5 ms·

110k$ is very low? Wow Edit: I understand that not much now. Living in Eastern Europe I have different perspective. BUT, I think that advice: “just earn more”

by Otek 5y ago

110k$ is very low? Wow Edit: I understand that not much now. Living in Eastern Europe I have different perspective. BUT, I think that advice: “just earn more” shouldn’t appear when someone asks how to stop living paycheck to paycheck. No matter how much you earn you should always try your best to save some money.

thebean11 5y ago
In NYC for a non-entry level software job? Yeah it's pretty low.
- rzarate 5y ago
  I agree, that's closer to what an intern would make in NYC rather than a director. I'd consider changing industries, maybe engineers are not as valued in marketing agencies as they would on other more tech-heavy industries.
  - Jcowell 5y ago
    Where in NYC are interns making 110K and where can I apply ?
    - thebean11 5y ago
      FAANG, finance companies (banks, Bloomberg etc) plus tons of mid sized tech companies (companies like Mongo, Dropbox etc). Often if salary is lower, there's a relocation bonus that puts you into six figures if you amortize it over your 3-4 months there.
joshribakoff 5y ago
For something in demand that takes decades to master that less than 1% of the population can do in one of the most expensive cost of living areas in the world, so yes.
- brailsafe 5y ago
  I would probably highlight "in one of the most expensive cost of living areas in the world". Otherwise $110k is not very low
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bogwog 5y ago
It is for New York
nine_zeros 5y ago
$110k is very low for NYC. Federal, state, city, fica taxes will eat close to 50% of that income. The remaining will end up in rent and transportation. God forbid you have some recurring expenses like healthcare or a child.
- lkbm 5y ago
  So what do the millions of households earning <$60k do? Are they going tens of thousands of dollars deeper in debt each year?
  - serioussecurity 5y ago
    In NYC? They're living without health insurance, 8 people in a 3 bedroom, with less than $500 in savings, and credit card debt, yes. Or they commute two hours each way from Philly. America does not treat it's people well. https://fortunly.com/statistics/american-savings-statistics/#gref https://fortunly.com/statistics/american-savings-statistics/...
    - Jcowell 5y ago
      Errr. I think there’s a big disconnect here. 1) NYC is not just Manhattan. The outer boroughs are also NYC and are far cheaper. Not Nashville cheap but livable. You don’t need 8 people in 3 bedrooms. You can even live in jersey. 2) A lot of NYC has affordable housing and projects. A lot of communities making the basic minimum wage or not at all can live there. 3) 110K is a absolutely doable in NYC. It’s just not doable if you live outside your means.
    - lkbm 5y ago
      > In NYC? They're living without health insurance, 8 people in a 3 bedroom, with less than $500 in savings, and credit card debt, yes. I understand that they don't have savings and have some credit card debt, but we're talking $50,000 per year. And this is over the median household income[0]. Are the people in the 25th percentile living 16 people in a 3 bedroom? The OP has updated to say their mortgage is only $2,600/mo., so even after housing that leaves ~70k over what median household makes before rent. (The OP also reports having three kids, which is almost certainly a large part of that $70k.) I suspect you don't spend a lot of time with people making $30-$70k. They exist, often have housing, and many of them even eat food. It's worth examining how they manage rather than dismissing this as an impossibility. > Or they commute two hours each way from Philly. Nope. NYC residents. Median household income of $63,998 (2019). [0] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcitynewyork/INC110219#INC110219 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcitynewy...
