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My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

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Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#131

Post by ghaff »

jypepin wrote: post #98
physcab wrote: post #22

This really is only one small segment of the programming population. I really hate superficial shit like this that paints tech workers in a bad light bc most have ordinary jobs and live ordinary lives and aren’t social recluses. I work typical 9-5, wife and kids. We go grocery shopping and make dinner every night together. We live very modestly and we have lots of non-tech friends and family. It’s literaly nothing sp…

This requires more upvotes. I can't believe so many people in this thread are agreeing with the view that is painted in this article as the majority. I went to SF without money for a bootcamp, I did not experience this. The author seems to just have done it without preparing or thinking much. First, if you are joining a bootcamp, there are other people in your cohort with whom you can find support, roommates, etc (th…

>I would have NOT been able to work remotely my first year, I needed way too much mentoring and help to continue learning.

I work mostly remote these days--in tech but not a developer at a company with a lot of people who are remote to greater or lesser degrees.

I can't imagine having started out that way though. Communications mechanisms and so forth were different at the time but I can't imagine starting out without physical proximity to co-workers.

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#132

Post by kevinstubbs »

sokoloff wrote: post #86
sleepychu wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're not going to do something awesome why not work hard?

I don’t think you wanted two “not”s in that comment (or else I don’t understand; please expound).

If you're not going to do something awesome why not work hard?

Broken down:

If you aren't going to do something awesome (like travel a lot), [then] why not work hard [instead]?

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#133

Post by FLUX-YOU »

DoritoChef wrote: post #9

Posts like these really continue drive home the message of "Silicon Valley is just a shell of what it used to be. Only go there for the sake of relocation or with a job offer in hand." There's nothing left for the dreamers or hopefuls in SV who have nothing to run on but just that--hopes and dreams. It just makes so much more sense to take a pay cut and swing for the fences in Atlanta, Houston, Austin, or Phoenix. He…

The weather in Atlanta, Houston, Austin, and Phoenix is brutally hot and/or humid and shows no sign of getting a cooler average.

It's difficult to do stuff outside when it's that hot, especially as you get older.

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#134

Post by swaggyBoatswain »

Unrelated, but my first thought process was a video I've seen of a semi-homeless guy living in an A/C storage locker. He had to sneak in everynight and do some tech macgyver solutions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPVCTLPNUzo&t=0s&list=LLI462...

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#135

Post by jypepin »

walshemj wrote: post #121
jypepin wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a lot of companies pay salaries agnostic to where you are. Or do very little adjustment. You can look at buffer's new pay system (it's all open). A lot of other remote company do the same or something pretty similar.

Google doesn't - why would they pay the same for a physically present vs a remote.

Google is one example. And AFAIK they don't support remote work. So they have offices in multiple countries, and usually pay a salary related to the local market.

Most big companies with offices around the world adjust their salaries to local market because it is yet another way to optimise, and with a physical location, it doesn't make sense not to level. It's also how they budgeted the office to decide if it's worth having or not. So salaries in most locales will be way closer to the market. I moved myself from SF to Amsterdam (staying with the same employer) and my salary was cut by roughly 40% for this reason.

For a remote company, the approach to hiring might be a little different. They need a new engineer, they budget the new engineer, not knowing where the engineer will be located, so even if the engineer is located somewhere cheaper, lowering the salary won't be too much of a deal. That's usually what you see. For example, buffer will pay 100% for SF and 85% (I think) for a city like Amsterdam. That different is much lower than what you'd get at Google, etc.

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#137

Post by sockgrant »

hfdgiutdryg wrote: post #129
walshemj wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must have worked at the wrong sort of company then - they do exist

I think you mean enthusiastic, curious, focused, or interested. Not passionate.

Can you explain why you don’t think a SWE can be passionate about coding? I don’t think I understand your point.

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#138

Post by sockgrant »

dhnsmakala wrote: post #33

I call bushit on this story. This article is greatly exaggerated to grab your attention. $1.4k for a closet in an Airbnb with 13 people, where you don't get a key and have to sneak in? Heh. I have found a large room in a newer complex through a company pairing roommates in just a few days. It was $1800. Heck, you could pay $1k for a room in Berkely or Oakland and commute in by Bart.

I agree. Seems like he didn’t research things well and basically got scammed. There’s no way 1200/month to live in a 13 person 2 bedroom is anything but the most expensive roommate:cost ratio that he could’ve found.

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#139

Post by canhascodez »

ghaff wrote: post #131
jypepin wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This requires more upvotes. I can't believe so many people in this thread are agreeing with the view that is painted in this article as the majority. I went to SF without money for a bootcamp, I did not experience this. The author seems to just have done it without preparing or thinking much. First, if you are joining a bootcamp, there are other people in your cohort with whom you can find support, roommates, etc (th…

>I would have NOT been able to work remotely my first year, I needed way too much mentoring and help to continue learning. I work mostly remote these days--in tech but not a developer at a company with a lot of people who are remote to greater or lesser degrees. I can't imagine having started out that way though. Communications mechanisms and so forth were different at the time but I can't imagine starting out withou…

> Communications mechanisms and so forth were different at the time but I can't imagine starting out without physical proximity to co-workers.

I started programming without co-workers, or instruction, or related experience. I did get a lot of use out of IRC for a while, but I don't really see what difference having someone physically proximate might have made.

Re: My life with 12 programmers, 2 rooms and one 21st-century dream (2016)

#140

Post by sockgrant »

aviv wrote: post #136

The only time you should be working 80 hour weeks is to build your own business, not someone else's. That brings me to the second point, the only time you should be working is to build your own business, not someone else's. A lot of people fail at both.

Agree on first, disagree on second. There’s a lot of reasons to work a well paying corporate job.

But here-here on the first point: never take stock at startups, kids. It’s never gonna work out well. Wanna work at a startup? Make one.

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