15 ms·

I quit my FAANG job yesterday to join a fully remote company. I took a >50% pay cut but I think it is a 100% life saver. I remember spending 3-4 hours/day commu

• poniko 2y ago
  Sounds like a correct action .. good on you, enjoy the extra time in your life, it's the real value.
  • argentinian 2y ago
    Money can't buy time.
    • switch007 2y ago
      What do you think about private jets, passes to skip theme park queues, world class life saving medical treatment etc?
      • argentinian 2y ago
        Yes, good point. In those cases it can be said it allows you to extend your lifespan, or reduce the time spent in an undesirable situation. So I'll reformulate what I wanted to express before: The time that somebody chooses to spend in a 80 hour workweek can't be recovered. So you'd better be sure that spending so much time in a job is what you really want to do. Also, there's an interesting article about the topic: "Top 5 regrets people have when they die, says ex-hospice care worker" https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/07/phrases-that-are-often-peoples-last-regrets-says-author-what-we-can-learn.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/07/phrases-that-are-often-peopl...
• rectang 2y ago
  I’ve done essentially the same thing for years, working for small remote companies at rates below what my resume would justify. There are labor force bargains to be had for companies that offer workers flexibility.
• shams93 2y ago
  Depending upon where you wind up living to work remote you could well see an almost 50% cut in life expenses and taxes.
  • ghaff 2y ago
    Although I think most people in a major urban metro (broadly--not necessarily living in a city) probably don't really want to move to the mountains someplace. I'm well out of the city--where my job mostly never was anyway--but I like being able to drive in in 90 minutes or so and the other advantages that a major metro offers.
  • dbish 2y ago
    That only matters if you spend the majority of your income. For many high paying tech workers the amount you save matters more and doesn’t change enough comparatively if your rent doubles for example.
    • bbqfog 2y ago
      If you want to buy a house, it's going to be a lot more than double to live in the Bay Area vs say rural Arizona.
      • plasticchris 2y ago
        Absolutely this. A down payment in the valley is enough to buy outright in most of the USA.
        • dbish 2y ago
          Sure and that’s still not the majority of your income over a 10+ yr period if you’re getting paid good bay area wages as a senior+ engineer. Not to mention that buying a house isn’t a requirement of living in a location (and isn’t the right financial choice for many places when comparing to rent).
          • 2y ago
• christhecaribou 2y ago
  FAANG is just Big Blue 2.0 nowadays. Not a place for smart people, a place for Jassholes.
  • azemetre 2y ago
    Does jasshole mean something else than what I see on urban dictionary?
    • mbb70 2y ago
      Presumably a reference to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy
    • dghlsakjg 2y ago
      I assume it has to do with Andrew Jassy, CEO of Amazon
    • drivebyhooting 2y ago
      Andy Jessy?
  • dbish 2y ago
    Don’t paper over everyone with the new Day 2 Amazon. There are still great things happening at Meta for example where the founder is still driving culture. They’re some of the biggest players in open source AI and you better believe Meta AI has very smart people
    • drivebyhooting 2y ago
      Meta culture is not exactly friendly. I can’t speak to meta ai. But much of the company has 8 layers deep of VP and directors.
      • dbish 2y ago
        I wouldn’t say it’s friendly, but that’s not really the point. The commenter was saying smart people didn’t work there which is really hard to say when talking about the AI groups. I would say you can get a lot done if you’re not in a few particularly slow moving heavily layered orgs. They’re also pushing hard to flatten as they should
• typeofhuman 2y ago
  I did the same and for around 50% cut. Working from home allows me to spend more time with my kids (I get to have lunch with them and hear them play in the background), no toxic rush hour commute, and I get the comfort of my own space. I know there's a down side of not being able to collaborate as well with my team. But I put my wellbeing over that. And to be honest, the pay cut - while significant - made no change in my daily life. But the peace of mind and serenity I have retained by WFH is invaluable.
  • jumping_frog 2y ago
    I don't understand why isn't WFH made mandatory since it helps with climate change.
    • Muromec 2y ago
      Because mandate giving authority doesn’t care about climate change. That’s pretty obvious explanation
      • griomnib 2y ago
        Hey now, the morons somehow managed to remain organized enough to choose these authorities. And now we’ll all burn together. Don’t let your fellow citizen off the hook.
