How Much Does a Software Developer in Portland Earn? • Hacker News Board

Re: How Much Does a Software Developer in Portland Earn?

#21

Post by jbermudes » Thu, Apr 14, 2011, 10:24 PM UTC

trustfundbaby wrote: post #20

djloche wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you value software developer's talents at $x per year, it shouldn't matter where they're located in the world. Perhaps you'd pay a slight premium for in-house workers vs telecommuters but only if that made sense for your business. Whether they're in New Delhi, San Francisco, or some no-name town in middle america, if they've got the skills to develop your software and provide a similar value (compared to each othe…

Sounds nice ... but if it costs one developer $4000 a month just to take care of bills/rent/food and it costs the other $1000 then that is hardly fair. You are penalizing one developer based on the cost of living of the city they happen to be in.

In this world of airplanes and shipping services, there's no non-medical non-legal reason why you're stuck in any particular expensive city. Choosing to live in a big expensive city is an expense choice that you make, just like buying a premium brand.

Re: How Much Does a Software Developer in Portland Earn?

#22

Post by interrupt » Thu, Apr 14, 2011, 10:28 PM UTC

aeschright wrote: post #12

roc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems one of Portland's standing economic 'problems' is that it is apparently very nice out there. Which is to say: wages do tend to be lower than you'd expect given the cost of living, due solely the number of skilled and educated workers who will accept comparatively lower wages, just so they can live in/around Portland. As they say: Portland is where young people go to retire. And as long as that's true, I'd im…

Well, some of us grew up here, so then there's the issue of "do I trade moving away from everyone I know to earn more money?". Also, I'm not sure that everyone who makes the salary trade-off knows that they're doing so. Is a developer earning $35k/year thinking "I could earn more at another company, or in the Bay Area, but I like it here" or do they think they're earning a fairly average wage?

I've been told by jobs both local (in ND, not that it matters) and remote that my wages were being determined by looking at the local average of people with my job title. It would be hard not to know that your salary is scaled to where you live.

Another issue besides roots in moving is that higher wages always come with higher costs of living. I own a house where I live which has a lower mortgage payment, by far, than a small apartment in SF. Granted that comes with downsides: no decent curry, bars that can't make a manhattan, etc

Re: How Much Does a Software Developer in Portland Earn?

#23

Post by jasonallen » Thu, Apr 14, 2011, 10:42 PM UTC

trustfundbaby wrote: post #20

djloche wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you value software developer's talents at $x per year, it shouldn't matter where they're located in the world. Perhaps you'd pay a slight premium for in-house workers vs telecommuters but only if that made sense for your business. Whether they're in New Delhi, San Francisco, or some no-name town in middle america, if they've got the skills to develop your software and provide a similar value (compared to each othe…

Sounds nice ... but if it costs one developer $4000 a month just to take care of bills/rent/food and it costs the other $1000 then that is hardly fair. You are penalizing one developer based on the cost of living of the city they happen to be in.

You assume the person living in the expensive city doesn't benefit from doing so. Folks living in San Francisco choose to do so because they find the trade-off worthwhile. I choose to live in a relatively high cost-of-living area because I love the benefits it has.

Re: How Much Does a Software Developer in Portland Earn?

#24

Post by rtaycher » Fri, Apr 15, 2011, 6:16 AM UTC

jbermudes wrote: post #21

trustfundbaby wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds nice ... but if it costs one developer $4000 a month just to take care of bills/rent/food and it costs the other $1000 then that is hardly fair. You are penalizing one developer based on the cost of living of the city they happen to be in.

In this world of airplanes and shipping services, there's no non-medical non-legal reason why you're stuck in any particular expensive city. Choosing to live in a big expensive city is an expense choice that you make, just like buying a premium brand.

jobs? especially in the computer industry.

Re: How Much Does a Software Developer in Portland Earn?

#25

Post by neworbit » Fri, Apr 15, 2011, 7:19 AM UTC

siculars wrote: post #4

BadCookie wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was looking at moving to Portland about 18 months ago, companies there wanted me to take a 40+% cut in pay versus what I'm making in San Francisco. Granted, I only talked to a couple of companies, so maybe I just picked the wrong ones. Things might also have changed since then, thanks to the economy picking up and the higher competition for software engineers.

That may be part of the reason Portland is not keeping up with other tech centers. Taking a 40% pay cut just to work in Portland is kinda... dumb. I mean, did these startups accept a 40% cut in their valuation or funding rounds because they are based in Portland? Do they pay 40% less to host with Amazon or Rackspace? It's just ridiculous and kind of insulting. I once had someone pull that on me re. a job in Florida.…

I have only anecdotal evidence of this but it sounds like valuations in Portland or Seattle are more like 70% off as compared to Bay Area deals.

I'm astounded more VC money doesn't get deployed elsewhere.