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Currently making $17/hr pre-tax and it is liveable in my suburban area. With overtime which is generously available at 1.5x pay, I could afford to raise a famil

Currently making $17/hr pre-tax and it is liveable in my suburban area. With overtime which is generously available at 1.5x pay, I could afford to raise a family even, and this job feels much more stable than other tech industry jobs I've had in the past. I currently work for Star Gas, which is a northeastern USA based company that delivers heating oil to over 600,000 customers with revenue of about 1B per year (but razor thin profit margins of about 55m per year).

peteradio 8y ago
What is the cost of living? That seems rough almost anywhere to support a family. What do you do?
- maccard 8y ago
  > That seems rough almost anywhere to support a family Plenty of families in the UK survive off much less than that. Median income in the UK is less than it...
- anoncoward111 8y ago
  I started out in customer service making that rate, and I've also done sales and billing adjustments at the company for the same rate of pay. Those roles are more like "internally advertised", whereas customer service is externally advertised because of the high need for these roles and the relatively high turn-over rate in the position because of the type of work (shouting customers who are angry about price or tardiness of service lol). My half of the rent and utilities is currently $1000 a month. A car payment, phone payment, insurances of various kinds and some food and entertainment spending cap out at about another grand per month, so $2000 total. With no overtime and after taxes, you start out at about $2200 a month in post tax, very reliable income. If you are willing to do 10-12 hour days, you can pull in about $4000 a month with no college degree and, to my experience, no crazy office politics or externalities. It might not be enough to support a stay at home spouse, 2 kids, 2 range rovers, a large mortgage, vacations and shopping, and a robust family medical insurance plan, but it is definitely enough for a normal apartment in a normal suburb, driving an older vehicle and enjoying some westernized habits like eating at a restaurant or doing lots of christmas shopping :) Thanks for asking, because I actually left tech sales completely for this field instead and I am pretty happy with the forced change of industry so far (oracle laid me off!!!)
  - disqard 8y ago
    Thank you for sharing these details! I value the insight into how diverse the "making ends meet" dimension can be, even among people connected to tech in some way.
    - anoncoward111 8y ago
      Thanks for asking, it was a pleasure :) I've lived off of less than $300 in Thailand and Chile before, but that's basically enough to afford only food and a room... and in my case in Chile, food and a tent in the mountains!!

peteradio 8y ago

What is the cost of living? That seems rough almost anywhere to support a family. What do you do?

maccard 8y ago
> That seems rough almost anywhere to support a family Plenty of families in the UK survive off much less than that. Median income in the UK is less than it...
anoncoward111 8y ago
I started out in customer service making that rate, and I've also done sales and billing adjustments at the company for the same rate of pay. Those roles are more like "internally advertised", whereas customer service is externally advertised because of the high need for these roles and the relatively high turn-over rate in the position because of the type of work (shouting customers who are angry about price or tardiness of service lol). My half of the rent and utilities is currently $1000 a month. A car payment, phone payment, insurances of various kinds and some food and entertainment spending cap out at about another grand per month, so $2000 total. With no overtime and after taxes, you start out at about $2200 a month in post tax, very reliable income. If you are willing to do 10-12 hour days, you can pull in about $4000 a month with no college degree and, to my experience, no crazy office politics or externalities. It might not be enough to support a stay at home spouse, 2 kids, 2 range rovers, a large mortgage, vacations and shopping, and a robust family medical insurance plan, but it is definitely enough for a normal apartment in a normal suburb, driving an older vehicle and enjoying some westernized habits like eating at a restaurant or doing lots of christmas shopping :) Thanks for asking, because I actually left tech sales completely for this field instead and I am pretty happy with the forced change of industry so far (oracle laid me off!!!)
- disqard 8y ago
  Thank you for sharing these details! I value the insight into how diverse the "making ends meet" dimension can be, even among people connected to tech in some way.
  - anoncoward111 8y ago
    Thanks for asking, it was a pleasure :) I've lived off of less than $300 in Thailand and Chile before, but that's basically enough to afford only food and a room... and in my case in Chile, food and a tent in the mountains!!