        • Muromec 2y ago
          Yep, crime is always orginized and your fellow citizen, especially during the good times, aren't
    • bdangubic 2y ago
      data to support this claim? you are (incorrectly) assuming that since employees are not commuting to work they are just home and cars are just collecting dust in a garage… but of course you go to the store and mall and park and … in the middle of the day and you see a whole other story :)
• anal_reactor 2y ago
  When I was looking for a job I was offered peanuts for a position requiring very specific knowledge. When I pointed this out, they said "well, if you want to earn a lot of money, go to company X". I did. Now I'm exploring the limits of slacking off while getting a nice paycheck. I could aim higher, but I doubt my new place would allow me to slack off as much as this place does. After all, I have only one life, so I'd rather spend it doing things other than working, and I know that modern work is unlikely to bring deeper life satisfaction.
  • oldpersonintx 2y ago
    [dead]
  • 1over137 2y ago
    Admitting to slacking off and leeching your paycheque... this is why the bosses want back to office.
    • christhecaribou 2y ago
      Any data for that, or just your gut vibes, jabroni?
    • dgfitz 2y ago
      Which part of the post made you think they weren’t in the office every day?
    • anal_reactor 2y ago
      At home at some point I get so bored I start actually working. In the office I mostly just gossip with my coworkers, which means that I'm not only wasting my own time, but also other people's. Having me at home is just better for everyone all around.
  • 7thpower 2y ago
    And this is why we can’t have nice things.
• taeric 2y ago
  3-4 hours a day commuting? I confess I used to bike to the office and that could take about 3 hours/day, but I could cut it down to a 2 hour/day by switching to an ebike. I also like biking. On my "work from home" days I would aim for an hour and a half ride every morning. I can't imagine being in a longer commute that I didn't like.
  • plasticchris 2y ago
    Sf Bay Area can easily exceed 2 hours each way if you aren’t willing to pay insane money on housing. It honestly made me wonder how low income people exist there at all. I did more than 2 hours each way for many years there but only by riding the train with a hot spot.
    • jmspring 2y ago
      When I graduated college, the drive from Santa Cruz to 85 and Shoreline was about 35min at 730am. These days that is 90-120 minutes at that same time (think google/microsoft campuses). Many can’t afford to live close to those areas any more.
    • AlotOfReading 2y ago
      Low income people exist by either living with family or commuting insane distances from lower cost areas. I've met quite a few people who would commute from Tracy or Stockton to SF/Mountain View to work as janitors or food service workers at tech offices. It's brutal, especially when they're expected to show up in time to serve breakfast or open the doors.
    • taeric 2y ago
      That sounds insane to me. Again, I had a long commute by bike. Could have easily shed most of it by getting a car. Would have to shift off rush hour, but that isn't too hard to do? Would love to see more data on this. Quick googling shows average commutes well below an hour. I'm assuming average is just not a good stat for this?
    • majormajor 2y ago
      Some of the comments in here are all in on "I'm going to take half the money to work remote and not have a commute" but were apparently not on board with "I'm going to spend more of that double-salary to live close" which is a contradiction I find interesting. (Obviously not everyone could choose to live closer without driving up the prices even more in the short-term, but the value of money-vs-commute compared to money-vs-remote doesn't seem directly comparable to many people.)
• mooreds 2y ago
  This comment, to me, is heartwarming. The free market works! You valued something more than $$$ and so made adjustments to your employment (aka selling your labor). I think that in-office work is good for certain situations, which is why onsites still make sense. And for folks newer in their career, onsite time is really important, based on my experience. But if remote is more attracitve, over time companies that offer it will win in the talent marketplace.
  • CooCooCaCha 2y ago
    Except it doesn’t because so many companies are slowly bringing people back to office and finding a fully remote job is becoming more of a privilege. One anecdote does not validate your views.
    • dbish 2y ago
      But that’s exactly how it works. If you are willing to make the trade off for what you value more then go for it. Many do not want to make the pay or job tradeoff and come into office, and many others (myself included for many cases) think coming in to office is generally good. Remote is not more attractive to everyone and everyone doesn’t have the same economics on the trade offs.
