4 ms·

Well couple percentage points make a huge difference cumulatively. 2-3% over 10 years adds up quickly. I don't agree with your opinion though. If you are caree

Well couple percentage points make a huge difference cumulatively. 2-3% over 10 years adds up quickly. I don't agree with your opinion though. If you are career oriented and want to be successful you will be drawn to big cities as that's where the best jobs are and where you can get ahead a lot. And real estate is very expensive there. I do think in rural areas it's also your biggest life expense as incomes are lower there. So it's the biggest cost item irrespective of where you live.

notacoward 9y ago
> 2-3% over 10 years adds up quickly. So do those 10-50% raises over ten years. > If you are career oriented and want to be successful you will be drawn to big cities as that's where the best jobs are and where you can get ahead a lot. There's a grain of truth here. I'm able to work remotely, and just in the past month I've worked from a variety of different kinds of environments in four states. However, that's because I've built a skillset and a track record by working in close proximity with others at a bunch of startups plus a couple of larger companies. I understand that not everybody has that option. However, even within a big city you have a choice of where to live. The crappiest place I ever lived was right in the heart of a big city. I've lived in crummy places, tiny places, places with awful commutes, places with multiple roommates to defray the cost. Those were my choices. You might make different choices, but they are still choices. People who make far less money than we do can still find places to live where they can come in every day to clean our offices, cook our lunches, teach our children. If they can, so can we. It's amazing what you can do if you don't enter the rat race of who has the biggest house, takes the best vacations, knows the best restaurants. There will be time for that, after you've built your base. The first few years after college are still part of the foundation-laying stage. You shouldn't expect to be better off materially, and often you'll be worse off for a while. That's life. At least it's not a permanent condition for those of us in tech, like it is for so many others.
- richardknop 9y ago
  It's somewhat true. I have worked remotely before. From my own experience I can charge about 2 times more when I can come to office in central London every day than remote. So that's also a trade off. I could go back to remote and live in some cheap area but again I think it would hurt my career. The path to progression / promotion when working as remote employee is much longer. Being in the office and building relationships face-to-face, and learning how to navigate company politics is necessary to get to the next level.
- TuringNYC 9y ago
  "places with multiple roommates to defray the cost" I had this perspective as well (in my 20s), until I had children. I supposed everything can theoretically be considered a want rather than a need. But how many people are really comfortable having roommates live with your family and children? As for living in "the crappiest place", I lived in a pretty sketchy place during my childhood. We had metal detectors in our high school in Brooklyn. Reference: https://www.propublica.org/article/nyc-school-children-face-airport-style-security-screening-every-day https://www.propublica.org/article/nyc-school-children-face-... You can consider wanting to go to a safe school a want (vs a need), but who doesn't aspire to that for their children?
  - notacoward 9y ago
    > how many people are really comfortable having roommates live with your family and children? Is it not also a choice when (or whether) to have children? I put off having any until I was well established, to make sure that I could provide for them without the kinds of tradeoffs we're talking about. It's amazing what a difference it makes to defer major spending - houses, kids, etc. - until you're further up the salary curve. > who doesn't aspire to that for their children? We can all aspire for many things, but we all have to make choices - where to live, who/when to marry, which job to take, which house or car to buy, which trip to take, which money to invest where, etc. Few of us get to have everything we aspire to, for ourselves or our kids. If safe schools are a priority, as I agree they should be, maybe some of those other choices need to be made differently. It's all about priorities.

notacoward 9y ago

> 2-3% over 10 years adds up quickly. So do those 10-50% raises over ten years. > If you are career oriented and want to be successful you will be drawn to big cities as that's where the best jobs are and where you can get ahead a lot. There's a grain of truth here. I'm able to work remotely, and just in the past month I've worked from a variety of different kinds of environments in four states. However, that's because I've built a skillset and a track record by working in close proximity with others at a bunch of startups plus a couple of larger companies. I understand that not everybody has that option. However, even within a big city you have a choice of where to live. The crappiest place I ever lived was right in the heart of a big city. I've lived in crummy places, tiny places, places with awful commutes, places with multiple roommates to defray the cost. Those were my choices. You might make different choices, but they are still choices. People who make far less money than we do can still find places to live where they can come in every day to clean our offices, cook our lunches, teach our children. If they can, so can we. It's amazing what you can do if you don't enter the rat race of who has the biggest house, takes the best vacations, knows the best restaurants. There will be time for that, after you've built your base. The first few years after college are still part of the foundation-laying stage. You shouldn't expect to be better off materially, and often you'll be worse off for a while. That's life. At least it's not a permanent condition for those of us in tech, like it is for so many others.

richardknop 9y ago
It's somewhat true. I have worked remotely before. From my own experience I can charge about 2 times more when I can come to office in central London every day than remote. So that's also a trade off. I could go back to remote and live in some cheap area but again I think it would hurt my career. The path to progression / promotion when working as remote employee is much longer. Being in the office and building relationships face-to-face, and learning how to navigate company politics is necessary to get to the next level.
TuringNYC 9y ago
"places with multiple roommates to defray the cost" I had this perspective as well (in my 20s), until I had children. I supposed everything can theoretically be considered a want rather than a need. But how many people are really comfortable having roommates live with your family and children? As for living in "the crappiest place", I lived in a pretty sketchy place during my childhood. We had metal detectors in our high school in Brooklyn. Reference: https://www.propublica.org/article/nyc-school-children-face-airport-style-security-screening-every-day https://www.propublica.org/article/nyc-school-children-face-... You can consider wanting to go to a safe school a want (vs a need), but who doesn't aspire to that for their children?
- notacoward 9y ago
  > how many people are really comfortable having roommates live with your family and children? Is it not also a choice when (or whether) to have children? I put off having any until I was well established, to make sure that I could provide for them without the kinds of tradeoffs we're talking about. It's amazing what a difference it makes to defer major spending - houses, kids, etc. - until you're further up the salary curve. > who doesn't aspire to that for their children? We can all aspire for many things, but we all have to make choices - where to live, who/when to marry, which job to take, which house or car to buy, which trip to take, which money to invest where, etc. Few of us get to have everything we aspire to, for ourselves or our kids. If safe schools are a priority, as I agree they should be, maybe some of those other choices need to be made differently. It's all about priorities.