4 ms·
Why software engineers should start their careers in San Francisco
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- shostack 11y agoNot an engineer but on the marketing/advertising/analytics side of things. I moved from Chicago to the Bay a while back. If I could do my career over, I would have started in the Bay (beyond the hindsight that would have enabled me to purchase real estate here at 2008 prices...ugh). Simply put, as you grow in your career and can provably add more value than you cost, you gain more leverage in salary negotiation (typically). So if you ratchet up to a high salary in SF, you might have to take a dip when moving to lower cost of living areas, but perhaps not. Maybe you just take less of a pay increase. Either way you'll likely still come out much further ahead. If you can manage to budget effectively and can save/invest smartly, those dollars you initially earned in SF can go much further elsewhere. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love living in the Bay, but I'll admit I've been very tempted to move somewhere with a lower cost of living where my money goes a lot further. Of course the tradeoff is I likely wouldn't have the amazing weather, people, food, activities, culture, etc. that exists here in such a rare combination.
- gizi 11y agoI have never set foot in SF and probably never will. I currently make much more than the average there. Anybody who bases his decisions on that kind of meaningless statistics will obviously drive the average down, wherever he goes.