jurassic 5y ago
For a software person with 12 years experience in a major US city, $110k is insanely low. I’ve known people who made more than that after a 12 week bootcamp.
santoshalper 5y ago
For a tech leadership position in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Absolutely. I work in a mid-priced, midwest city and that would be low for tech leadership.
globular-toast 5y ago
Welcome to the HN bubble. Over the few years I've been here the talk about salaries have been getting more and more ridiculous. It started off as "three figures" then rapidly turned into 300-400k and now 110k is very low and considered poverty. There's something about money that causes even intelligent people to lose all sense and perspective.
- elliottcarlson 5y ago
  For a high cost of living area such as New York, with a family to support, it is unfortunately very low - couple that with their title and years of experience, it is just factual compared to the market that they could be earning near double. At $110k a year, you are looking at a $6k monthly take home; over 1/3rd of that is going to the mortgage OP posted, and they have three children. Once you add insurance, groceries, and other obligations (such as perhaps a car + insurance), it becomes very easy to fall in to the paycheck-to-paycheck life. Yes, $110k is a lot of money, but it quickly disappears depending on where you live - for perspective, based on cost of living, this would be equivalent of earning $41k a year in Kansas City, KS/MO, or $37k in Birmingham AL -- cost of living plays a huge factor, and not accounting for that is the actual loss of sense and perspective.
- ss108 5y ago
  Inflation, plus the goalposts have genuinely moved, plus, again, these salaries are reported from SF and NYC. Things would be different if we were talking about Austin, or even LA.
- xboxnolifes 5y ago
  For a tech director, 14 years experience, in one of the most expensive cities in the country, yes, $110k is incredibly underpaid. I make (and so do my friends) the same amount, remotely, as a new-grad, not at a FANNG/MAGMA/WHATEVER.
- scarface74 5y ago
  We have goof perspective. If he were a teacher, our advice would be different. I basically did a career reset in 2008 - a little over 12 years ago. By changing jobs and working at mostly a bunch of no name companies until 2020, I switched jobs 6 times and went from $80K -$150K and was entertaining offers at other no names companies by 2/2020 as a regular old back end C# CRUD developer - in a place much cheaper than NYC. I did a slight pivot in 2020 that’s not relevant to the discussion.
swat535 5y ago
It absolutely is, especially by US standards. As an anecdata, I'm a director of engineering and my base salary is ~205k CAD. At my company (based in Toronto, Canada), we have budgeted between 130k-160k CAD base + bonuses for engineering roles (depending on the experience, position, etc). Yet I consider these salaries to be pretty subpar compared to our US counterparts. Folks, demand a fair wage. When a house costs 1.3M , it's unreasonable to get paid peanuts.
scarface74 5y ago
He’s not in Eastern Europe. He’s in the US. Mathematically, we all know that he should be able to earn more.

