10 ms·

The market is great, but everyone seems to just mill around from job to job because no one from the outside can afford to live there.

lsc 10y ago
>The market is great, but everyone seems to just mill around from job to job because no one from the outside can afford to live there. This... just isn't true for Engineers. In silicon valley, you can still get a reasonable place for under $2500 a month, and even at SysAdmin wages, which are rather less than SWE wages, that's doable for one person, easy for two. It's still under the what, 33% of your salary you are supposed to spend on rent, and as that's a percentage, and as your toys cost just as much here as they do everywhere else, your toy (or retirement savings, depending on your temperament) budget is huge compared to someone who spends 1/3rd of their income on rent in a less-expensive and less-renumerative city. Granted, for people outside of tech, it's gotta really suck; personally I find it shocking that food and services around here are so cheap. How do they find people willing to cook, drive, etc... at those prices? Are these all locals who bought in when it was cheap? but for people within the tech industry, it's a different deal than when I was growing up (in those days, being a nerd was social death.) - but the outcome is the same. If you are willing to forego kids, it's perfectly affordable to live here. I mean, sure, you ain't staring a family unless you bought in a half decade back or you are really top-end skill-wise, or you are two Engineers who both plan on continuing to work, but that's what the locals want, and frankly, it's fine with me. I mean, I'll vote for more residental construction every time, but if locals what to prevent that, and present me with a child-free valley? I ain't complaining.
- santaclaus 10y ago
  > I find it shocking that food and services around here are so cheap Food, cheap? By the cost of a beer index, the bay area is at NYC and DC level prices.
  - lsc 10y ago
    But so is our rent, and I think silicon valley is harder to commute into than those other places. I was making a comment on how I thought silicon valley is affordable for engineers, I don't really understand how the service workers make it, and I was implying that the obvious solution would be to pay them more, and raise prices accordingly. Compared to the multiplier on rent, yes, I think food and services are cheap.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]

lsc 10y ago

>The market is great, but everyone seems to just mill around from job to job because no one from the outside can afford to live there. This... just isn't true for Engineers. In silicon valley, you can still get a reasonable place for under $2500 a month, and even at SysAdmin wages, which are rather less than SWE wages, that's doable for one person, easy for two. It's still under the what, 33% of your salary you are supposed to spend on rent, and as that's a percentage, and as your toys cost just as much here as they do everywhere else, your toy (or retirement savings, depending on your temperament) budget is huge compared to someone who spends 1/3rd of their income on rent in a less-expensive and less-renumerative city. Granted, for people outside of tech, it's gotta really suck; personally I find it shocking that food and services around here are so cheap. How do they find people willing to cook, drive, etc... at those prices? Are these all locals who bought in when it was cheap? but for people within the tech industry, it's a different deal than when I was growing up (in those days, being a nerd was social death.) - but the outcome is the same. If you are willing to forego kids, it's perfectly affordable to live here. I mean, sure, you ain't staring a family unless you bought in a half decade back or you are really top-end skill-wise, or you are two Engineers who both plan on continuing to work, but that's what the locals want, and frankly, it's fine with me. I mean, I'll vote for more residental construction every time, but if locals what to prevent that, and present me with a child-free valley? I ain't complaining.

santaclaus 10y ago
> I find it shocking that food and services around here are so cheap Food, cheap? By the cost of a beer index, the bay area is at NYC and DC level prices.
- lsc 10y ago
  But so is our rent, and I think silicon valley is harder to commute into than those other places. I was making a comment on how I thought silicon valley is affordable for engineers, I don't really understand how the service workers make it, and I was implying that the obvious solution would be to pay them more, and raise prices accordingly. Compared to the multiplier on rent, yes, I think food and services are cheap.
deleted 10y ago
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