4 ms·

Hmmm, you need some how-to-manage-living-and-jobs instruction. Wow. Here you go: Step 1 is to get a job. There are jobs all over the country. The concentration

by tropo 10y ago

Hmmm, you need some how-to-manage-living-and-jobs instruction. Wow. Here you go: Step 1 is to get a job. There are jobs all over the country. The concentration may be highest in the tech hot spots, but most of the jobs are elsewhere. Pick some place like Melbourne, FL. Pick a job that has long-term potential. Step 2 is to fly out there and look at rentals. Pick one. Move. Step 3 is to start looking for a home, casually at first. You want to learn about neighborhoods and traffic jams. Meanwhile, see how you like your new job. If the job doesn't work out, go back to step 1. If you need more time to figure out the local housing situation, rent for another year. Also, if you own a house in a different part of the country, get it sold. Step 4 is you buy the house. Move. Hopefully you can work there for decades. I've done a decade already. When things start to go sour, go back to step 1. Sometimes you may lose on the "closing costs and market fluctuations", but remember that it's no big deal when the houses are cheap.

logfromblammo 10y ago
You are likely being downvoted because this seems very condescending and patronizing. There are several statements that elide over critical details. You could literally write entire books on these topics: - Pick a job that has long-term potential. - If you own a house ... get it sold. - When things go sour, go back to step 1. - It's no big deal when the houses are cheap. Jobs with "long-term potential" went into decline decades ago. I have already held more positions than both of my parents, combined, over their entire careers, from graduation to retirement. My sister can say the same. Our spouses can, too. Everybody I know is an "at will" employee, and every last one of us is afraid of sudden unemployment. Remember 2008? I do. There's nothing quite like dropping $50k as a down payment and then being unable to sell when you really need to, because your note-holder won't even consider taking a little haircut with a short sale--which you would have to do, because all your equity is gone. Step 1 is BS. How many articles pop up on HN about how broken tech hiring is? I would literally rather help my current boss bury a dead hooker in the woods (for the paying customer, of course) than deal with more whiteboard interviews and homework assignments and sudden ceasing of all communication. When houses are cheap, usually rent is, too. But even where houses are "cheap", they are often still an over-unity multiple of the local median income, and require a lot of long-term debt to purchase. For most people in the US, a house is the most expensive thing they will ever even aspire to owning.
- Grishnakh 10y ago
  Exactly. And when your career is so unstable (as you said, we're all afraid of sudden unemployment) that you might be looking for a new job at any time, and that could mean having to move because the area doesn't have the density of tech jobs that the Bay Area has, that means that it's a really bad idea to take out a mortgage on a house. At least with renting, you're only stuck paying rent for the rest of the lease, or if you stay long enough to make it to month-to-month status (or you negotiate something in between, like my current renewed lease where there's a 90-day notice on either side), then you're not out too much money in case you have to make a sudden move. On top of all that, in the current era of women having their own professional jobs, that makes it even harder to settle down and have a family, since one of you losing a job means you have to move someplace, and that screws up the other's career. That means there's really a big disincentive to even date seriously and get married, because everyone's constantly moving around from city to city. I'm somewhat newly divorced and most of the professional women I see on Tinder/OKC in the metro area I live near (DC) have a string of characters in their profile indicating all the places they've lived: Boston, Philly, NYC, Seattle, etc. It's gotten to be a cliché. One woman I briefly dated complained that every time she made a new friend in the city, she (the female friend) moved away.
  - tropo 10y ago
    You're near DC. That isn't cheap, but OK, not horrible. So... would you like a stable job? The DC area has stable jobs. Could you get a security clearance? There are many government agencies near you. Can you do low-level stuff like assembly? If so, my employer might want you. It's been 11 years, with growth, and we've never laid off a technical person.
    - logfromblammo 10y ago
      Having worked for both private companies and government contractors, I'd recommend against taking a job with the latter, unless it pays at least $15k more per year than you could expect from the former. That's about how much I value having to deal with ridiculous nonsense on an almost daily basis. Sadly, the Beltway Barons can easily afford the differential. The least you can do is demand that they pay it.

by tropo 10y ago

logfromblammo 10y ago

You are likely being downvoted because this seems very condescending and patronizing. There are several statements that elide over critical details. You could literally write entire books on these topics: - Pick a job that has long-term potential. - If you own a house ... get it sold. - When things go sour, go back to step 1. - It's no big deal when the houses are cheap. Jobs with "long-term potential" went into decline decades ago. I have already held more positions than both of my parents, combined, over their entire careers, from graduation to retirement. My sister can say the same. Our spouses can, too. Everybody I know is an "at will" employee, and every last one of us is afraid of sudden unemployment. Remember 2008? I do. There's nothing quite like dropping $50k as a down payment and then being unable to sell when you really need to, because your note-holder won't even consider taking a little haircut with a short sale--which you would have to do, because all your equity is gone. Step 1 is BS. How many articles pop up on HN about how broken tech hiring is? I would literally rather help my current boss bury a dead hooker in the woods (for the paying customer, of course) than deal with more whiteboard interviews and homework assignments and sudden ceasing of all communication. When houses are cheap, usually rent is, too. But even where houses are "cheap", they are often still an over-unity multiple of the local median income, and require a lot of long-term debt to purchase. For most people in the US, a house is the most expensive thing they will ever even aspire to owning.

Grishnakh 10y ago
Exactly. And when your career is so unstable (as you said, we're all afraid of sudden unemployment) that you might be looking for a new job at any time, and that could mean having to move because the area doesn't have the density of tech jobs that the Bay Area has, that means that it's a really bad idea to take out a mortgage on a house. At least with renting, you're only stuck paying rent for the rest of the lease, or if you stay long enough to make it to month-to-month status (or you negotiate something in between, like my current renewed lease where there's a 90-day notice on either side), then you're not out too much money in case you have to make a sudden move. On top of all that, in the current era of women having their own professional jobs, that makes it even harder to settle down and have a family, since one of you losing a job means you have to move someplace, and that screws up the other's career. That means there's really a big disincentive to even date seriously and get married, because everyone's constantly moving around from city to city. I'm somewhat newly divorced and most of the professional women I see on Tinder/OKC in the metro area I live near (DC) have a string of characters in their profile indicating all the places they've lived: Boston, Philly, NYC, Seattle, etc. It's gotten to be a cliché. One woman I briefly dated complained that every time she made a new friend in the city, she (the female friend) moved away.
- tropo 10y ago
  You're near DC. That isn't cheap, but OK, not horrible. So... would you like a stable job? The DC area has stable jobs. Could you get a security clearance? There are many government agencies near you. Can you do low-level stuff like assembly? If so, my employer might want you. It's been 11 years, with growth, and we've never laid off a technical person.
  - logfromblammo 10y ago
    Having worked for both private companies and government contractors, I'd recommend against taking a job with the latter, unless it pays at least $15k more per year than you could expect from the former. That's about how much I value having to deal with ridiculous nonsense on an almost daily basis. Sadly, the Beltway Barons can easily afford the differential. The least you can do is demand that they pay it.