[justinsingh]

My dad got laid off from the Fremont Western Digital location just the other day ago. He saw it coming as they were warned layoffs would keep coming (WD has been laying off workers since the middle of last year, I think). So luckily we moved to a nearby city with substantially lower housing prices than in San Jose, where we were spending lots more than we could justify on housing. If we had stayed in San Jose, we would be in some real big financial troubles- pretty much game over. But where we live now (which is actually in a house of the same size, just significantly cheaper) we are living more comfortably and happier without the stress of living in such an expensive city.

Anyone living in an expensive city with a layoff seeming imminent should really be thinking on the long term about where it's best for their family to live. Going day to day wondering if you'll be able to keep your house is not a healthy way to live.

[tostitos1979]

Can you mention cities with a better cost of housing? Genuinely curious ... Gilroy is cheap but seems way too far.

[justinsingh]

I am referring to Gilroy. The distance seems "too far" but it's something you adapt to rather quickly. Pretty much everyone in my neighborhood works in tech at Cupertino and surrounding areas. If you're able to work around leaving during rush hour traffic then that's even better.

[CodeCube]

I'm really hoping that more companies embrace remote workers ... so that it doesn't matter where you live

[Kinnard]

Is your dad an engineer?

[justinsingh]

Data center/Network engineer

[Kinnard]

That's interesting. I feel a lot of people are arguing that engineers will largely be safe and will fare any trouble better anyway being in a higher income percentile.

I was also under the impression that South Bay had at least a somewhat reasonable real estate market. I've never been down there.

Network engineering seems more specialized/technical than web dev too.

Best of luck.

[chiph]

If the firm is predominately staffed with engineers (either raw headcount, or by salary percentage), then there's no buffer against being laid off.