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Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

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Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#101

Post by cat199 »

nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

> young rockstars

young wannabe "rockstars", and perhaps a few actual ones.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#102

Post by j_s »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #37
chis wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it worthwhile to work there for a few years as a 20-year old though? I'm thinking it's a unique experience even if monetarily it's a poor choice.

Yes, I think it’s a great place to be for a while at least. I’m 33, have been here over ten years (grew up nearby) and am still chugging along. The mindless commute through unending traffic to get to the same office day in and day out is slowly driving me a little mad (not really... I think) but I’m beginning to question if I want to stay here long term. Still, I’ve had amazing experiences here and this is a place of…

If you think ideas for commute audio might help at least in the short term, check out the most recent edition of what has become a bi-monthly discussion:

Ask HN: What audio resources can improve my technical skills during my commute? | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15170121 (Sep 2017, 93 comments)

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#103

Post by nnbosko »

client4 wrote: post #67
nnbosko wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can we get in touch?

Which company? I can give an email to each, or for the most part they all have careers pages.

Let's move the convo over to n.boskovic at gmail, shall we? I have a couple questions I'd like to ask that are pretty specific. Thank you for your time!

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#104

Post by xtacy »

polskibus wrote: post #50
jorblumesea wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also a fair amount of people "grandfathered" into the region. Bought back in the 90s/early 2000s in closer in cities or neighborhoods. They have it pretty good, but at the expense of everyone else.

Could you explain that bit more? How is that at the expense of everyone else, did they achieve their wealth illegally?

Expanding on the comment below, it's an unfortunate combination of many prevailing issues.

1. One of the things Prop 13 does is to cap the maximum rate at which a property tax grows per annum to 2%. However, due to housing demand, the property values grow at a much faster rate (7% is not unheard of). The property tax can change when there is a sale.

2. Bay area prices have skyrocketed.

3. The peninsula topography and zoning laws make it hard to expand housing capacity.

So, if you are an aging home owner, sure you can cash out of a sale. But where would you go? Unless you can afford another place in the same area, existing home owners do not have incentives to sell their property, which results in a very low inventory. And, low inventory further puts pressure on the prices and drives it up.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#105

Post by srathi »

5706906c06c wrote: post #49

38, two kids and a wife. Have been living in a 900SQ/FT apt, I don't know how much longer I can take this before rage quitting and relocating somewhere else (don't know where). The sad part, as a ethnic-minority, I have just found our community for my kids, etc. It would be really tragic if I have to tear my kids away from that. Don't get me wrong, my daily 30 minute commute on BART isn't the worst. The worst part is…

I'm in the exact same situation, minus the BART part. Not sure how long can I wait to buy a house.

Also, If your commute is 30 min, then you are probably living around Fremont. Is the rent for 900sqft that high over there? This is touching SF territory.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#106

Post by twobyfour »

nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

What about the low-paid hourly employees who make food, mop floors, and stand behind cash registers?

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#107

Post by client4 »

Mz wrote: post #92
client4 wrote: post #14

Montana, a land of National parks, natural beauty, fast internet, and a low cost of living has a number of high tech jobs open. Full disclosure, I own an internet company here and want more tech savvy people in the area ;) Social Finanace (SoFi) | Helena, MT Oracle | Bozeman, MT OnXMaps | Missoula, MT Zaneray Group | Whitefish, MT Submittable | Missoula, MT Applied Materials | Kalispell, MT

Have you considered doing something more organized than a random comment on HN? I would very much like to see real solutions to some of the problems the US is experiencing wrt concentration of "good" jobs in a few places and them going utterly to hell because of it. I keep kicking around ideas and starting various small websites that often go nowhere. But, I think the internet is a potential means to start giving pus…

I operate casually.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#108

Post by whack »

nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

In which of the above 3 categories would you put the Google/Facebook/Apple employees making 200-300k+ per year?

I can't speak towards family living, but as a single person willing to live with roommates, you can find pretty nice places in the heart of Silicon Valley for ~$1000/month. Now add in compensation-packages well over 6 figures, brand-name companies for your resume, networking locally with other great engineers/techies, and the ability to switch companies every 1-2 years if you're unhappy. I wouldn't ever recommend a 30-year-old giving up all that to work in Kansas.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#109

Post by cobookman »

robbrit wrote: post #31
nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

A fourth category: people who have lived here for a long time, and were able to buy property back before it became unaffordable. These are typically the managers or senior employees. It makes me wonder that as the young rockstars and H1B recipients age, where will they go? They certainly can't afford to buy a house. I imagine as time goes on, companies in the Bay Area will be awash with young junior talent but will s…

I'm fairly early in my career at a company (80-10-10 mortgage on a 1mil home is only 100k down. And the monthly payments split by 2 people (aka a couple) is ~2k / person / month. That's 4k/month all in once you include the tax rebates.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#110

Post by baxtr »

From an outside perspective it is interesting to see, that a place, which is accepted as the planet’s hotbed of innovation is not able to produce a solution for this pressing problem.

Maybe Elon or someone else should be city below the sea.

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