4 ms·
Like half of these are negatives, imo. 1) I've found places in the bay for way less than what they were saying, even without roommates. Its like 2k for a 1br i
by aripickar 7y ago
Like half of these are negatives, imo.
1) I've found places in the bay for way less than what they were saying, even without roommates. Its like 2k for a 1br in Lake Merritt, which is 15-20 minute BART to SF.
2) Yes startups that are pre-seed/ pre-series A will have crazy hours, but any big tech co. will be pretty close to 40 hours a week. My team is pretty big about work life balance, and we work at a place infamous for not caring about it. I generally work 9-5, with whatever wfh I want.
3) See point 1. Granted if you want a house, it'll be more/farther out, but apartments can still be had.
4) Money is better in the US. I currently make about 160k USD, which is more than pretty much any European Dev will make.
6) 300 CHF is still 6x what I pay for healthcare per month. I currently pay 46 USD per month for (from what I can tell is excellent) healthcare, vision, and dental.
There are a lot of legitimate criticisms of the bay area (expensive, local politics are fucked, everyone is a tech bro, etc), but some of these are a bit ridiculous and not very indicative. There's a reason why the bay area is a desired place to live, and why I personally am trying to move back there.
- opmac 7y ago> 6) 300 CHF is still 6x what I pay for healthcare per month. I currently pay 46 USD per month for (from what I can tell is excellent) healthcare, vision, and dental. You are the exception here, not the rule. 46 USD for Healthcare is pretty rare in the US. It's not uncommon for people to spend 500 USD per month, so 300 CHF would look good to many people. There is also the potential argument that the Swiss healthcare system is better overall than the US system, but that could be a complete debate in itself.
- adventured 7y ago> 46 USD for Healthcare is pretty rare in the US. For a software developer (the subject of the post) it is not pretty rare. The median software developer is well over six figures in the US now for salary. Having your healthcare entirely or nearly entirely covered by your employer, is not unusual when you're over $100k.
- j7ake 7y agoYou also need to compare the amount you have to pay out of pocket before insurance kicks in. 300 CHF probably requires you to pay out of pocket around 2500 CHF before insurance kicks in.
- tumetab1 7y agoIsn't the 46$ just that part you pay? In other words, isn't your employer paying the rest? This is just for clarification that we're comparing apples to apples.
- aripickar 7y agoI guess that’s true. Sorry, not to versed in healthcare costs, it’s the first time I had to pick my own plan and/or pay for it.
- mercutio2 7y agoYou’re also, I’m guessing, young with no dependents. The employee portion of health care costs goes up dramatically as you age (even if you don’t pay for other people); you can’t project from your health care costs in your 20s out to middle age.
- laurencerowe 7y agoAt every place I’ve worked in the US my employee share of health insurance does not vary by age, only by plan you select and if you cover dependents.
- 0xffff2 7y agoDoes it matter? Maybe if the employer was paying a lower salary to make up the difference it would, but everyone in this thread seems to agree that US developers get paid more too.
- burntoutfire 7y ago> 4) Money is better in the US. I currently make about 160k USD, which is more than pretty much any European Dev will make. If you're contracting in London at 600 GBP per day (not an unreasonable amount for a senior in demand, it's very possible to get more than than), then assuming 2 weeks of vacation and 1 week of public holidays, you make 147k GBP, which amounts to $185k. You can make even more in Scandinavian countries, but such contracts there are rather rare, while 600 GBP p.d. in London is common.
- aripickar 7y agoThats probably true, but thats someone at the top of the field in of the most expensive places to contract. I am very much not a senior engineer, I started as a new grad about 6 weeks ago.
- burntoutfire 7y agoI wouldn't say that you need to be at top of the field for that - just smart (smarter than you average dev I guess) and have 8-10 years of experience. Although to be true, I don't think people at the top of the field make more than $200k-$300k (assuming the field is in demand), and these are rather uncommon cases - I imagine that is much more rarer than the same money in the US. On the other hand, pretty great deals can be had in Europe as well - I'm currently sitting in Poland making $160k, with low costs of living and taxes. Would need to probably make twice that much in California for the same lifestyle and yearly savings.