      • CooCooCaCha 2y ago
        That’s exactly why it doesn’t work. Leaving our rights to the market to decide does not work. It never has. Why? Because for the vast majority of people, employers have almost all of the negotiating power. What this means is the market is slowly shaped by what employers want, not employees. Because we need a job more than they need our labor. It’s naive to think the market is a level playing field and if employees want something they just vote with their labor and the market will adapt. That’s just not true. Most people don’t have the ability to change jobs on a whim to play the market with their livelihoods.
        • selectodude 2y ago
• user-one1 2y ago
  I'm happy that you found something that works for you. But wouldn't it have been cheaper to move to a place closer to the office of your previous employer?
  • exe34 2y ago
    > But wouldn't it have been cheaper to move to a place closer to the office of your previous employer it might not be the sort of place they want to live. it also negates a lot of the higher salary argument if a lot more of it is going into paying rent or mortgage.
  • formerly_proven 2y ago
    [flagged]
  • tomtom1337 2y ago
    Rather than the snarky response, I’ll answer: closer is likely to be impossibly more expensive for the requirements OP needs (e.g. living area, number of bedrooms or similar).
    • dghlsakjg 2y ago
      To add in, they may have other obligations in life that prevent it as well. Taking care of elders, kids schools, spouses jobs, medical care needs. Frequently money is just not the answer
  • mrweasel 2y ago
    So not parent, but no. I lived as close as we could afford, roughly 20km away. Outside rush hour you can to the trip in 15 minutes, during rush hour it's 35 minutes, assuming no accidents (and this is a highly accident prone area where traffic would block up completely every other week). Taking a 15% cut, which allowed us to move further away severely reducing our cost of living, bring us closer to family which can help out if needed. It has reduce stress, ensures that our child doesn't need to be in the care of after school programs longer than she needs. The reduced cost of living, reduction in stress and the flexibility that we're able to offer my wife's employer was made a huge, positive, difference in our lives, well worth the 15%.
• mrweasel 2y ago
  My pay cut was only around 15%, but I also wasn't working for a large company, and was apparently underpaid by around 20%. This will come of a spoiled and privileged, but I honestly have no idea how we'd make our day to day life work if I didn't work from home, with incredibly flexible hours. Getting children ready for school and pick them up at a reasonable hour, without stress just isn't possible. You have to drop off your children in some kind of care before their even fully awake, and you need to pick them up almost before you get out of the office. Obviously people make it work, but I have no idea what kind of hours other people work, because doing a pick up at 16:30 would mean that my child would be the last one in the day care. In any case I don't see the point in tolerating the stress of traffic, school/day care, or just regular difficulties getting your daily tasks to fit in with a 8-16 job at an office. I have a family member that works at a hospital, she can't get her car service for four weeks because there's no available time to drop of the car and pick it up afterwards, which also fits with the mechanic. I can normally get appointments for mechanics, doctors, dentists, contractors, everything, with a few days notice because I can be incredibly flexible with my time.
  • bwanab 2y ago
    Only two ways that I know of that can make it work: 1) one parent needs to stay at home, or 2) hire a nanny. Both of those come with considerable costs.
    • mrweasel 2y ago
      While I apparently where underpaid, my boss and I had a pretty good relationship, but he didn't think a 50+% pay raise, so my wife could stay at home, was realistic, but I did ask. My wife's boss recommended getting an au pair, she pointed out that he's aware of how much she makes, and that it was a stupid suggestion that he know that we wouldn't be able to afford that.
    • ghaff 2y ago
      Historically, you had grandparents or other extended family (which was the case when I was growing up with two working parents). But that's far less common in the US today.
• tokinonagare 2y ago
  I did a radical change recently too, save for the fact my job (full remote) wasn't very well paid to begin with. The additional 700€/month I got for working in comparison to the unemployment benefit is absolutely not worth working 150h a month, since I still can pay for whatever small or medium things I want, and it don't make a real change to what I can't (buy a house). On the other hand, I have now time and energy to focus on all the cool things: writing research papers and my thesis, learning accounting to set up my company, make contributions to the open-source and open-data projects I care about, taking time for friends and family. In a word: living.
• cess11 2y ago
  I'd never work for a "FAANG" style corporation, but otherwise made a similar choice when my first kid was born, back in early 2019. I'll surely lose out on some currency in the long run but I'm not so sure whatever value it's going to have in the coming fifties outweighs the time with my family I've gained. On a global scale a lot of things are going to shit and I'd rather my kids think of me as someone who didn't bail on them under such circumstances.
