[zadkey]

It's important to keep in mind that the cost of living in certain cities is massively higher than others, in some cases more than 4 times higher.

It's also important to keep in mind that there are CEO's that make 275 times their average worker, some exceeding 50k per hour.

When I see a highly paid engineer salary, I consider a form of societal progress that a skilled worker can make a good living. Something that used to be reserved only for upper management.

It is an acknowledgement from society that work we do is meaningful and valuable.

[Sohcahtoa82]

> It's important to keep in mind that the cost of living in certain cities is massively higher than others, in some cases more than 4 times higher.

People don't understand this.

I live in suburbs near Portland, OR, and paid $330K for a 3 br, 2.5 bath, 1850 sq foot house near the end of 2015. Meanwhile, in Palo Alto, I've seen 1 br, 1 bath, 700 sq ft condos on sale for over $1.5M.

It's pretty ridiculous.

[UncleMeat]

People overstate this.

Specifically owning a home in the bay area is insane. But outside of this one thing, COL changes don't come anywhere close to matching the increased salary. Even if you are including things like childcare.

I'd expect my salary to drop by 250k if I left the bay area. After accounting for COL differences, my savings rate would be far lower elsewhere. Even if you aren't making top of line income, people still can very easily come out ahead in the bay area. That 700 sq ft condo may sell for millions, but it is still only 2.5k/month in rent.

[nine_zeros]

I think you are underestimating how quickly rents have been rising here every year. There's almost never point of rising income when all of those gains are going to rent.

[UncleMeat]

I live here. My income has risen far far far faster than the rent. I'm able to save literally six figures more than I'd be able to elsewhere.

[redis_mlc]

> People overstate this.

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

The numbers you quoted are from 10+ years ago for the Bay Area.

[UncleMeat]

I live in the bay area, until a few months ago, paid 2,500 for an 800 sq ft apartment in sunnyvale.

[bdcravens]

And even Portland is expensive - you can buy many homes in the suburbs near Houston for closer to $200k. If I came to work for your company, that would factor into my compensation conversations.

[Keverw]

Yeah, I wonder how far 100K or 150K could get you in San Francisco if you're single. Got a random email from some recruiter for a startup who seen me on Github offering me to move to San Francisco - be cool to be around more like minded tech people though.

Sounds like some apartments for even just one bedroom starts at $3,500 a month where in other parts of the US that's enough for a mortgage and all the utilities with a bunch still left over, plus the high taxes, cost of food, etc...

Personally I've been wanting to get my own startup going and probably putting the HQ after funding in Austin(but costs are starting to go up too) - someone I was talking to who's also a tech person told me I should aim for Dallas instead but he's from there so maybe bias. I was thinking maybe parts of Florida or Tennessee(Where my family is originally from) would be interesting too. Which FL or TX would be a lot warmer too so that's a plus so less winter blues probably boosts productivty and morale too, but who's maybe if you get big enough get multiple offices and a private jet haha. Also not a huge fan of dressing up either, super causal or even shorts - but I know some other startups feel that way unless you are doing meetings with clients and stuff they want you to dress up a bit nicer.

265 times the average worker sounds like a bunch! Personally I think it'd be fun to reinvest mostly in the product itself, and then set apart parts of the profit for a bonus pool but then not sure how to distribute bonuses fairly, I know I seen some companies let others review each other internally with some also. Also in tech heard that even when you take off for vacation, they still bug you and expect you to be in touch which I think isn't really good either unless you are the only person who can do something but that's bad too to depend on one person.... Kinda getting ahead of myself though, got to focus on a prototype first before thinking more about that stuff though.

But I guess if you took the risks and effort to get something started, should be awarded but 265 times sounds way too high. hmm but looks like Google's CEO gets 2 million, avg engineer is about 150K maybe. Be nice to actually be able to afford to go on vacations too, I'd love to go on a cruise or to Disney World at least once or twice a year - which is more than most people... I kinda like the idea of company retreats too and also letting people off on the holidays but I guess in tech you still need people to monitor and make sure nothing breaks and some other stuff with a minimum staff.