Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

blog.onradpad.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 288 posts

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#211

Post by zyxley »

mooreds wrote: post #154
jkestner wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not like those other cities are tech wastelands. You'll be able to find a good job. Maybe it won't pay as much as a city where you're being fought over, but then, it doesn't need to.

I had multiple clients (I'm a developer and a contractor) who had job reqs open for months at a good pay scale and had a heck of a time finding people in the Boulder Denver area. I think that the tech frenzy is great enough that people are fighting over tech folks in other areas--maybe not as violently as in SF, but still fighting.

Sounds like their "good" pay scale wasn't good enough.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#212

Post by ionforce »

dijit wrote: post #52
jkot wrote: post #11

In London it is more like 80%

I was going to say something to this effect. This figure does not surprise me in the slightest. In London I was _easily_ paying 50% of my salary after tax in rent, because I didn't want to share an apartment with someone else.

So do software engineers typically live alone in London or no?

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#213

Post by brobinson »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #68
shkkmo wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solution: Concentrate your tech workers in a area that isn't hostile to expanding the housing supply when needed.

Which narrows it down to Las Vegas, and Las Vegas is hell on Earth.

What don't you like about Las Vegas? What about the surrounding areas (Henderson, etc.)?

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#214

Post by rifung »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #38

I love these high salaries. My thought is to find a job in SF, live there temporarily for 3-6 months, then become remote and move back to my real home on the east coast. Is that feasible? Aren't these kinds of companies pretty comfortable these days with video conferencing, IM, screen sharing etc.?

I think it's pretty rare for companies to allow you to work completely remotely from my admittedly limited experience.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#215

Post by balls187 »

geogra4 wrote: post #107

I live in Detroit, own a 4bed/2bath and bike to work everyday for a mortgage that's less than 1/4 of the rent median SF 1br. SF is a cartoon world. Yes salaries are less here, but I feel so much more at ease owning my place and can live a pretty comfortable life. If worst comes to worst, there is always remote work.

There is a reason why it's cheap to live in Detroit, and why salaries are less. Cheap cost of living isn't unique to Detroit.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#216

Post by jdp23 »

meatysnapper wrote: post #159
aianus wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The weather was great (two days of sunny blue skies). Seattle from October through January is nothing like this. I literally didn't see the sun for over 20 days straight at one point (it's foggy and rainy non-stop during the winter).

That's nothing. In 1998 (I'm pretty sure) Seattle had 96 days of light drizzle with nary a ray of sunshine. The suicide rate went up massively, and I decided to move to CA as soon as I had the means.

I remember that winter well. I was founder-CTO of a Silicon Valley-based startup, and we were working on a big deal with Microsoft. After they hired away the first two people we put on the project, I stepped in, and spent several weeks a month up in the Seattle area. I still remember telling the board, "the only way they'll be able to hire me is to buy the company!" and we all had a good laugh.

Which is of course what happened -- they decided they wanted the technology and the engineering team (including me) and after some negotation got to a price that worked for everybody. Moving up to Redmond was part of the deal.

At the celebration party, people gave me various presents -- including a scuba mask, flippers, rubbers, several umbrellas...

And yeah, everything they say about the winters here is true. So please please please don't move here :)

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#217

Post by yellowbeard »

chucky_z wrote: post #43
nickbauman wrote: post #20

Always remember the #1 industry sector in CA is real estate, not tech. Furthermore, this is why I generally won't consider offers for work in the Bay area (as much as I love NoCal). I do the math and realize I'm cutting my own throat. On the other hand, I'd love to get a great offer and then buy a Blue Bird bus and convert it into a rolling home but only if I could semi-permanently park it in the company parking lot!

I would say you can park in Palo Alto in an RV for free... but it looks like that's changed in recent history. Kind of sad! :(

Pretty sure I see people living in RVs in Palo Alto, on El Camino and around Cal Ave. Definitely plenty doing it in SF. Has something changed in PA recently?

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#219

Post by scott_karana »

hwstar wrote: post #185
scott_karana wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You realize that you could, you know, get a Seattle job that didn't have a non-compete?

Maybe if you beat the bushes hard enough. The companies offering positions without non-competes are going to be rare as the employers labour law council will include it if they can get away with it. It will also very likely be non-negotiable and the documents you get on your first day of employment will be offered up as "sign or be fired". It's much better for the employee if there is legislation prohibiting non-comp…

I agree. Legislation is just one step, and refusing to take jobs with non-competes is another.

Unions or advocacy groups are a potential third, too.

Re: Employees at Airbnb, Square and Stripe Are Spending 50%+ of Income on SF Rent

#220

Post by sologoub »

jsn117 wrote: post #200
sologoub wrote: post #135

The rent around RadPad is not that cheap. While you might be able to find something for that price, it won't be pretty. Most of westside is starting to be as expensive as Venice/Santa Monica and these two aren't that different from SF in prices. Unfortunately, you don't get much besides weather and ocean breeze, unlike in SF where public transit and neighborhood cafes actually exist.

They were no where near SF prices when I lived in both places last year

That was last year :)

Friends are looking for a 2BR with $2500 budget and it's a really sad experience. If you are willing to spend $3500, you can do much better, but still not prime SM or Venice locations or Playa Vista (newest hotbed in the area for tech).

The article mentions Hawthorne, but that's not the best of neighborhoods and has a good amount of industrial/petrochemical activity near by. Redondo Beach is still sort of affordable, but you have to deal with traffic going north/west in the morning and back.

Post reply on HN