6 ms·

A couple of reasons: - Comp: Total comp for a new hire with 3+ yrs dev experience is probably 300k -> 400k at a FAANG on average (with possibility to be higher

A couple of reasons: - Comp: Total comp for a new hire with 3+ yrs dev experience is probably 300k -> 400k at a FAANG on average (with possibility to be higher). If you want to live and raise a family in your own house in the bay area (2.5 Million for a reasonable house), this matters. - Access: Few places have the kind of scale and resources of these companies, that can make them fun places to work. You also get to learn a lot from really good coworkers (and go to talks, explore different things, etc.) - Work/Life: FAANGs are generally pretty good for work/life balance (though this can vary by team and manager). They're generally pleasant places to work as an engineer.

vqc 7y ago
What kind of house is a reasonable house for $2.5M?
- fossuser 7y ago
  https://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/3805-Magnolia-Dr-94306/home/1421875 https://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/3805-Magnolia-Dr-94306/h...
  - vqc 7y ago
    Fair enough. Palo Alto is a nice area, expensive market.
    - betaby 7y ago
      Why ceiling is sow low in US/Canada homes?
      - Mountain_Skies 7y ago
        That's not universally true. US homes in warm climates had high ceilings until the advent of central climate control. Homes in cold areas tended to have low ceilings to keep the warm air where it was most useful: at the level of the occupants. Eight foot ceilings are very common in tract homes built between the introduction of air conditioning and the start of the McMansion trend in the 1990s. Common areas with higher ceilings are not rare in newer homes.
- salixrosa 7y ago
  It's always... interesting... To look at SF on Zillow. There are a few nice-looking options in the ~1.5M range, mostly foreclosures, and it seems mostly in not-so-great areas. I don't know if there are any great areas in SF proper though.
  - city41 7y ago
    FAANG has a much larger presence in Silicon Valley than SF. SF is more biased towards startups. Although it’s true all the major tech companies have SF shuttles. San Jose’s median house price is $1.2 million. A million will get you a quality ranch. (I fully appreciate the ridiculousness of presenting a million as “affordable”)
- gfaure 7y ago
  The vast majority of engineers at FAANGs are _not_ commuting out of San Francisco -- looking at where the workforce really is: Mountain View, Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, you most definitely don't need to shell out $2.5M for a reasonable house.
  - fossuser 7y ago
    Yes you do - Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino, and nearby peninsula cities are even more expensive than SF. At least in SF you can get a nice new construction apartment for 875k. You can find a cheap house for $1.25M in San Mateo or on the outskirts of San Jose, but it’ll still be pretty small and far away.
mullingitover 7y ago
> If you want to live and raise a family in your own house in the bay area (2.5 Million for a reasonable house), this matters. I love the bay area, and I have terrible judgement, but even my terrible judgement and my love of the bay area combined aren't a bad enough combination to make me think it's a good place to raise a family.
- fossuser 7y ago
  Except for housing costs, I think it’d be a great place to raise kids.
  - ip26 7y ago
    It does have many top schools, relative safety, and an achievement oriented culture. Which comes with problems, but upsides as well.
Cu3PO42 7y ago
I must admit I always feel weird when I see numbers like that mentioned for software engineers. In Germany a more reasonable number with a few years of experience might be in the €50-55k ballpark. Granted, the cost of living is significantly lower in most cities here than it is in the bay area, but still it just feels... weird. Edit: Fixed a typo.
- fossuser 7y ago
  I think Europe (and the UK) undervalue software engineers. At least in the UK this seems like a cultural thing where management is high status/high value and engineers are low status/low value. I think the US generally gets this right (at least in silicon valley), but it could partly be because the US has some extremely valuable software companies that operate on a global stage that aren't really present elsewhere. Really great software engineers can generate insane value at a great company with a good business.
  - ummonk 7y ago
    From the numbers I've seen, Zurich is the one exception that pays comparably to the Bay Area, NYC, and Seattle.
    - Cu3PO42 7y ago
      Unfortunately Zurich may also compare on cost of living. Maybe that's all there is to it, but I somehow doubt that.
      - ummonk 7y ago
        Yeah, but it's better than say London which compares on cost of living but pays abysmally.
  - heartbeats 7y ago
    There's only really one place that can have these big tech companies, and that is the US. What technology companies of note do the UK have? It's just stupid nonsense like "writing spreadsheets for the local government" and minor web development. In tech, it really is US vs. ROW

vqc 7y ago

What kind of house is a reasonable house for $2.5M?

