4 ms·

I've seen more than a few posts at here where candidate for jobs in Silicon Valley is given an offer but turns it down because they don't want to move to Silico

I've seen more than a few posts at here where candidate for jobs in Silicon Valley is given an offer but turns it down because they don't want to move to Silicon Valley/San Francisco for various reasons.

RhodesianHunter 7y ago
Various reasons usually boiling down to an obscene cost of living. For most of the other major cities in the US (excluding maybe NYC, Boston, Seattle, DC) a salary doubling wouldn't make you whole for a move to the Bay Area.
- mikeash 7y ago
  DC here. Any time I’m distressed about the cost of living, I just look at the Bay Area. As far as I can tell, housing is at least 3-4x more expensive. Even on a senior engineer’s pay, your choices come down to something tiny or something that requires a very painful commute.
  - d1zzy 7y ago
    I wouldn't go that far... or maybe it depends on what you define as "tiny". For a place to rent you can find 2500 sqft higher end apartments relatively close to work for 3000-3500 a month. The total income of a senior engineer when you factor in the stock compensation (and not just the base salary) should more than cover for that. On top of it, many other things cost the same across the country (ex. gadgets) while your salary is much higher than other places. Now if by "cost of living" you mean that you must _own_ a single family home, then things definitely start looking a lot more grim. But I think it's unfair to make that as some sort of basic requirement for moving somewhere, it's a very American attitude to begin with.
    - mikeash 7y ago
      It’s a basic requirement for me to move somewhere. I don’t much care if that’s fair or not.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - gkuan 7y ago
      Where can one find 2500 sqft apartments for 3000-3500? Very curious.
      - redis_mlc 7y ago
        You can't in SF. Anything new would be under 1000'. I know of some in the 1500' range, which is huge, on the peninsula, but I'm not telling anybody.

RhodesianHunter 7y ago

Various reasons usually boiling down to an obscene cost of living. For most of the other major cities in the US (excluding maybe NYC, Boston, Seattle, DC) a salary doubling wouldn't make you whole for a move to the Bay Area.

mikeash 7y ago
DC here. Any time I’m distressed about the cost of living, I just look at the Bay Area. As far as I can tell, housing is at least 3-4x more expensive. Even on a senior engineer’s pay, your choices come down to something tiny or something that requires a very painful commute.
- d1zzy 7y ago
  I wouldn't go that far... or maybe it depends on what you define as "tiny". For a place to rent you can find 2500 sqft higher end apartments relatively close to work for 3000-3500 a month. The total income of a senior engineer when you factor in the stock compensation (and not just the base salary) should more than cover for that. On top of it, many other things cost the same across the country (ex. gadgets) while your salary is much higher than other places. Now if by "cost of living" you mean that you must _own_ a single family home, then things definitely start looking a lot more grim. But I think it's unfair to make that as some sort of basic requirement for moving somewhere, it's a very American attitude to begin with.
  - mikeash 7y ago
    It’s a basic requirement for me to move somewhere. I don’t much care if that’s fair or not.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - gkuan 7y ago
    Where can one find 2500 sqft apartments for 3000-3500? Very curious.
    - redis_mlc 7y ago
      You can't in SF. Anything new would be under 1000'. I know of some in the 1500' range, which is huge, on the peninsula, but I'm not telling anybody.