Dallas to Tampa for Mid 30s Single Male Professional (luxury, calculator)

[Edvard]

Florida is a third world country. I brought my money from elsewhere, or I would be living in a grass hut. People come here to spend money not make it. My kids all left because of low pay. I have virtually no family here because of such things. If you want to drink on the beach and listen to loop recordings of Jimmy Buffet, this is the place. If you want to pay off student loans forget it. When I was young, the cost of living was not bad. Now it is sky high, that has changed for sure. Remember, they can hire people a lot cheaper than you are willing to work. Illegals and H1B's are overflowing and it's about to get worse.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Edvard

Florida is a third world country. I brought my money from elsewhere, or I would be living in a grass hut. People come here to spend money not make it. My kids all left because of low pay. I have virtually no family here because of such things. If you want to drink on the beach and listen to loop recordings of Jimmy Buffet, this is the place. If you want to pay off student loans forget it. When I was young, the cost of living was not bad. Now it is sky high, that has changed for sure. Remember, they can hire people a lot cheaper than you are willing to work. Illegals and H1B's are overflowing and it's about to get worse.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Yup!!!!!!!!!!!

Although I believe cost of living is outrageous in most of the USA, which is why so many people are leaving to other countries.

[Tampasteve]

Tampa is nowhere the size of DFW. St Pete is probably a little more difficult of a place for a 30s something single to meet than a South Tampa or Channelside location. From a tech perspective, the Tampa Bay tech market is a growing community and has many new start ups with a lot of focus of building an tech work force here. I did high tech in Atlanta for years between my Tampa ventures, but eventually came back here for quality of life. Lots of options with many different areas for many different people.

[HeadedWest2020]

Originally Posted by Tampasteve

Tampa is nowhere the size of DFW. St Pete is probably a little more difficult of a place for a 30s something single to meet than a South Tampa or Channelside location. From a tech perspective, the Tampa Bay tech market is a growing community and has many new start ups with a lot of focus of building an tech work force here. I did high tech in Atlanta for years between my Tampa ventures, but eventually came back here for quality of life. Lots of options with many different areas for many different people.

Everything I have been told is that Channelside is essentially the best and only area for young professionals over 30 to meet

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Tampasteve

Tampa is nowhere the size of DFW. St Pete is probably a little more difficult of a place for a 30s something single to meet than a South Tampa or Channelside location. From a tech perspective, the Tampa Bay tech market is a growing community and has many new start ups with a lot of focus of building an tech work force here. I did high tech in Atlanta for years between my Tampa ventures, but eventually came back here for quality of life. Lots of options with many different areas for many different people.

They won't be able to build any kind of tech work force here with the laughably low wages that are so prevalent here.

[MortonR]

Originally Posted by buenos

Being lower is not the issue.
The issue is how much lower.
I got offered 50-70% less than I am making in California, and heard from several other people the same, 2/3 less than they were making. Like an engineer has to be at the level of a bus driver in Florida, while in other places engineers make much more than low skilled workers. Or a skilled welder being offered the same as an unskilled laborer. The lack of appreciation for abilities.

Yes, but the cost of living has to be factored in as well. An employer here or in the Midwest isn't going to pay Silicon Valley or SoCal wages, period. They never have.

I'm speaking from a position of direct experience, as I used to live in San Francisco, San Bruno and later Montara, to be exact. I made about 50% more than I had in an identical position in the Midwest. There's not a soul in the business that would have hired me back in the Midwest at the salary I was making in California.

RM

[Tampasteve]

Yes I see the backlash from my comments. When I said we have a growing tech space, this is true. I was in technology for about 15 years and left Tampa 2 times for Atlanta for higher wages and better opportunity. I have now been back for 13+ years and actually see a tech community and startup incubators. I am closely affiliated with a few start ups so for some programming skills, wages are inline with other parts of the country. Yes we do have the benefit of not having state and local taxes. Yes our cost of living and commute requirements are less. Compared to the Tech environment 15 years ago, this is a very different (in a good way) place. Unlike California or some of the bigger cites with bigger companies, finding a great job is a little more difficult. Good luck to all and keep networking. This is very much a place where your network can make a huge difference.

[buenos]

Originally Posted by MortonR

I made about 50% more than I had in an identical position in the Midwest. There's not a soul in the business that would have hired me back in the Midwest at the salary I was making in California.
RM

You made 50% more in CA, that means backwards calculated you got a 33% pay cut. For example $100k + 50% = $150k. But from $150k to $100k is -33%.
That would be OK for me too, but I am talking about a 70% pay cut that some employers want to offer.

Originally Posted by Edvard

. Remember, they can hire people a lot cheaper than you are willing to work. Illegals and H1B's are overflowing and it's about to get worse.

The same is more true in Silicon Valley, so that does not explain wage difference between Florida and other state.

Originally Posted by Tampasteve

Yes I see the backlash from my comments. When I said we have a growing tech space, this is true. I was in technology for about 15 years and left Tampa 2 times for Atlanta for higher wages and better opportunity. I have now been back for 13+ years and actually see a tech community and startup incubators. I am closely affiliated with a few start ups so for some programming skills, wages are inline with other parts of the country. Yes we do have the benefit of not having state and local taxes. Yes our cost of living and commute requirements are less. Compared to the Tech environment 15 years ago, this is a very different (in a good way) place. Unlike California or some of the bigger cites with bigger companies, finding a great job is a little more difficult. Good luck to all and keep networking. This is very much a place where your network can make a huge difference.

How should tech salaries compare between Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, Minneapolis and Dallas? What we are finding is Florida tech salaries are way lower than non-Florida. Do you get non-Florida salaries through networking at the right company?
Interesting that I make $250k in San Jose CA, my friend at IBM also in San Jose made $85k for a somewhat similar tech job.

[sinatras]

Originally Posted by Tampasteve

Yes our cost of living and commute requirements are less.

AND THIS IS WHY PEOPLE LIKE MR. BUENOS ABOVE WILL KEEP GETTING LOWBALLED HERE. Our cost of living is skyrocketing in Tampa Bay. As long as people like you and others keep spewing this nonsense that people should get paid less here because it's cheap to live here, we will keep having this problem. Have you tried to buy two bags of groceries at Publix without spending more than $100? Tampa Bay cost of living was cheap 20 years ago. Those days are OVER. There is no way that people should be taking 50-70% pay cuts to work in Tampa Bay "b/c it's cheaper." That is A BOLD-FACED LIE.

[MortonR]

A couple of my former employers used Runzheimer for corporate relocation services, which included a very detailed cost comparison between the employee's current location and their proposed location. While it's not something I've used or seen in some time, it did an excellent job of showing the true costs of a relocation as far as salary comparisons and cost of living.

Granted, a Runzheimer report was not cheap, but it took all the voodoo out of the "Hey, you're not going to be paying me enough to live in my new location" discussion.

https://www.runzheimer.com

RM