by Otek 5y ago

thebean11 5y ago

In NYC for a non-entry level software job? Yeah it's pretty low.

rzarate 5y ago
I agree, that's closer to what an intern would make in NYC rather than a director. I'd consider changing industries, maybe engineers are not as valued in marketing agencies as they would on other more tech-heavy industries.
- Jcowell 5y ago
  Where in NYC are interns making 110K and where can I apply ?
  - thebean11 5y ago
    FAANG, finance companies (banks, Bloomberg etc) plus tons of mid sized tech companies (companies like Mongo, Dropbox etc). Often if salary is lower, there's a relocation bonus that puts you into six figures if you amortize it over your 3-4 months there.

joshribakoff 5y ago

For something in demand that takes decades to master that less than 1% of the population can do in one of the most expensive cost of living areas in the world, so yes.

brailsafe 5y ago
I would probably highlight "in one of the most expensive cost of living areas in the world". Otherwise $110k is not very low

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bogwog 5y ago

It is for New York

nine_zeros 5y ago

$110k is very low for NYC. Federal, state, city, fica taxes will eat close to 50% of that income. The remaining will end up in rent and transportation. God forbid you have some recurring expenses like healthcare or a child.

lkbm 5y ago
So what do the millions of households earning <$60k do? Are they going tens of thousands of dollars deeper in debt each year?
- serioussecurity 5y ago
  In NYC? They're living without health insurance, 8 people in a 3 bedroom, with less than $500 in savings, and credit card debt, yes. Or they commute two hours each way from Philly. America does not treat it's people well. https://fortunly.com/statistics/american-savings-statistics/#gref https://fortunly.com/statistics/american-savings-statistics/...
  - Jcowell 5y ago
    Errr. I think there’s a big disconnect here. 1) NYC is not just Manhattan. The outer boroughs are also NYC and are far cheaper. Not Nashville cheap but livable. You don’t need 8 people in 3 bedrooms. You can even live in jersey. 2) A lot of NYC has affordable housing and projects. A lot of communities making the basic minimum wage or not at all can live there. 3) 110K is a absolutely doable in NYC. It’s just not doable if you live outside your means.
  - lkbm 5y ago
    > In NYC? They're living without health insurance, 8 people in a 3 bedroom, with less than $500 in savings, and credit card debt, yes. I understand that they don't have savings and have some credit card debt, but we're talking $50,000 per year. And this is over the median household income[0]. Are the people in the 25th percentile living 16 people in a 3 bedroom? The OP has updated to say their mortgage is only $2,600/mo., so even after housing that leaves ~70k over what median household makes before rent. (The OP also reports having three kids, which is almost certainly a large part of that $70k.) I suspect you don't spend a lot of time with people making $30-$70k. They exist, often have housing, and many of them even eat food. It's worth examining how they manage rather than dismissing this as an impossibility. > Or they commute two hours each way from Philly. Nope. NYC residents. Median household income of $63,998 (2019). [0] https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcitynewyork/INC110219#INC110219 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/newyorkcitynewy...

jurassic 5y ago

For a software person with 12 years experience in a major US city, $110k is insanely low. I’ve known people who made more than that after a 12 week bootcamp.

santoshalper 5y ago

For a tech leadership position in one of the most expensive cities in the world? Absolutely. I work in a mid-priced, midwest city and that would be low for tech leadership.

globular-toast 5y ago

Welcome to the HN bubble. Over the few years I've been here the talk about salaries have been getting more and more ridiculous. It started off as "three figures" then rapidly turned into 300-400k and now 110k is very low and considered poverty. There's something about money that causes even intelligent people to lose all sense and perspective.

elliottcarlson 5y ago
For a high cost of living area such as New York, with a family to support, it is unfortunately very low - couple that with their title and years of experience, it is just factual compared to the market that they could be earning near double. At $110k a year, you are looking at a $6k monthly take home; over 1/3rd of that is going to the mortgage OP posted, and they have three children. Once you add insurance, groceries, and other obligations (such as perhaps a car + insurance), it becomes very easy to fall in to the paycheck-to-paycheck life. Yes, $110k is a lot of money, but it quickly disappears depending on where you live - for perspective, based on cost of living, this would be equivalent of earning $41k a year in Kansas City, KS/MO, or $37k in Birmingham AL -- cost of living plays a huge factor, and not accounting for that is the actual loss of sense and perspective.
ss108 5y ago
Inflation, plus the goalposts have genuinely moved, plus, again, these salaries are reported from SF and NYC. Things would be different if we were talking about Austin, or even LA.
xboxnolifes 5y ago
For a tech director, 14 years experience, in one of the most expensive cities in the country, yes, $110k is incredibly underpaid. I make (and so do my friends) the same amount, remotely, as a new-grad, not at a FANNG/MAGMA/WHATEVER.
scarface74 5y ago
We have goof perspective. If he were a teacher, our advice would be different. I basically did a career reset in 2008 - a little over 12 years ago. By changing jobs and working at mostly a bunch of no name companies until 2020, I switched jobs 6 times and went from $80K -$150K and was entertaining offers at other no names companies by 2/2020 as a regular old back end C# CRUD developer - in a place much cheaper than NYC. I did a slight pivot in 2020 that’s not relevant to the discussion.

swat535 5y ago

It absolutely is, especially by US standards. As an anecdata, I'm a director of engineering and my base salary is ~205k CAD. At my company (based in Toronto, Canada), we have budgeted between 130k-160k CAD base + bonuses for engineering roles (depending on the experience, position, etc). Yet I consider these salaries to be pretty subpar compared to our US counterparts. Folks, demand a fair wage. When a house costs 1.3M , it's unreasonable to get paid peanuts.

scarface74 5y ago

He’s not in Eastern Europe. He’s in the US. Mathematically, we all know that he should be able to earn more.