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Curious how you define a "low-end" job, and what year this was. I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life, and at her age, over ten years ago, I never had to l
by ac29 11y ago
Curious how you define a "low-end" job, and what year this was.
I've lived in the Bay Area my entire life, and at her age, over ten years ago, I never had to live with less than 3 roommates. Things like saving for retirement, vacations, or emergencies were laughably impossible. And the kicker is: I made more than her, about double minimum wage ($15/hr, full-time with benefits, circa 2004). By no means should you assume I am complaining -- I didn't know anyone my age who wasn't in a similar situation.
Now I made nearly twice that, and I still have to choose between renting a room in a house with 5 other people, and being able to save money for retirement/etc by living at home.
- maxxxxx 11y agoSomewhen in the 1990s and 2000s I noticed a trend that even companies with tons of VC money wanted to get labor for free. I started freelancing in the 90s and back then in general companies accepted that they had to pay some market rate. Then slowly a lot of them started lowballing like crazy. The latest trend seems to expect that job applicants spend hours, days or weeks working for them for free before being hired. That's what probation time is for. Unfortunately tech people are OK with being exploited. I don't see too many lawyers or MBAs working at minimum wage or working for free to "get exposure".