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21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

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Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sadly, the people who either can't or won't leave vancouver don't have a lot to choose from. I'm from there and it's really hilarious when people say something like Hootsuite is a "world class" place to work in some IT-related field. Meanwhile Seattle has things like SpaceX in Redmond developing satellites, Boeing jobs, Blue Origin, a number of tech companies that are not amazon, XKL (run by one of the founders of Ci…

Why must every tech job be SpaceX or Amazon or Boeing? No, really. Most tech jobs are not super sexy, and I’m a little irritated that the prevailing opinion seems to be one of looking down your nose at every tech job that isn’t “prestigious”.

I think people are entitled to look down on job offers that pay only half of what they get working elsewhere.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#102
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this square against the housing situation? From what I've heard Vancouver housing is comparable to London.

Vancouver has the tech salaries of a small city like Boise and the housing costs of San Francisco.

Come try Montréal, the housing is fine!

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#103
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I’d argue my lifestyle is a lot better too. Looks like the majority of the European "better lifestyle" involves convincing people on the internet that making a fraction of a Bay Area salary is somehow a good thing.

I moved from CA to Europe. Don't regret it. I get a month and a half of vacation, a nice walkable city, and don't feel like I live in a dying democracy. Two days ago my infant was sick. Made one phone call and thirty minutes later a qualified gp showed up at my apartment and made sure everything was fine. At 2 AM. For free. In the US I could make more money but would spend it all on rent and cars (and private school…

Do you mind me asking the hit your salary took? Do you also mine asking what region of Europe, and how you were able to find the right employer?

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#104
post #91
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're making ~$60,000 or more in the US, you are overwhelmingly going to have good health insurance. If you're making $140,000, you're going to have great health insurance. I fail to see how universal healthcare is a lure in this case. If you get insured. I think most Europeans are proud to pay taxes to make sure a random fellow living down the street who got cancer can afford his treatments. At least that has…

The US has a socialized system of healthcare. It's indirect in the sense that if you can't pay you get covered anyways and the hospital takes a loss. If you're low income you get Medicaid, if you're old you get Medicare. People with cancer who get no treatment at all in the US is very rare and usually something else is happening behind the scenes.

This has Many notable exceptions.

Due to the housing meltdown, many people have underwater realty of negative value, yet this asset disqualifies many low cost programs.

The asset limits are very low on Medicaid ($2k individual, $3k couple)

Even medicare is quite low ($7.5k, $11.5k). To qualify, you must effectively divest all your assets and it becomes an insurance bet with the state that you'll die quickly. (@ $7k/month for a nursing home, its not a very good bet)

If you can't pay hospitals and nursing homes kick you out, just happened to a friend. Medicare wouldn't pay for more than two months of care -> on the street.

For most people, the value of selling their house (say $100k, would pay for only 1 year of senior care in the US)

Even better, the care is often lackluster for the cost. (Admittedly at $7k/month I would be expecting marble floors and gold faucets)

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#105
post #18
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please confirm what the average salary is in Copenhagen for a senior developer ? Thanks

I can confirm around 100k (pounds) in London, unless you're going to the giants (FB, Google) that go above that.

Wow, in the last 4-5 years the economy has really picked up. I moved back to Scotland after working in Berlin and Amsterdam and work remotely today for a Paris based agency.

Until I read your comment, I had guaranteed myself never to work for a UK company. Will need to do some more research at some point.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#106
post #84

He may have been better off as a federal government worker, if you include pension and benefits into the equation, which I find discouraging.

And hours. But not inflation. According to the westegg inflation calculator,

"What cost $210000 in 2000 would cost $304266.30 in 2017."

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#107
post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver has the tech salaries of a small city like Boise and the housing costs of San Francisco.

Come try Montréal, the housing is fine!

yeah but unfortunately you'll have to live in Montreal :(

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#108
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can go on sites like Zillow or PadMapper and see rental listings. $4,000 seems typical now days for a 1 bedroom or studio. If you really want to slum it or have roommates you can find situations for less but for someone who has grown out of the roommates and frat house life style those options probably aren't appealing.

Wat? Try 3k for a 1br, 4k for a 2br. That said, even with a 4k/mo apartment, you're looking at 4-5k after tax, housing, and retirement savings.

ouch :(

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#109
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

85-90k is the upper bound on senior dev salaries, but companies can and will go above that if you have specific skills they need and can't easily recruit for. (I make 6 figures in London, and that's full time and at a software company.)

What would an average salary for a medium-level dev look like? I've seen 40k GBP a few times, but that seems quite low.

In 2012, I was looking for mid level work (Gaming, but not entirely dependent on it) and yeah that was exactly the figure I seen. In London 40k is like 20k outside London meaning you have a bunch of Mid Level developers picking up a street sweepers wage without a pension attached.

I just don't believe I somehow missed all the decent jobs during a lul either.

Re: 21 Years of Income as a Software Engineer in San Francisco

#110
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

85-90k is the upper bound on senior dev salaries, but companies can and will go above that if you have specific skills they need and can't easily recruit for. (I make 6 figures in London, and that's full time and at a software company.)

What would an average salary for a medium-level dev look like? I've seen 40k GBP a few times, but that seems quite low.

40k, 50k, 60k possibly. Medium-level is pretty nebulous though. It could be a talented coder without much experience, or a journeyman with many years and without something extra like domain expertise. Smart money would pay more for the first, but people like a bargain too.

Head out of finance and tech (funded or profitable) and those numbers start to look more like senior salaries.

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