Funny that this is still super relevant for the life in London, particularly in East London, where everyone you meet is working in or has started their own startup. I feel like "silicon valley" mentality has spread far beyond just the bay area these days.
This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
41–50 of 182 posts
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course, discretionary income and salary are not the same thing. If you are a developer in the valley paying to live in Palo Alto, driving a BMW, etc. you too could choose to have a lot more discretionary income.
$60k is more than 88% of Americans make in total income. Having that for discretionary spending would place you well within the top 1-2% of Americans, regardless of how much or how little your living expenses are.
Living expenses make up the majority of most people's living expenses, and this person owns the house they live in, which means it's possible their expenses aren't that high to begin with. They imply as much in their post. So it's possible their salary is like $70-75k.
The median salary in the US is $52k.
In light of that, I, too, would call his salary "decently high".
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#43Meh, not written by someone who lives here: " the 280"? Freeways don't get articles around here, bub. Clearly a plant from the LA startup scene.
Good catch! Puzzler: at what latitude does 101 become "Teh 101"?
The same latitude at which hipsters turn into douchebags.
Source: I lived in LA for nearly a decade.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#44Looks like he really struck a nerve based on the comments.
Half of the comments are along the lines of, "yeah those guys, but not me, I bought muesli instead o artisinal cheese".
I wanted to say something to that effect, but you nailed it! I hope stating that isn't against the etiquette here.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nannys? Going to fancy restaurants hoping to see venture capitalists? Most people your age do not by any means conduct themselves like this, nor could they if they wanted to. Their "nanny" is their sister or mother or mother in law or a neighbor. They don't go to a fancy restaurant because they don't have the money for both the fancy restaurant and a baby-sitter. They're a two income-family forever, not until stock o…
Let me put it this way: I have lived in Silicon Valley my entire life (and I'm not that young), and the only person I've ever met who was raised by a nanny was a rich kid who went to my high school. I've never met anyone who hired a nanny, except that kid's parents. But maybe that's because I don't live in Atherton.
> I've never met anyone who hired a nanny
I doubt you know that.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
$60k is more than 88% of Americans make in total income. Having that for discretionary spending would place you well within the top 1-2% of Americans, regardless of how much or how little your living expenses are.
The top 1% of earners make $450k/year [1]. Although they obviously spend a lot [2], at some point discretionary income gets pretty blurry. I'd hope any reasonable society would consider they have a lot more than $60k at their discretion, though. I make about a third of that, putting me just barely in the top 10%, and have more than $60k at my discretion. Wealth inequality is pretty insane in this country. [1] http://…
The calculator you linked is measuring household income, not individual income. Rerunning your numbers with a calculator that uses individual income [1], I find that the top 1% of individual earners make at least $270k/year and an income of $150k/year would put you just barely in the top 5% of individual earners.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#47It reminded me of "Chaos Monkeys" that I read recently.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
And let me put it this way: Every working couple except for one that I know with a kid has hired a nanny for at least some portion of the time, including myself.
A nanny is not a part-time worker. That is a babysitter. A nanny lives with the family.
Is it in the US ?
In the UK to be a nanny, childminder or work in a nursery you have specific regulation and qualification required. A babysitter requires nothing, it can and generally is some teenage kid.
The difference with all 3 is where the child go. Nursery has special dedicated facilities to take care of several children, number limited by the number of employee and size. A childminder will take care of 1 to 3 children in her own home. A nanny will come to your home and take care of 1 to 3 of your children.
All 3 are available in full-time ( i.e. working hour full time ) or part-time.
The movie type, stay at home Nannies are "Au Pair". Depending on the qualification ( from foreign student doing a bit of cleaning and getting the kid to and from school to fully qualified nanny ) the price varies enormously. Au Pair is not unusual, Au Pair Nannies is rich people stuff.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#49Well written. I like the tone. I think it's a particular case of a global concern : what the purpose of life and how to live it well ? Even if i'm very different and put my efforts in other domains than "looking smart for other people". I'm asking myself similar questions: doubt about past choices, job, city, and so on.
Re: This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley
#50A lot of this can be applied to modern day middle class life in Stockholm, Sweden, too for example. I guess SV is a bit more extreme, but the same things are there: the lust for gadgets, using podcasts to find conversational topics with your friends, sharing half-read articles, the "perfectly Instagrammed life", and, perhaps most of all: "The reporters all share photos and videos of the homeless person, but no one talks to him."