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by PhasmaFelis 3236 days ago
> Golf is cheap. You could spend $1000 on equipment, get a yearly pass for $2300 right outside Google HQ.

$3300 is not in any way "cheap" for the majority of Americans.

I like HN, but it's disheartening how many of my peers in tech seem to think that a West Coast programmer's salary is normal.

3 comments

It's cheaper than smoking. Edit: Well, depends on the accounting. The median U.S. income is $51K so by all means it's affordable. The main cost is time.
Median household income is $50k. Median individual income is $30k, leaving the aforementioned year of golf taking about 10% of ones (median) income. That is a fairly large expense.
If you're trying to go pro, 10% of income is nothing compared to the time investment. Like, it's an amount. But plenty of people get by on $27K.
That's pre-tax income though. There will be some variation by location and situation, but if we say post-tax is $24k that does not even leave $21k.

That is not a lot to live on. And, since we're talking about the median, 50% of the earning population are going to be left with even less than that.

Even then you're talking a cost for something you'd be devoting most of your free time to doing. You don't have to do it in California.
It's cheap compared to 6000 hours, unless you make under 10 dollars per day.
West Coast programmer who feels adequately compensated here and $3300 ain't cheap for me, either. At $275/month, that's more than my current grocery budget for a single person.