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As someone who moved out of the Midwest for higher-paying work, this comment is 100.01% accurate. I had to move to Chicago for my first real job--one which wen

As someone who moved out of the Midwest for higher-paying work, this comment is 100.01% accurate. I had to move to Chicago for my first real job--one which went away a little bit after after the early 2000s dot-com crash--and then eventually moved out of Madison, Wisconsin, when an east coast company bought my employer out and fired nearly everyone. That last time around, I was apparently making way more than the local median salary, and really needed to replace all of it and then some. Every time I think about going back, I say "minimum $120k," and they say "ope, that's a bit much for us, dere" and never call me again. It saves time, I'm sure, but very disappointing nonetheless. From Minneapolis-St.Paul to Pittsburgh is the Midwestern megacity, with zero serious geographical limits on densifying, or adding to suburban sprawl. And every company in it would happily offer $70k/year to someone with 20 years of experience, and still believe it to be "extremely generous". At first, I thought they were all lowballing for the purposes of negotiation, but it turns out that they're all uniformly miserly.

formermidwest 7y ago
Agreed. I also moved from Chicago to the West coast for similar reasons. Doubled my salary overnight and have since more than doubled that again when counting my total income. The other thing is that the tech jobs in Chicago were all pretty bland enterprise jobs which didn't interest me. I moved away from family and friends (although many of my friends were headed out here anyway), and while it was a difficult decision, it was by far the best one I could have made. I might move back after retirement when I'm more cost-conscious and less active.
- opportune 7y ago
  Not disagreeing with you, but outside of enterprise there seems to be a pretty good amount of finance jobs in Chicago. Some of the quant firms pay competitively with the bay area for software engineers / "quant devs"
rinchik 7y ago
> one which went away a little bit after after the early 2000s dot-com crash You have at least 15 years of experience and can't get an offer of 120K in Chicago? I don't believe that it’s plausible. Well, unless it's not a "high-tech" job you are talking about, meaning that your comment is not relevant to the article or discussion at all? If you are a software developer (or data-scientist, or anything that qualifies as "high-tech"), it is very strange that after 15 years your skills did not appreciate or improved enough to qualify for a 120K offer.
- logfromblammo 7y ago
  I haven't looked in Chicago since 2004, and I'm unlikely to try again until 2024. There's more to moving than just the job. Your post came across as vaguely insulting. A company that maxes out under my minimum isn't looking for someone with a higher level of skill--or even a median level of skill. A lot of these companies ask for the Moon, and want to pay for river rocks, then don't list salary range in their advertisements. If I can't weed them out quickly, they will waste more of my time than I care to give up. It's not about securing an offer, it's about finding a company that isn't both tight-fisted and greedy. Now that I have left already, why would I expend the extra effort to find a Midwestern-based job that pays well, when other regions are falling over themselves to make even new graduates rich? Midwestern companies can only attract local talent, and that talent is fleeing to cities that don't pay peanuts. I would move back, if companies there could raise the average pay of their tech employees, and maybe also get a bit more sun during the winter.
boring_twenties 7y ago
This doesn't seem to make sense. I worked at a company with a Minneapolis office once and everyone there made $150-200k+
- raydev 7y ago
  I know an intermediate-senior level guy who's entertaining a few $120k+ offers in Minneapolis as well. Blows my mind, I never thought of Minneapolis offering that much.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

formermidwest 7y ago

Agreed. I also moved from Chicago to the West coast for similar reasons. Doubled my salary overnight and have since more than doubled that again when counting my total income. The other thing is that the tech jobs in Chicago were all pretty bland enterprise jobs which didn't interest me. I moved away from family and friends (although many of my friends were headed out here anyway), and while it was a difficult decision, it was by far the best one I could have made. I might move back after retirement when I'm more cost-conscious and less active.

opportune 7y ago
Not disagreeing with you, but outside of enterprise there seems to be a pretty good amount of finance jobs in Chicago. Some of the quant firms pay competitively with the bay area for software engineers / "quant devs"

rinchik 7y ago

> one which went away a little bit after after the early 2000s dot-com crash You have at least 15 years of experience and can't get an offer of 120K in Chicago? I don't believe that it’s plausible. Well, unless it's not a "high-tech" job you are talking about, meaning that your comment is not relevant to the article or discussion at all? If you are a software developer (or data-scientist, or anything that qualifies as "high-tech"), it is very strange that after 15 years your skills did not appreciate or improved enough to qualify for a 120K offer.

logfromblammo 7y ago
I haven't looked in Chicago since 2004, and I'm unlikely to try again until 2024. There's more to moving than just the job. Your post came across as vaguely insulting. A company that maxes out under my minimum isn't looking for someone with a higher level of skill--or even a median level of skill. A lot of these companies ask for the Moon, and want to pay for river rocks, then don't list salary range in their advertisements. If I can't weed them out quickly, they will waste more of my time than I care to give up. It's not about securing an offer, it's about finding a company that isn't both tight-fisted and greedy. Now that I have left already, why would I expend the extra effort to find a Midwestern-based job that pays well, when other regions are falling over themselves to make even new graduates rich? Midwestern companies can only attract local talent, and that talent is fleeing to cities that don't pay peanuts. I would move back, if companies there could raise the average pay of their tech employees, and maybe also get a bit more sun during the winter.

boring_twenties 7y ago

This doesn't seem to make sense. I worked at a company with a Minneapolis office once and everyone there made $150-200k+

raydev 7y ago
I know an intermediate-senior level guy who's entertaining a few $120k+ offers in Minneapolis as well. Blows my mind, I never thought of Minneapolis offering that much.
deleted 7y ago
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