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I have a question for senior developers like the author. I've been a developer for 1.5 years and on this article's checklist for switching jobs I have everythin

I have a question for senior developers like the author. I've been a developer for 1.5 years and on this article's checklist for switching jobs I have everything except a mentor (that's probably more my fault). According to the this article I should not switch jobs. However I live in the Bay Area and there is a huge COL and also salary difference between top and "2nd tier" companies. Junior engineers at Google/FB/MSFT make 180+ while I would say market is 120+ for the Bay Area. This is a sizable income difference esp when you compound over 3-5 years. Dan Luu explains it better: http://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/ http://danluu.com/startup-tradeoffs/ Does it make sense to stay at my job where I am learning well or should I try to switch to a larger tech company since it has a material impact on my financial well being ? I want to raise a family and hope own a home (or rent one near good schools) and I don't see that as being possible in the Bay Area without a Google salary. If I was living in a market like Texas I would stay at my current job because market salaries allow you easily have a middle class family lifestyle (my parents live there and you can easily raise a family on 90k). The Bay Area however is another beast and that 50-60K Google salary difference compounded over many years seems substantial (esp for that mortgage down payment). I don't want to move out of the Bay (my wife is tied here too). What do you guys think - are the financial reasons enough to consider switching jobs for the Bay Area ?

digler999 10y ago
Make sure you find out from several sources how many hours those engineers at "top tier" companies are working. They could be making the same as a "2nd tier" engineer, just working 1.5x more. Thats cool if you have the funds to put your kid into a nice school, but you also have to be present to be a good parent.
- solarmist 10y ago
  I work for a top tier company and I work hard, but mostly I do 40-50 hours a week nowadays. I've also worked for second tier companies that I worked 60+ hours a week. That said I have coworkers that work 60 hour weeks mostly because they're fresh out of school and want to prove themselves.
goldfire 10y ago
The list in this article isn't exhaustive, it's just one set of suggestions. They are good and useful suggestions, but not the only possible criteria. You should make your own individual decisions based on the priorities and goals you have for your own life; nobody can tell you what is most important to you. What is it that you really want to accomplish? What are you willing to sacrifice to get there, and is that more or less than what you would actually have to sacrifice? Keep an eye out for unintended consequences; keep digler999's reply in mind, for instance. But also don't overanalyze; whatever decision you make at this point probably won't be permanent.

digler999 10y ago

Make sure you find out from several sources how many hours those engineers at "top tier" companies are working. They could be making the same as a "2nd tier" engineer, just working 1.5x more. Thats cool if you have the funds to put your kid into a nice school, but you also have to be present to be a good parent.

solarmist 10y ago
I work for a top tier company and I work hard, but mostly I do 40-50 hours a week nowadays. I've also worked for second tier companies that I worked 60+ hours a week. That said I have coworkers that work 60 hour weeks mostly because they're fresh out of school and want to prove themselves.

goldfire 10y ago

The list in this article isn't exhaustive, it's just one set of suggestions. They are good and useful suggestions, but not the only possible criteria. You should make your own individual decisions based on the priorities and goals you have for your own life; nobody can tell you what is most important to you. What is it that you really want to accomplish? What are you willing to sacrifice to get there, and is that more or less than what you would actually have to sacrifice? Keep an eye out for unintended consequences; keep digler999's reply in mind, for instance. But also don't overanalyze; whatever decision you make at this point probably won't be permanent.