What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley? • Hacker News Board

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#11

Post by Jd » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 3:50 PM UTC

_delirium wrote: post #8

Jd wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NYC to most people includes all the bureaus and sometimes even Jersey City, etc. There are lots of more affordable options (e.g. Astoria) than downtown Manhattan, whereas such options do not exist in Silicon Valley.

If you're willing to include the kind of 60-minute commutes that New Yorkers living in outlying areas have, you can live in all sorts of cheap satellites of SV too, depending on where in the valley your job is. For example, if you work in Cupertino, you can live in Gilroy; for other parts of the valley, you can live in Livermore. There are also cheap parts of the southern East Bay that are pretty nearby. Even the cen…

Sure, but that's a 60 minute driving commute vs. a 60-minute public transit commute, which makes a big difference to a lot of people (e.g. I can read a book on public transit).

A lot of the statistics are questionable, most certainly including the average apartment cost.

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#12

Post by pepsi_can » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 4:00 PM UTC

This graphic doesn't make living in the valley very appealing, at least financially and especially for those with a family.

I did notice that the graphic doesn't mention any difference in company culture or the quality of the engineers in the Valley. I plan to move my family from Texas to the Valley soon.

According to the graphic this move doesn't really make financial sense but can anyone speak to the engineering culture in the Valley and the advantages it has over other areas?

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#13

Post by baconface » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 4:00 PM UTC

tansey wrote: post #7

These stats are outrageous and the presentation is misleading: 1) Please do not go thinking that $7.5B in VC deals * 46% are seed/series A = ~$3.2B in seed money. The bulk of that money is skewed upward to the other 54%. If we assume the average size of a deal in the 46% is around $300k (since series A rounds are more and seed rounds are less), then you get about a $100M market for early-stage investments. 2) The sec…

$60k in Denver >> $90k in Palo Alto

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#14

Post by josscrowcroft » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 4:23 PM UTC

tansey wrote: post #7

These stats are outrageous and the presentation is misleading: 1) Please do not go thinking that $7.5B in VC deals * 46% are seed/series A = ~$3.2B in seed money. The bulk of that money is skewed upward to the other 54%. If we assume the average size of a deal in the 46% is around $300k (since series A rounds are more and seed rounds are less), then you get about a $100M market for early-stage investments. 2) The sec…

Awesome points

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#15

Post by valley_guy_12 » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 4:59 PM UTC

pepsi_can wrote: post #12

This graphic doesn't make living in the valley very appealing, at least financially and especially for those with a family. I did notice that the graphic doesn't mention any difference in company culture or the quality of the engineers in the Valley. I plan to move my family from Texas to the Valley soon. According to the graphic this move doesn't really make financial sense but can anyone speak to the engineering cu…

I was a Valley engineer for 20 years before moving to Seattle for the last 10 years. (Lower taxes, better schools, worse weather.) My info may be a little out of date, but I have kept up with valley friends and visit often.

The great thing about the valley is that there are so many tech companies there. If your company culture is poisonous, you can switch to a different company without uprooting your family.

Stock options actually incentivize you to switch every 2-4 years, unless your current company hits it big.

There's no social stigma to switching companies for a better opportunity. Do a good job for a while and you'll develop a network of former co-workers who help you get new jobs.

Overall the family quality of life is very good. It's one big suburb, and the schools are not the greatest, and the South Bay can get pretty boring for teenagers, but the weather is outstanding, and people are generally pretty nice. Since everybody's from somewhere else it is fairly easy to form new friends.

(I don't want to freak you out about the schools -- they are not that bad, especially if you account for the large immigrant and ESL population. It is unfortunately quite expensive to buy a house in a good school district.)

Oh, and the fruits and vegetables are really good!

Good luck!

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#16

Post by trimis » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 5:01 PM UTC

tansey wrote: post #7

These stats are outrageous and the presentation is misleading: 1) Please do not go thinking that $7.5B in VC deals * 46% are seed/series A = ~$3.2B in seed money. The bulk of that money is skewed upward to the other 54%. If we assume the average size of a deal in the 46% is around $300k (since series A rounds are more and seed rounds are less), then you get about a $100M market for early-stage investments. 2) The sec…

4) I'm assuming their housing calculation comes from a single person/family renting and is not dependent on whether or not you have roommates and thus based on the split between them.

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#17

Post by timcederman » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 5:34 PM UTC

tansey wrote: post #7

These stats are outrageous and the presentation is misleading: 1) Please do not go thinking that $7.5B in VC deals * 46% are seed/series A = ~$3.2B in seed money. The bulk of that money is skewed upward to the other 54%. If we assume the average size of a deal in the 46% is around $300k (since series A rounds are more and seed rounds are less), then you get about a $100M market for early-stage investments. 2) The sec…

"Palo Alto" is such a nebulous term. If you want to live close to downtown or midtown, $3300/month might get you an "okay" 2 or 3 br/1ba at the moment.

Anywhere nice around there is now over $4k a month, including a lot of apartments.

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#18

Post by orijing » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 5:35 PM UTC

tansey wrote: post #7

These stats are outrageous and the presentation is misleading: 1) Please do not go thinking that $7.5B in VC deals * 46% are seed/series A = ~$3.2B in seed money. The bulk of that money is skewed upward to the other 54%. If we assume the average size of a deal in the 46% is around $300k (since series A rounds are more and seed rounds are less), then you get about a $100M market for early-stage investments. 2) The sec…

Regarding 2, I learned this a few years ago but "average" refers to any of the central statistics, including median, and even mode. [1] I always refer to the arithmetic mean when I say 'average', though. I make sure I'm clear when I'm referring to something else, like the median or geometric mean.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#19

Post by tansey » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 5:40 PM UTC

orijing wrote: post #18

tansey wrote: post #7

These stats are outrageous and the presentation is misleading: 1) Please do not go thinking that $7.5B in VC deals * 46% are seed/series A = ~$3.2B in seed money. The bulk of that money is skewed upward to the other 54%. If we assume the average size of a deal in the 46% is around $300k (since series A rounds are more and seed rounds are less), then you get about a $100M market for early-stage investments. 2) The sec…

Regarding 2, I learned this a few years ago but "average" refers to any of the central statistics, including median, and even mode. [1] I always refer to the arithmetic mean when I say 'average', though. I make sure I'm clear when I'm referring to something else, like the median or geometric mean. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average

Learn something new every day. :)

Still, in common usage, I would say it's implied that "average" is the arithmetic mean. I guess I technically never said that they're wrong to use the two interchangeably, just that it "worries me."

Re: What Can You Expect to Earn in the Valley?

#20

Post by Cushman » Sun, Jul 31, 2011, 6:16 PM UTC

FWIW at least some of these numbers are wrong.

For example I calculate the state income tax for a single filer, earning $99,229/yr, taking the standard deduction* , over five years as (((92 229 - 47 056 - 3 657) * .093) + ((47 055 - 37 234) * .08) + ((37 233 - 26 822) * .06) + ((26 821 - 16 995) * .06) + ((26 821 - 16 995) * .04) + ((16 994 - 7 169) * .02) + (7 168 * .01)) * 5 = $32,610.54. A lot, but ten grand less than claimed.

Protip: Look up "marginal tax rate" before you make another infographic.

* This is probably a good place to note that if you're a freelancer and you're not deducting everything, you're paying way too much in taxes.