5 ms·

At least I am not paid enough where I could just buy a bigger apartment with extra room "just because" nor do I live in an expensive city.

dijit 3y ago
Not sure what you earn, but I think the average tech salary can get you an enormous place in a non-centrally located area of basically any city. Even in the UK, where home prices are exorbitant right now, you can get a 4 bedroom home in the outskirts of Birmingham for the same price of a 2 bedroom flat in central Birmingham. Heres a couple of homes to show the price difference. Note: that the prices themselves are not relevant only that they're the same. Flat: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132806696#/?channel=RES_BUY https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132806696#/?channel=R... House: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131243774#/?channel=RES_BUY https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131243774#/?channel=R...
- nextlevelwizard 3y ago
  >Not sure what you earn Nowhere close to 500k
  - dijit 3y ago
    I mean, current mortgages are 6x yearly salary. and current median salaries for senior positions remote from London are 80k GBP so, yeah, should be ok.
    - nextlevelwizard 3y ago
      Implying I want to be half a mil in debt for a apartment instead of just... going to the office
      - dijit 3y ago
        I was just giving an illustration of how it is, in one of the most skewed markets for engineer income to house price ratio. I said if you don't have to live centrally, you can put that money into a bigger house, and it pays significantly more (double the number of bedrooms, not just dedicated office space). You dont want to do that? thats fine, but you cant pretend that its materially more expensive to have a home office if suddenly you are not geolocked.
        nextlevelwizard 3y ago
        >if suddenly you are not geolocked. But we all are geolocked to some extent or can you just pack up your family and announce that you are moving to Ghana because you found cheap house there? Probably not. Of course I could take on debt and buy a bigger apartment - probably even from the same building complex - but that feels like insane solution to "going to office every week" unless again you live in America where your commute is 8 hour drive through wild gang lands where you have to be vigilant 24/7 just not to get shot.
      - Lio 3y ago
        Half a mil will buy you a decent house outside of London and very little within it. Of course that only works if you can work from home for a London based tech company. From my own experience, I'm very grateful to be able to do that from my home office in the UK, outside of London. I hate long commutes or living in big cities.
NeverFade 3y ago
The typical engineer will absolutely be able to afford this, especially as their remote status allows them to live in a low-cost location where they can rent a small house with a yard for the cost of 1br in SF.
- nextlevelwizard 3y ago
  Again very American thing. I (probably) couldn't afford that kind of rent.
  - NeverFade 3y ago
    If pay for UK engineers is so low, and housing costs are so high, that you cannot possibly afford a place with a private office - then your condition is materially different than US engineers. So much so that the discussion of your situation should be separate. Either way, I don't see the point of your arguments. Nobody says that engineers who want to work from the office shouldn't be allowed to. We're just refuting the bogus argument that the office is some sort of distraction-free paradise offering ideal work conditions, compared to noisy WFH setups. Because for the vast majority of US engineers, it's rather the opposite.
    - nextlevelwizard 3y ago
      Dont know why all of you think I am from UK

dijit 3y ago

Not sure what you earn, but I think the average tech salary can get you an enormous place in a non-centrally located area of basically any city. Even in the UK, where home prices are exorbitant right now, you can get a 4 bedroom home in the outskirts of Birmingham for the same price of a 2 bedroom flat in central Birmingham. Heres a couple of homes to show the price difference. Note: that the prices themselves are not relevant only that they're the same. Flat: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132806696#/?channel=RES_BUY https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132806696#/?channel=R... House: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131243774#/?channel=RES_BUY https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/131243774#/?channel=R...

nextlevelwizard 3y ago
>Not sure what you earn Nowhere close to 500k
- dijit 3y ago
  I mean, current mortgages are 6x yearly salary. and current median salaries for senior positions remote from London are 80k GBP so, yeah, should be ok.
  - nextlevelwizard 3y ago
    Implying I want to be half a mil in debt for a apartment instead of just... going to the office
    - dijit 3y ago
      I was just giving an illustration of how it is, in one of the most skewed markets for engineer income to house price ratio. I said if you don't have to live centrally, you can put that money into a bigger house, and it pays significantly more (double the number of bedrooms, not just dedicated office space). You dont want to do that? thats fine, but you cant pretend that its materially more expensive to have a home office if suddenly you are not geolocked.
      - nextlevelwizard 3y ago
        >if suddenly you are not geolocked. But we all are geolocked to some extent or can you just pack up your family and announce that you are moving to Ghana because you found cheap house there? Probably not. Of course I could take on debt and buy a bigger apartment - probably even from the same building complex - but that feels like insane solution to "going to office every week" unless again you live in America where your commute is 8 hour drive through wild gang lands where you have to be vigilant 24/7 just not to get shot.
    - Lio 3y ago
      Half a mil will buy you a decent house outside of London and very little within it. Of course that only works if you can work from home for a London based tech company. From my own experience, I'm very grateful to be able to do that from my home office in the UK, outside of London. I hate long commutes or living in big cities.

NeverFade 3y ago

The typical engineer will absolutely be able to afford this, especially as their remote status allows them to live in a low-cost location where they can rent a small house with a yard for the cost of 1br in SF.

nextlevelwizard 3y ago
Again very American thing. I (probably) couldn't afford that kind of rent.
- NeverFade 3y ago
  If pay for UK engineers is so low, and housing costs are so high, that you cannot possibly afford a place with a private office - then your condition is materially different than US engineers. So much so that the discussion of your situation should be separate. Either way, I don't see the point of your arguments. Nobody says that engineers who want to work from the office shouldn't be allowed to. We're just refuting the bogus argument that the office is some sort of distraction-free paradise offering ideal work conditions, compared to noisy WFH setups. Because for the vast majority of US engineers, it's rather the opposite.
  - nextlevelwizard 3y ago
    Dont know why all of you think I am from UK