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Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

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Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#371

Post by bcheung »

linkregister wrote: post #324
bcheung wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are you getting 13.3%? Most likely a software developer is going to be in the 9.3% bracket. And it is also a graduated bracket system so you are only paying that 9.3% on income over $51K. See https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator On a $150K income you are going to be paying an effective rate for CA around 7%.

You're omitting MediCal. It ends up being about 13% (marginal) after it is added.

Are you referring to CA OASDI/EE?

Not sure what MediCal is. You mean Medicare? That's federal.

CA OASDI/EE is 0.9% but you only pay it on the first $100K or so.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#373

Post by herdrick »

heneryville wrote: post #370
mooreds wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point! And if you are into oil/gas, Houston. Marijuana, Colorado or Washington. Cars, Detroit (maybe?). Commodities, Chicago. Ag, Kansas City (maybe?). Outdoor experiences, SLC. Building something for Latin America, Miami. Ets, etc. I imagine there are many other cities that dominate in niches that I'm missing.

For the ignorant, what's AG? Google isn't helping.

Agriculture.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#374

Post by csdreamer7 »

josh_carterPDX wrote: post #320
smsm42 wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the BA and work in tech, and I'm not super-stressed. Neither my peers seem to be. It doesn't mean we don't work - but not more stressfully than I'd expect to work anywhere else. Maybe I'm just lucky. The downside is everything is so expensive. Housing, of course. But also everything else too, services, other things. If you can live frugally, it may be to your benefit - you get higher income and keep low spe…

Totally. The nice thing about being in Portland is that the Bay Area is only an hour and a half flight. We still have family down there so we spend some time there, but we have kids. So one big reason we left the Bay Area was just to find better quality education and we definitely do not regret the move after finding amazing schools here. But to your point, there are some great events and conferences which is probabl…

Somewhat off topic.

I thought Portland's, and Oregon's schools in general, are not that good. Unless you are talking about private schools.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#375

Post by therealpeal »

Mz wrote: post #312
yarou wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it comes down to culture. The culture of the South Bay is relatively non-existent outside of small pockets like Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Mountain view, and maybe Santana Row. It's geared toward raising kids and family life in general.

I am having enormous difficulty parsing that comment. I have tried to just let it go, but I am failing at that, and I am seriously struggling to reply in a way that does not sound like snark. Could you clarify what you mean? Because it sounds like either you are saying "Culture only exists in tiny parts of certain places, no place else in the South Bay even has a culture" (which is utterly nonsensical) or maybe you a…

I think what he is saying is that the South Bay is completely without culture, unless you count strip malls and chain restaurants.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#376

Post by chrisper »

jartelt wrote: post #349
minwcnt5 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what exactly you're looking at, because from my perspective "everyone" is an insane exaggeration on your part. I know countless people who run, cycle, ski, mountain bike, play soccer, go backpacking, play board games, travel, partake in live music, and so on and so forth. Sure there are disproportionately more workaholics in the area. There are also disproportionately fewer people who work 9-5 then go ho…

I totally agree. If people want to gripe about high rent/COL or lack of public transit that is fine and legitimate. But complaining about lack of things to do just doesn't add up. You can go hiking in Marin or in the open space preserves on the peninsula. You can drink great beer at several breweries or go to Napa/Sonoma to wine taste. You can go skiing in Tahoe. You can go to Yosemite or Sequoia. You can ride your b…

But all the places you mentioned are at least 1.5 hours drive from San Jose. You can't expect me to drive 1.5 hours just to not have to sit at home every time I want to have some fun? I love day trips, but I don't want to have to to a day trip every weekend or every day I want to have some fun. Compare that to LA or San Diego where you don't have to drive far to have fun (nightlife for example) or awesome beaches. All I see in San Jose is empty streets after 9pm. There is nothing going on in this town besides work.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#377

Post by findjashua »

automatwon wrote: post #366

I wonder how much weather affects success, both for companies and individuals. I worked as a Data Science engineer in Seattle (startup), and just moved to San Francisco this year (Google). I know this sounds trivial, but I think the more pleasant weather in the Bay Area is beneficial to my career. The lifestyle aspect is just icing on the cake. I can't get up in the morning when it's rainy and cold. Of course, I do s…

Stole the words right out of my mouth!

Did a summer internship in Redmond, and realized how much the weather affects my happiness and psychological well-being.

While SFBA weather is way better than Seattle, I still find it a bit cold/dreary for my liking. I really wish the tech hub was in San Diego instead, I'd move there in a heartbeat.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#378

Post by chrisper »

minwcnt5 wrote: post #304
chrisper wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it is because I live in the South Bay. But here it seems that everyone is just going to work and back home.. and that's it. There is nothing else going on here, but work work work.

I don't know what exactly you're looking at, because from my perspective "everyone" is an insane exaggeration on your part. I know countless people who run, cycle, ski, mountain bike, play soccer, go backpacking, play board games, travel, partake in live music, and so on and so forth. Sure there are disproportionately more workaholics in the area. There are also disproportionately fewer people who work 9-5 then go ho…

Well, everyone around me pretty much determines what is available to me. No one is going to build a zoo in San Jose if no one is coming. San Jose does not even have something like University Ave in Palo Alto. SJ Downtown is horrible and certainly not a place I'd like to go to have fun. What I am saying is, that compared to other cities such as LA or San Diego, San Jose is dead. Nothing besides working is happening. Considering how much I am paying to live here, that is disappointing.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#379

Post by shostack »

smsm42 wrote: post #327
Rapzid wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pointing out that is just for the down payment. If you want to get ahead in life you need to be "saving" that much and more every year. And oops, your expenses just shot up dramatically because now you're a home owner.

BTW everybody knows about mortgage payments/rent but many forget about property taxes you have to pay as a homeowner. That's about 1.5% of your house purchase cost every year. Of course, there are tax deductions for that but even after them it's still non-negligible chunk of cash on homes approaching $1M.

Don't forget about home repairs and renovations, HOA, and services like gardening, etc. depending on what you buy.

It is easy to end up spending double rent on a comparable place. The difference is for now at least the home you buy can grow nicely so you need to do the math on rate of return for that vs other uses of that cash.

Re: Does It Make Sense for Programmers to Move to the Bay Area?

#380

Post by emodendroket »

josh_carterPDX wrote: post #143

As someone who grew up in the Bay Area, but moved to Portland about three years ago, I can tell you there is a stark difference in ecosystems. However, if you are a young up-and-coming programmer coming out of school, it makes complete sense to move to the Bay Area. If you're an Actor you move to L.A. to get your big break. If you're a programmer, you go to the Bay Area to work for a big firm that will help build you…

I think there are a number of cities you could get that kind of great experience in though -- Seattle, Boston, New York, Austin, probably others.
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