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A question I genuinely have is whether these figures are something to go by or only relevant if you're in SF/SV, and I suspect it's the latter. It would be nice

A question I genuinely have is whether these figures are something to go by or only relevant if you're in SF/SV, and I suspect it's the latter. It would be nice to work out a scale to more-or-less approximate how far these numbers take you in other cities (though I suppose you could just use a cost-of-living calculator, but there are other considerations in tech IMO). But even adjusting for the cost of living, I'm glad I see figures like this because it shows how ridiculous some offers are. I got an invitation to apply in Los Angeles last week for webdev, with the bottom set at $40k and the max set at $70k

jboggan 12y ago
LA is cheaper to live in than San Francisco but it's not that much cheaper. Silicon Beach in particular (Santa Monica/Venice area) has been experiencing some pretty steep rent inflation in the last two years. Even $70k isn't that much to thrive on in Los Angeles. I would love to see some sort of cost-of-living analysis that didn't just look at average costs of housing and food but also incorporated some mental measure of "being well-off" that used the area's Gini coefficient [0]. I say this because I have lived frugally in Santa Monica, CA and I have lived frugally in Atlanta, GA at approximately the same standard of living but being surrounded by conspicuous outliers definitely made me feel much poorer in Santa Monica. See [1] for academic discussion. [0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient [1] - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20503742 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20503742
lpolovets 12y ago
(I'm the post's author.) This analysis is not hard to do for a specific job. If you're looking at a job at a 10-person startup in LA, go to AngelList and look up job postings at 5-10 other LA startups that are a similar size. You'll get a great sense of what a typical offer looks like, and then you can compare that to your own offer.
- arenaninja 12y ago
  Hey, thanks! I was about to start fishing for the data myself, I thought it might come from some API. Definitely some interesting insights, particularly from your previous submission on the same topic (which sadly didn't make front page), that shows the declining popularity of PHP among startups. Definitely going to slice the data myself, thanks!
malvosenior 12y ago
These numbers actually seem on the low side for SF/SV. You can definitely get this outside of the valley. Switch to remote work if none of the local companies will pay this. Really it's only a matter of time until they'll have to step up and pay market rates if they want to hire ANYONE let alone someone good.

jboggan 12y ago

LA is cheaper to live in than San Francisco but it's not that much cheaper. Silicon Beach in particular (Santa Monica/Venice area) has been experiencing some pretty steep rent inflation in the last two years. Even $70k isn't that much to thrive on in Los Angeles. I would love to see some sort of cost-of-living analysis that didn't just look at average costs of housing and food but also incorporated some mental measure of "being well-off" that used the area's Gini coefficient [0]. I say this because I have lived frugally in Santa Monica, CA and I have lived frugally in Atlanta, GA at approximately the same standard of living but being surrounded by conspicuous outliers definitely made me feel much poorer in Santa Monica. See [1] for academic discussion. [0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient [1] - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20503742 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20503742

lpolovets 12y ago

(I'm the post's author.) This analysis is not hard to do for a specific job. If you're looking at a job at a 10-person startup in LA, go to AngelList and look up job postings at 5-10 other LA startups that are a similar size. You'll get a great sense of what a typical offer looks like, and then you can compare that to your own offer.

arenaninja 12y ago
Hey, thanks! I was about to start fishing for the data myself, I thought it might come from some API. Definitely some interesting insights, particularly from your previous submission on the same topic (which sadly didn't make front page), that shows the declining popularity of PHP among startups. Definitely going to slice the data myself, thanks!

malvosenior 12y ago

These numbers actually seem on the low side for SF/SV. You can definitely get this outside of the valley. Switch to remote work if none of the local companies will pay this. Really it's only a matter of time until they'll have to step up and pay market rates if they want to hire ANYONE let alone someone good.