budget when a person uses his common sense and try to save money. You can go from 1 point to other point by 4k used corolla than spending 60k on Tesla and using 10 years to pay off the title with 500$ monthly payment. Also for me, I like to travel a lot. So considering a family of 4 making a trip to various places in US (once a month) will consume at least 1k. add 2k rent (+10% every year inflation) and 1k for food. 4k is consumed just by looks of it. Then add utilities, fuel, bills which will add to 1k. with 80-100k you wont make more than 5k a month. And all 5k is consumed just like that. Forget about saving for emergency purposes like health etc.

Regarding your repeated emphasis on staying in condo, I checked in redfin. A good condo like 2b/2bath in Fremont at school zone costs like 500-600k. Add on top of that HOA and other negative facts about buying it.
Bay area is not a place for a person making 100k to live.

[neutrino78x]

Originally Posted by jonlovet

@nutrino
"Are you kidding? At 100k they can buy a Tesla and all kinds of other awesome stuff. "

-does not make sense when we consider food, clothing,health,education and shelter are primary necessities for a person's life.

Come on man what's the finance payment on a Tesla, $500 a month or something? You make like ten times that amount!

You cannot tell me that no engineers in Silicon Valley own a Tesla because I see them ALL THE TIME here!

Are you wasting all your income trying to buy "a single family home in an excellent school district"??

Regarding your repeated emphasis on staying in condo, I checked in redfin. A good condo like 2b/2bath in Fremont at school zone costs like 500-600k. Add on top of that HOA and other negative facts about buying it.

So if you can't afford that buy a cheaper condo. Relax the requirement to be in a 10/10 school district. Relax the requirement for the condo to be in its own separate building. Or go even cheaper and rent a place. See http://www.sanjosecondomania.com for good affordable condos in San Jose etc.

[neutrino78x]

Here's two bedroom condo for 280k

MLS ML81448939: 121 Rancho DR A SAN JOSE CA 95111

Let me guess...it's in a 7/10 district instead of 10/10 or it's "not liveable" because it's not a monolithic unit.

[neutrino78x]

Let's not forget that there are single mothers living in Silicon Valley on $15/hr or less. And you're claiming that you can't afford it on five times what they make. Remember subsidized housing is not free. It just reduces it to 1/3 of their income, which is what you should be spending on housing too. So if you make 5k per month after taxes, in theory you should be spending $1600 or less per month on housing. You should probably cut back on all the trips if you say you can't afford to live in the area.

[jonlovet]

Neutrino ,
We have different perspectives about looking towards life and i think we have different priorities.
anyways, Thanks for the web. I will check that out.

pls read this-
What is the Dark Side of Silicon Valley?

[phantompilot]

Originally Posted by roadwarrior101

Another thing to keep in mind is that the amount of stock you're awarded as a sign on bonus is typically a lot more than you'll get ongoing. I've heard of Google, Amazon, etc. awarding a stock sign-on equivalent of a first year's salary but then maybe $50k ongoing. Not bad, but you need to look at that as what you're long-term earning potential is with the company. Now, if the stock doubles, it can still be extremely lucrative.

BWAAHAHAHA. No new hires at regular levels get a year of salary signing bonus and as for stock options, these are worthless until they a) vest and b) appreciate. Kids coming out of school with a BSCS are not making 200K, unless they are lucky enough with timing to hit it big on regular options at a pre-IPO company - also there is really no stock opportunity in Google and Amazon these days, they are hitting the no grow/slow grow part of the curve and the stock hasn't done anything in a year. The writing is on the wall for the big tech plays..its basically over. Still viable businesses, but all the money has already been made.

Also, lets qualify this conversation - there are really no bonuses either for code monkeys unless you're the principal developer or very senior staff software engineer which implies many years experience across lots of companies and high-visibility projects.

See this is why they can con all these kids into coming to work for 80 hours a week - they tell them they're gonna get rich , just wait...blah blah blah. Its all lies. But how else you going to pay someone half what they should be making? Why do you think the Zuckerbergs of the world have such a hardon for all the H1-B visas - they know the *** will be up soon, but you can still con a guy from Mumbai - even low wages in SV beats the pants off whatever they are getting back home, plus you're not living in sewage!

[phantompilot]

Wow, so the forum censored the phrase, "the _ig is up" but left hardon? Its a strange world, ain't it?

[phantompilot]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

That's just not true at all. I just did salary reviews for my staff and have access to current data from Radford. My staff's positions range from $220k to $260k at the upper-end of their salary ranges (and that's base salary, before cash bonuses and stock grants).

Your statement about manager's salaries is similarly ridiculous, and anyone with access to Radford data can confirm that. Take the upper-end of the manager position just below director (your claim was no one in that position could make over $200k), add in the recommended incentive bonus and annual stock grant, and you end up with a figure nearly 2x your $200k figure.

I'm pretty sure my employer isn't supplying their managers with faked higher salary data so we overpay everyone.

You happen to live in the artificial reality bubble where stock options = cash. That's all. Its illusory. I'd like to see the W-2s on these "manager level" employees that you claim are making 400K.

[phantompilot]

Originally Posted by 80skeys

People on here trying to make it seem that 200k+ salaries are common for engineers. That's not the case at all. As I've said., people who are earning that are upper level managers or people who are experts in some niche field. That's all. If you have data to the contrary, then take and post some screenshot.

Yah, its BS. There might be a few companies that are throwing away a lot of Monopoly money hiring their nerds, but its never going to amount to much and only then to the founding team. Nobody else will make squat. I've been around long enough to see this scam played out in three cycles now.

Right now its these intrinsically not-very-valuable companies that are pimped by VCs and WS. A lot have already deflated. Some people look at these arms races between competitors (this is probably the situation for MediocreButArrogant) and think its representative of the market in general. But its not. And they will all commiserate with each other about how their pile of stock options evaporated and was worth ...not enough to buy the Lambo.

It would be comical if it wasn't so sad. Lots of broken dreams.

[phantompilot]

Originally Posted by neutrino78x

Are you kidding? At 100k they can buy a Tesla and all kinds of other awesome stuff. The only thing is they can't buy their own house. But in Silicon Valley, middle class lifestyle is a condo inside of a building containing other condos, or being able to rent your own apartment with enough rooms for your family. You have to lower your housing expectations to live here but 100k is still a lot in every other respect.

You cannot buy a Tesla on a 100K salary. Unless you intend to sleep in it.