• hammock 2y ago
  I’ll get downvoted for this but so many people taking 15-50% paycuts without a moments thought, or trading 50% of pay for 3-4 hours back out of a 11-12hr workday (including commute) sort of implies that there are a lot of overpaid people right now.
  • kurikuri 2y ago
    A better hypothesis would be that there are diminishing returns for the hours in a day a person has. Getting back 4 hours when you are currently working 12 hours has a ton more impact than getting back 4 hours when you only work eight.
  • nacs 2y ago
    Overpaid? Doubt it. Just people who make more than they need to survive and can afford to cut back on income for a happier life.
  • AdrianB1 2y ago
    Not overpaid. Even if you are paid below the market, but you are highly skilled in a job where you deliver a lot of value for the employer and you make a lot more than the average worker, you can take a pay cut. For example, average pay in US is around $50k/year. If you are very good in tech or an MD and you make $250k, are you overpaid? Probably not. If you take a $50k cut, with the remaining $200k you are still fine in many places. There is no reason to reach the conclusion you are overpaid.
    • listenallyall 2y ago
      The fact that you have to take a pay cut, rather than find another employer at the current level, is evidence that the original salary was well above-market
      • christhecaribou 2y ago
        No, it isn’t? There is more to life than salary.
      • 2y ago
• layer8 2y ago
  > 3-4 hours/day commuting I’d switch jobs then as well, or rather, I would never take such a job in the first place. Luckily my commute is only 20 minutes by bike. I don’t earn anywhere near FAANG level either, though.
• assimpleaspossi 2y ago
  I spend 40 minutes a day commuting. Would I take a 50% pay cut for that? You know the answer. Depending on how one is, working from home not only isolates you, but if you have kids, dealing with them on a daily basis while trying to work is not what you think it will be after months and years of doing so. Yes, your life will change and be totally different.
  • jemmyw 2y ago
    You sound pretty negative about it. I know plenty of people who work from home and deal with their kids and enjoy doing so. And some who just seem to dislike their kids regardless of the work situation. So when folks say they work at home to spend more time with family I take that at face value. I've certainly enjoyed being with mine - not every moment for sure. But I didn't have kids as an obligation, it was a choice and any relationship also requires work, being home with them helps that.
  • theshackleford 2y ago
    > working from home not only isolates you I’m less isolated than ever WFH as I now have the time and energy to have a social life after work. Additionally, I can be more involved with my local community because instead of commuting to some CBD and filling the pockets of business there, I support and have relationships with the small businesses in my local community. Equally though, I see how if you were a parent, or are incapable of going outside unless forced, it could be more isolating for some.
• AdrianB1 2y ago
  At least you have a much better chance to (live to) eventually retire. I am glad to see this kind of change is not just possible, but really happening.
• karaterobot 2y ago
  Hey, congrats. I did a similar thing... in December 2019. Poor timing, but a good decision nonetheless. Even years later, I am still not making as much money as I was making back then. I could not care less about that. I'm making plenty of money, and am more than twice as happy—this is harder to measure than salary, but it sure feels true.
• wordofx 2y ago
  Yup makes it easier than firing you. We don’t want less productive people.
• 6c696e7578 2y ago
  Did you take a pay cut? If you include your commute hours in your hourly pay rate, maybe you didn't have such a pay cut after all.
  • xyst 2y ago
    That’s what I’m thinking. 8 hr grind + 4 hr commute for regular salary. Vs whatever 5-8 hr work plus no commute at normal salary * 0.5. It’s a trade off in this case that I think is worth it.
• xyst 2y ago
  Is it really a pay cut if half your day is spent commuting (unpaid)? Just a thought.
  • brantonb 2y ago
    From a pure numbers perspective, if you work 40 hours/week and commute 3.5 unpaid hours/day, then dropping the commute and taking a 50% pay cut results in only a 28% hourly pay cut and an extra 17.5 hours in your week. And let’s not forget the gas and car maintenance savings. I reduced my annual driving by about 4,000 miles. My car will also not have to be replaced as soon. I’m also eating cheaper because I’m more likely to make my own lunch rather than eating out. I’m sure there are more expenses like this that add up. If I could make the finances work, I think I’d take that deal. (I’d be unlikely to sign up for that commute in the first place.)
• deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]