5 ms·

Interesting that the person moved to San Diego (not a cheap place by any means), and Google cuts the salary. There is some strange fixation Google currently ha

by kerng 5y ago

Interesting that the person moved to San Diego (not a cheap place by any means), and Google cuts the salary. There is some strange fixation Google currently has, especially towards getting people into their New York offices - must be some tax incentives or other deals with the city.... A friend just recently wanted to work from google office in another tech hub city (not remote/from home by any means) and during offer negotiation it was denied, so she didn't join - as she didn't wanna move to NYC. Odd things happening at Google lately - I mean even Amazon is more remote friendly these days. Lol

ido 5y ago
Surely NYC/SFBA are even more expensive?
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  It’s probably SFBA >Manhattan/some parts of Brooklyn > San Diego > NYC Metro.
  - UncleMeat 5y ago
    It isn't. Bay Area and NYC Metro are both in the highest paying bracket.
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      Proportionally, a greater area of San Diego can still be more expensive than a similarly proportional area of NYC Metro. For example, NYC Metro would have cheaper housing 60min from work than San Diego. I generally find land in coastal CA to be more expensive than everywhere else in the US.
      - UncleMeat 5y ago
        It is also quite expensive in Hawaii, yet Google pays less well there. Similarly, it is quite expensive in London, yet Google pays less well there too. This is based on Google's model of paying by local market rather than CoL. There are a few regions where this ends up being quite frustrating. No doubt it is difficult to look at a nontrivial pay cut if your housing costs aren't much lower. It has even been frustrating for me to look at my pay cut despite moving to a much cheaper region. But the pay cuts are weird. Salaries are adjusted down, but since so much of pay is in RSUs, the effect is limited. My 15% pay cut is actually more like 6% after considering RSUs. A 10% pay cut will be even smaller. That will ratchet down over time as refreshes are scaled, but it is just hard to see that as an urgent reason to look for alternatives.
        lotsofpulp 5y ago
        Yes, I think we are agreement. There is no such thing as a cost of living adjustment. Or rather, it is better to frame it as “employer offering employee what they think employee will accept because employee will probably have less options to earn more by being in a certain location” Obviously, a highly in demand programmer or whatnot will be able to live wherever they want and demand whatever they want. That is all it has ever been and always will be, aka a market where buyers try to buy for as low of a price as possible and sellers try to sell for as high of a price as possible.
        kerng 5y ago
        Good point. Yes, the market (employees) will choose - the posted article highlights this pretty well.

by kerng 5y ago

ido 5y ago

Surely NYC/SFBA are even more expensive?

lotsofpulp 5y ago
It’s probably SFBA >Manhattan/some parts of Brooklyn > San Diego > NYC Metro.
- UncleMeat 5y ago
  It isn't. Bay Area and NYC Metro are both in the highest paying bracket.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    Proportionally, a greater area of San Diego can still be more expensive than a similarly proportional area of NYC Metro. For example, NYC Metro would have cheaper housing 60min from work than San Diego. I generally find land in coastal CA to be more expensive than everywhere else in the US.
    - UncleMeat 5y ago
      It is also quite expensive in Hawaii, yet Google pays less well there. Similarly, it is quite expensive in London, yet Google pays less well there too. This is based on Google's model of paying by local market rather than CoL. There are a few regions where this ends up being quite frustrating. No doubt it is difficult to look at a nontrivial pay cut if your housing costs aren't much lower. It has even been frustrating for me to look at my pay cut despite moving to a much cheaper region. But the pay cuts are weird. Salaries are adjusted down, but since so much of pay is in RSUs, the effect is limited. My 15% pay cut is actually more like 6% after considering RSUs. A 10% pay cut will be even smaller. That will ratchet down over time as refreshes are scaled, but it is just hard to see that as an urgent reason to look for alternatives.
      - lotsofpulp 5y ago
        Yes, I think we are agreement. There is no such thing as a cost of living adjustment. Or rather, it is better to frame it as “employer offering employee what they think employee will accept because employee will probably have less options to earn more by being in a certain location” Obviously, a highly in demand programmer or whatnot will be able to live wherever they want and demand whatever they want. That is all it has ever been and always will be, aka a market where buyers try to buy for as low of a price as possible and sellers try to sell for as high of a price as possible.
        kerng 5y ago
        Good point. Yes, the market (employees) will choose - the posted article highlights this pretty well.