4 ms·

One thing to remember is that the US has places with much higher salaries and a lot lower land costs than the rest of the world. In NZ, the median house price

One thing to remember is that the US has places with much higher salaries and a lot lower land costs than the rest of the world. In NZ, the median house price is 5 times the annual salary of a senior dev. In our largest city, it's 8 times that. So the romantic idea of staying close to the tech and coding forever and not becoming a suit for me is really just that - a romantic idea. I want to own a decent house and support myself during retirement. So forget 56. I don't want to be doing this when I'm 35.

eliben 10y ago
> In NZ, the median house price is 5 times the annual salary of a senior dev. In our largest city, it's 8 times that Depends on what you mean by "senior", but that's not very far from the situation in the Bay Area
- lacampbell 10y ago
  Right, but that's one area in a huge country. 5 times is the median across my entire country, most of which is provincial and rural, and which only has a single city over 1 million.
  - eliben 10y ago
    Well, this "one area" has significantly larger population than the whole of NZ, but I take your point. I think you're trying to point out the low salaries of SW developers, because I find it hard to imagine homes in non-central areas are very expensive? P.S. I <3 NZ
    - lacampbell 10y ago
      No, it's much more a case of over-priced homes [1] than under priced developers. Even homes in non-central areas are very expensive - not to mention of a very low standard Here's [2] an insulated house with no central heating and single glazed windows in a town of 20k people going for $125,000 USD. No real employment opportunities unless you work for local government or commute 50km. No Lord of the Rings style vistas in the Horowhenua either, it's drained swamp. [1] http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2017/03/new-zealand-housing-most-unaffordable-in-the-world-the-economist.html http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2017/03/new-zealand-hous... [2] http://www.realestate.co.nz/3036902 http://www.realestate.co.nz/3036902
minipci1321 10y ago
> So the romantic idea of staying close to the tech and coding forever ... Looks like you might have missed the best part of it. Have you ever experienced this influx of dopamine when coding non-stop at the speed of light for hours? I think it is simply addictive.

eliben 10y ago

> In NZ, the median house price is 5 times the annual salary of a senior dev. In our largest city, it's 8 times that Depends on what you mean by "senior", but that's not very far from the situation in the Bay Area

lacampbell 10y ago
Right, but that's one area in a huge country. 5 times is the median across my entire country, most of which is provincial and rural, and which only has a single city over 1 million.
- eliben 10y ago
  Well, this "one area" has significantly larger population than the whole of NZ, but I take your point. I think you're trying to point out the low salaries of SW developers, because I find it hard to imagine homes in non-central areas are very expensive? P.S. I <3 NZ
  - lacampbell 10y ago
    No, it's much more a case of over-priced homes [1] than under priced developers. Even homes in non-central areas are very expensive - not to mention of a very low standard Here's [2] an insulated house with no central heating and single glazed windows in a town of 20k people going for $125,000 USD. No real employment opportunities unless you work for local government or commute 50km. No Lord of the Rings style vistas in the Horowhenua either, it's drained swamp. [1] http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2017/03/new-zealand-housing-most-unaffordable-in-the-world-the-economist.html http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2017/03/new-zealand-hous... [2] http://www.realestate.co.nz/3036902 http://www.realestate.co.nz/3036902

minipci1321 10y ago

> So the romantic idea of staying close to the tech and coding forever ... Looks like you might have missed the best part of it. Have you ever experienced this influx of dopamine when coding non-stop at the speed of light for hours? I think it is simply addictive.