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As a tech worker in California, your income is triple to that of a Finnish tech worker. You can easily take unpaid time off for your paternity leave, perhaps ev

As a tech worker in California, your income is triple to that of a Finnish tech worker. You can easily take unpaid time off for your paternity leave, perhaps even quit your job for a year, and still get out ahead.

ve7cxz 7y ago
...and his living costs are probably way higher too, so it's not a fair comparison.
- yellowarchangel 7y ago
  I think it's fair to say even if we adjusted for lower US taxes, higher livings costs, that the Californian worker would be far better ahead still. There is a reason the entire Silicon Valley doesn't pack up and move to Finland. The money is in California right now.
- lightgreen 7y ago
  There are cheaper places to live if someone wants to take a year off. I guess even in California some not too distant downs are much cheaper than SV.
godot 7y ago
1. Cost of living in the bay area (capital of tech jobs) is a lot higher too. 2. Many companies aren't used to the idea of unpaid time off, and negotiating for one can be difficult. 3. Quitting for a year sounds fine until the end of that year, when the stress of job hunting rises. The interview process for most tech companies, even in 2020, is obnoxious at best, and you could be a rockstar engineer and still have trouble landing a job offer for months if luck is not on your side.
deleted 7y ago
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jredwards 7y ago
Tech isn't a carve-out where there are fewer protections from the state. I pointed out that I was a tech worker in California because we normally get better protections than most Americans. In this case, even for the well-protected California tech workers, there are few legal protections, if any. For other Americans it will be just as bad. If you've been with your company for less than a year, you are legally entitled to zero days of paternity leave and if you take unpaid time off, your job is not protected.
decebalus1 7y ago
> perhaps even quit your job for a year, and still get out ahead. exactly! Single payer universal health insurance will also take care of the numerous doctor's visits that follow. Oh wait...
Broken_Hippo 7y ago
There are a lot of workplaces that will simply not allow someone to take months of unpaid time off work. A woman will be eligible for some medical time off (generally unpaid) - but the father (or non-birthing parent) generally cannot take time. The main exception I see to this in most employee handbooks is time off for adoption. Now, this is talking in general and not about tech per se, so if someone is really lucky they work at somewhere that doesn't expect them to do work every week to keep their job.

ve7cxz 7y ago

...and his living costs are probably way higher too, so it's not a fair comparison.

yellowarchangel 7y ago
I think it's fair to say even if we adjusted for lower US taxes, higher livings costs, that the Californian worker would be far better ahead still. There is a reason the entire Silicon Valley doesn't pack up and move to Finland. The money is in California right now.
lightgreen 7y ago
There are cheaper places to live if someone wants to take a year off. I guess even in California some not too distant downs are much cheaper than SV.

godot 7y ago

1. Cost of living in the bay area (capital of tech jobs) is a lot higher too. 2. Many companies aren't used to the idea of unpaid time off, and negotiating for one can be difficult. 3. Quitting for a year sounds fine until the end of that year, when the stress of job hunting rises. The interview process for most tech companies, even in 2020, is obnoxious at best, and you could be a rockstar engineer and still have trouble landing a job offer for months if luck is not on your side.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

jredwards 7y ago

Tech isn't a carve-out where there are fewer protections from the state. I pointed out that I was a tech worker in California because we normally get better protections than most Americans. In this case, even for the well-protected California tech workers, there are few legal protections, if any. For other Americans it will be just as bad. If you've been with your company for less than a year, you are legally entitled to zero days of paternity leave and if you take unpaid time off, your job is not protected.

decebalus1 7y ago

> perhaps even quit your job for a year, and still get out ahead. exactly! Single payer universal health insurance will also take care of the numerous doctor's visits that follow. Oh wait...

Broken_Hippo 7y ago

There are a lot of workplaces that will simply not allow someone to take months of unpaid time off work. A woman will be eligible for some medical time off (generally unpaid) - but the father (or non-birthing parent) generally cannot take time. The main exception I see to this in most employee handbooks is time off for adoption. Now, this is talking in general and not about tech per se, so if someone is really lucky they work at somewhere that doesn't expect them to do work every week to keep their job.