fossuser 7y ago
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/3805-Magnolia-Dr-94306/home/1421875 https://www.redfin.com/CA/Palo-Alto/3805-Magnolia-Dr-94306/h...
- vqc 7y ago
  Fair enough. Palo Alto is a nice area, expensive market.
  - betaby 7y ago
    Why ceiling is sow low in US/Canada homes?
    - Mountain_Skies 7y ago
      That's not universally true. US homes in warm climates had high ceilings until the advent of central climate control. Homes in cold areas tended to have low ceilings to keep the warm air where it was most useful: at the level of the occupants. Eight foot ceilings are very common in tract homes built between the introduction of air conditioning and the start of the McMansion trend in the 1990s. Common areas with higher ceilings are not rare in newer homes.
salixrosa 7y ago
It's always... interesting... To look at SF on Zillow. There are a few nice-looking options in the ~1.5M range, mostly foreclosures, and it seems mostly in not-so-great areas. I don't know if there are any great areas in SF proper though.
- city41 7y ago
  FAANG has a much larger presence in Silicon Valley than SF. SF is more biased towards startups. Although it’s true all the major tech companies have SF shuttles. San Jose’s median house price is $1.2 million. A million will get you a quality ranch. (I fully appreciate the ridiculousness of presenting a million as “affordable”)
gfaure 7y ago
The vast majority of engineers at FAANGs are _not_ commuting out of San Francisco -- looking at where the workforce really is: Mountain View, Menlo Park, Sunnyvale, you most definitely don't need to shell out $2.5M for a reasonable house.
- fossuser 7y ago
  Yes you do - Palo Alto, Mountain View, Cupertino, and nearby peninsula cities are even more expensive than SF. At least in SF you can get a nice new construction apartment for 875k. You can find a cheap house for $1.25M in San Mateo or on the outskirts of San Jose, but it’ll still be pretty small and far away.

mullingitover 7y ago

> If you want to live and raise a family in your own house in the bay area (2.5 Million for a reasonable house), this matters. I love the bay area, and I have terrible judgement, but even my terrible judgement and my love of the bay area combined aren't a bad enough combination to make me think it's a good place to raise a family.

fossuser 7y ago
Except for housing costs, I think it’d be a great place to raise kids.
- ip26 7y ago
  It does have many top schools, relative safety, and an achievement oriented culture. Which comes with problems, but upsides as well.

Cu3PO42 7y ago

I must admit I always feel weird when I see numbers like that mentioned for software engineers. In Germany a more reasonable number with a few years of experience might be in the €50-55k ballpark. Granted, the cost of living is significantly lower in most cities here than it is in the bay area, but still it just feels... weird. Edit: Fixed a typo.

fossuser 7y ago
I think Europe (and the UK) undervalue software engineers. At least in the UK this seems like a cultural thing where management is high status/high value and engineers are low status/low value. I think the US generally gets this right (at least in silicon valley), but it could partly be because the US has some extremely valuable software companies that operate on a global stage that aren't really present elsewhere. Really great software engineers can generate insane value at a great company with a good business.
- ummonk 7y ago
  From the numbers I've seen, Zurich is the one exception that pays comparably to the Bay Area, NYC, and Seattle.
  - Cu3PO42 7y ago
    Unfortunately Zurich may also compare on cost of living. Maybe that's all there is to it, but I somehow doubt that.
    - ummonk 7y ago
      Yeah, but it's better than say London which compares on cost of living but pays abysmally.
- heartbeats 7y ago
  There's only really one place that can have these big tech companies, and that is the US. What technology companies of note do the UK have? It's just stupid nonsense like "writing spreadsheets for the local government" and minor web development. In tech, it really is US vs. ROW