Dorm living for professionals comes to SF • Hacker News Board

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#41

Post by lsc » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:08 AM UTC

briga wrote: post #2

Ah,the American dream. Go through four years of college and 100k of student loans so you can live in a $2400 dorm room while barely making ends meet. I'm moving to the Bay area in a few months and these sorts of stories make me question whether it's the right move.

Eh, compare relative costs/relative income and cultural factors. Most of the people I know here in the south bay, if they rent, get some place reasonably nice all to themselves for around that kind of money, and the south bay is better for tech jobs, and at least for me, a much better 'culture fit' - That's the thing; I feel at home here in ways I've never felt at home anywhere else, and I'll pay extra for that.

Things are expensive, but wages are also really high, (I don't know a lot of people in the computer industry for whom $2400 in rent would cause pain.) and I have a great deal of freedom because there are so many nearby employers. there's got to be at least 50 places that might hire me as a programmer or sysadmin within reasonable walking distance. I have to go further than that to get a decent burger! (which is my big complaint about this place; so little nightlife, so little food. But most of the employers feed you, and for weekends there are good delivery services, so it's not that bad.)

San Francisco (and California, to a lessor extent) is setup to charge newcomers way more than long time residents. The density of employers in the bay area means that you can find your place... and just stay there, through many job changes.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#42

Post by volgo » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:11 AM UTC

briga wrote: post #2

Ah,the American dream. Go through four years of college and 100k of student loans so you can live in a $2400 dorm room while barely making ends meet. I'm moving to the Bay area in a few months and these sorts of stories make me question whether it's the right move.

Those are some extremely skewed numbers. I live in a $1.7k one bedroom. Rent is like 10% of my pay and I'm just 2 years out of college. No student debt because my family is poor. San Francisco is an amazing place for technies if you're not bad with money

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#43

Post by wheresmyusern » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:11 AM UTC

this is absolutely fascinating. why cant these people just commute from pleasant hill or even lafayette? i had the same accommodations as these people and paid only 400 in pleasant hill.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#44

Post by EggsOnToast » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:12 AM UTC

Consultant32452 wrote: post #31

tytytytytytytyt wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle is pretty nice, especially if you can ignore the random junkies and homeless tent and RV encampments around town.

Oh no, the last time I visited Seattle was in 2010. Has it gone to shit since then?

I might be jaded but this sort've depends on your point of view. I grew up in San Diego, would weekend with friends in LA, and I've got family across the country. Most large cities that don't have overly deadly weather seem to have a visible homeless population.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#45

Post by pmorici » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:13 AM UTC

saudioger wrote: post #22

Why can't the vast majority of these people work remotely yet? For a group of people who often praise the concept of meritocracy, regionally locking down your employee pool seems insane.

The article makes it sound like a lot of them are service and retail sector type workers not exactly remote job material

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#46

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:14 AM UTC

mb_72 wrote: post #7

“I feel like I’m in a relationship with everyone I live with,” Ms. Ndrepepaj said. “If their day is bad, your day is bad.” Hardly a selling point. As an introvert it's just within my capabilities living with my wife and playful cat; living in such an environment would be a nightmare for me. The article fails to address the 'bad roommate' situation, which always happens sooner or later with these shared-living environ…

[deleted]

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#47

Post by Consultant32452 » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:15 AM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #39

Consultant32452 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening.

> Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening. In another couple decades, most definitely. Soon? Nah. China is rapidly aging, their economy is overheating, they're about to go through their own debt unwinding. Africa is just a mess. Maybe? I'll believe it when I see it. The United States, regardless of current even…

It's not just SF and NYC. The rust belt was gutted and what remains of those Union jobs are now slave wage jobs at places with suicide nets in China.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#48

Post by IncRnd » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:16 AM UTC

zootam wrote: post #8

> to turn into dorm rooms for the middle class. let's be real here, the middle class in the bay area/SF makes $250k+ per household. there's nothing wrong with living in dorms, but there is something disturbing about calling this the 'middle class' in SF.

According to Pew, 67% to 200% of the median income defines middle class. For a $78k median income, middle class is $52k to $156k. For a family with both parents working for identical salaries, middle class starts at $104k.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#49

Post by stale2002 » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:16 AM UTC

BadassFractal wrote: post #40

stale2002 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends. The big X tech companies, and hot unicorns in the bay area pay crazy salaries for engineers. 3k a month doesn't seem too bad when you are making 200k+, which is close to ~triple what you'd make in some rando mid sized city. Working for the average SF startup though? Yeah, you'd be better off somewhere else.

Are that many SF tech workers making over 200 grand a year?

The ones at the big tech companies and hot unicorns are.

The ones at your rando tech startup are not.

Re: Dorm living for professionals comes to SF

#50

Post by toomuchtodo » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 5:17 AM UTC

Consultant32452 wrote: post #47

toomuchtodo wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Globalism is going to lead to an averaging out of the standards of living across the globe. People from wealthy nations are in for a rude awakening. In another couple decades, most definitely. Soon? Nah. China is rapidly aging, their economy is overheating, they're about to go through their own debt unwinding. Africa is just a mess. Maybe? I'll believe it when I see it. The United States, regardless of current even…

It's not just SF and NYC. The rust belt was gutted and what remains of those Union jobs are now slave wage jobs at places with suicide nets in China.

I agree, but for different reasons. Jobs went to third world workers, while the majority of the productivity went into shareholder pockets. That's an internal policy issue in the US, not a globalization issue (or rather, it's an unchecked capitalism issue). You can use policy to prevent unfettered blood letting of jobs to the cheapest labor sinks in the world. Globalization is not some foregone conclusion we have no control over.

EDIT: First world workers aren't competing against third world workers; they're competing against first world owners/shareholders/capitalists cramming down wages, working conditions, and living standards.