[kafkaesq]

I laugh at 120k offers in SF, that's like making 65k in a reasonable city.

Even if you think you can easily do better, you shouldn't "laugh" at salary offers in that range. The vast majority of people in the U.S. won't ever -- at their current (and for many, basically immutable) education level -- stand a chance of making anywhere near that much.

And being as it's just a matter of blind luck that we've been born at a certain time and place that enables us to make that kind of a salary.

For basically playing with shiny toys all day, and all.

[seanp2k2]

The point is that you don't get to keep much of it. Basically, unless you're making >$200k or so (which is def possible and not st all unreasonable for engineers or management out here) , you might be able to save more post-tax post-expenses elsewhere.

The real game to be in here is real estate. Don't mine the gold, sell the shovels.

[kafkaesq]

But people who will basically never be able to make that kind of money don't have that dilemma.

And the "game" for them is simply to survive.

[vecinu]

Isn't that a strawman argument though? The discussion is around engineers making the most out of their salary so why would be lump in folks with different education / jobs?

[closeparen]

The point is that you aren't more fortunate with a nominally higher salary if your baseline (not luxury) costs consume it all. I'm doing about the same as anyone else who can barely afford to rent a studio and can't afford to have a car or travel.

Someone with a third of my salary gets a house, a car, and more disposable income which goes further. The one area where I'm really blowing them out of the water is my $5/mo health insurance that makes all care effectively free. That's a function of the company, though, not the salary. Our much lower paid, lower skilled workers in satellite offices get the same benefits package.

[kafkaesq]

Sounds like we're talking past each other, then.

The point I'm trying to make is that, thanks in a large part of very some "boom" you and I riding on, a lot of people not only can't afford to live in SF (or other pricier parts of the Bay Area) with a car and travel money -- nowadays, they can't afford to live there at all. Whereas 20 years ago, while it was never easy to make it in the Bay Area -- at least theoretically they could, at their skill and education level.

So while $120k may seem like chump change to you, it'd be a godsend to them. They may still not be able to travel, and they may have to cut back in a whole lot of other areas -- but at least they'd be getting by.

Which is again, the real "game" for most people.