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These are in Fort Collins, CO. It's the 151st largest metro area in the US, so it's not really a tech jobs hub. Getting up to $150K plus equity and benefits wou
by PragmaticPulp 3y ago
These are in Fort Collins, CO. It's the 151st largest metro area in the US, so it's not really a tech jobs hub. Getting up to $150K plus equity and benefits wouldn't be a great salary in San Jose or Seattle, but it's not out of line with a lot of tech jobs in less populated metro areas.
- Kye 3y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Collins,_Colorado#Economy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Collins,_Colorado#Economy >> "Many high-tech companies have relocated to Fort Collins because of the resources of Colorado State University and its research facilities. Hewlett-Packard, Intel, AMD, Broadcom, Beckman Coulter, Microsoft, Rubicon Water and Pelco all have offices in Fort Collins. Other industries include clean energy, bioscience, and agri-tech businesses." Maybe not a hub yet, but it's headed that way. It's also only an hour away from Denver.
- CubsFan1060 3y agoIt's sadly been moving a bit the other way. HP/HPE have significantly downsized and Microsoft's office is pretty tiny. I"m not sure AMD even has an office here anymore, if so, they took down the sign on the building it used to be on. HP, Broadcom, Intel, and AMD used to all be on the same intersection.
- open-paren 3y agoAnd Intel just chopped the size of the office in half. They don't use the upper floor anymore.
- BowBun 3y agoPeople who have been to Fort Collins know that that city needs a _lot_ of infrastructure work to become anything more than it is now. FC already bulges under the pressure of college move-in/out and tourism there is fairly big for Coloradans. I also don't think residents are the kinds that would go for large expansion. Denver still has more than enough room to grow before they push out into the smaller towns, and if they did Boulder would go first since it already has a startup ecosystem IMO.
- blackguardx 3y agoMost of these companies are there because of the HP campus set up there in the 70s/80s. HP liked setting up offices in small towns near colleges where they were the essentially the only tech employer. Broadcom bought HP's fab facilities after they divested. Microsoft started an office there because they wanted to hire optical mice engineers who were working for HP. Source: Used to work at the Microsoft office in Fort Collins (HoloLens group). Some of the folks I worked with were the original folks that set up the office.
- throwaway2037 3y agoDo not underestimate the impact of a very large airport on the decision making of senior execs.
- nerdponx 3y agoEven in New York and Boston there are a lot of programmers and other midlevel ICs making making ~$150k. Not everyone is lucky enough to work at Google.
- bla3 3y agoIn NY at least, you can do into Fintech. That pays _better_ than Google/Meta.
- astrange 3y agoNow, or doing zero interest rates? I'm not sure I've ever seen a useful customer fintech company, except maybe Betterment if you ignore half the features.
- samtho 3y agoPeople always crap on tech for being useless while ignoring that 95% of fintech companies exist solely and completely as a vehicle to generate money for a very small group of people.
- astrange 3y agoI thought they existed to create customer lists for Chase to acquire.
- eyelidlessness 3y agoUseful for tiny fraction of people who could benefit from use is a kind of useful, but probably not a kind to write home about.
- justsocrateasin 3y agoper hour salary is usually drastically worse though.
- biztos 3y ago
- sounds 3y agoKeep in mind the posted salary is negotiable. It's a rookie mistake to assume that if you are offered the job, your only option is to take the offer at the amount listed in the public job offer. Negotiating salary well is an important career skill.
- bluGill 3y agoMost places I've been at don't have much room to negotiate salary. You can often get a better vacation package though if you ask.
- encoderer 3y agoThe first time I tried to negotiate (2006) I asked for $52k from $50k and they told me no. The next time (2008), offer was $60k, I countered at $100k (job required relocation) and we met at $80k. The next time (2011), offer was $110k, got $120k (relo again, this time to a tech center) Next time (2012), offer was $125k, got $140k and more equity. I’ve never had a job offer rescinded over it which was always something I heard about growing up. Of course times change and ymmv.
- cj 3y agoThis might be true at large companies where you're being handled by a HR team. Smaller companies are typically very willing to negotiate. It can't hurt to ask for 20% more. The worst that will happen is they'll say no. Asking for more than 20% gets a bit risky.
- anthomtb 3y agoFort Collins is not near a San Jose or Seattle level of tech employment but then, neither is anywhere else in the USA. Any tech worker who ends up there won't be hurting for employment opportunities, especially if they are willing to commute to Denver or Boulder. Just don't be surprised when the cost-of-living ends up higher then one might expect. Housing is still a good deal by Bay Area or NYC standards, though.
- revered_ 3y agoHousing in the corridor from Fort Collins to south of Denver is expensive and comparable to bay area pricing. You will not be able to afford much on 150K there.
- OrvalWintermute 3y agoThat is funny because looking on Redfin I see the exact opposite. 4 Bed, 3 Bath 2k to 3k Square feet houses average $264 a square foot, 650k average price. That is a great deal more affordable than my Zip code or most of the good housing areas in the Bay area https://www.redfin.com/city/7006/CO/Fort-Collins/filter/sort=hi-price,property-type=house+townhouse,min-beds=3,min-baths=2,min-sqft=2k-sqft,max-sqft=3k-sqft https://www.redfin.com/city/7006/CO/Fort-Collins/filter/sort...
- linsomniac 3y agoThere's a lot of housing in the $500K range in Fort Collins. I can speak with some authority on this situation; I run the MLS for Northern Colorado. :-) edit: MLS = Multiple Listing Service, that thing you do when you "list" a house.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- cjsawyer 3y agoI am from Colorado and went to school in Fort Collins. It maybe be small nationally, but it’s probably the 4th biggest tech area in CO after Denver, DTC, and Colorado Springs. Cost of living is surprisingly high unless you live in student housing.
- DMell 3y agoFor added context.. My partner went to CSU and we moved away from FC a little over a year ago. Our rent for a 1BR / 1BA was $1,700 a month.
- seabrookmx 3y agoEverything's relative, but compared to SF, Seattle, Vancouver.. that's still quite affordable.
- cjsawyer 3y agoFor apples-to-apples, you’d look at Denver. We’re talking about the state’s 4th largest city which is 65 miles away from the capital and otherwise in the middle of nowhere. It’s extremely expensive for what it is
- linsomniac 3y agoMy daughter had grand plans of "renting a big house with a bunch of her friends" for her first year out of high school in Fort Collins. A couple of weeks ago she told me how all of her friends now plan on staying at home. Apparently she looked up rental prices. :-)
- 93po 3y agoMedian house price is still $590k there, which is $4200 a month plus taxes and PMI. $150k is $8800 a month take home pay after taxes (including CO state). Making $150k and still spending more than half your post-tax income (after taxes/PMI/repairs/HOA) on housing is wild.
- throw9away6 3y agoIt’s 70-90k for most engineers and probably 130-150 for 20+ year veterans. That’s not great pay anywhere
- xyzzy4747 3y agoYou haven’t worked for Broadcom before. The equity is usually over $100k per year.
- linsomniac 3y agoIt's not unfair to say Fort Collins isn't a tech hub, but it's also not too bad. Trivia: One of the first non-CA Hewlett-Packard plants is down the road in Loveland. They also have a big campus in Fort Collins, which is where the Broadcom site is now.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoFort Collins housing prices are still high ($550k vs $570k for Denver), typical for CO and much of the intermountain west.