How Much Should You Pay Your Engineers to Ensure They Stick Around?

I like being praised for my work, and would be annoyed if I was never congratulated for doing a good job. But if I'm often praised and never see a compensation increase, that will make me feel the praise is fake: if my work is so valuable, why am I not being compensated for it?

I hear you, but I think it depends on the context of your job.

Are you doing good work within the context of the duties in the job description? I think a good manager will praise that work but that’s essentially fulfilling your end of the work/pay contract. Expecting continuous raises for meeting agreed upon expectations comes across as entitlement beyond the scope of that labor agreement.

But if you’re consistently doing well beyond your previously agreed upon duties, then there’s grounds for expecting a pay increase because the employer is no longer upholding their end of that bargain

>Even at $7000/month income that leaves "thousands" left over but that is a fucked ratio of expenses. You shouldn't be spending close to 50% of your take home on RENT. You will never be able to retire and live the same lifestyle.

The general guidance is that 30% of your gross income should be spent on rent. After taxes, that equates to ~40-50% of your take home goes to rent. That's normal for everyone, not just in SF. It is not a "fucked ratio of expenses" at all, and in any case, "thousands" left over after rent is still an extravagant amount of discretionary income.

>I don't know how your friend affords a high rise on $140k/yr - maybe you should ask what their rent is and if they're sharing it with someone.

I'm not going to dox my friend but I just looked up their building and there are 1br apartments for $3-3.3k/mo, and it is a very nice building/apartment. 3k/mo is easily doable on $140k/yr.

>You can't buy a house now with $250k/yr in inner sunset. Go to Zillow and find me a nice house you can afford on $250k/yr and won't be house poor in the end with. Do it - prove me wrong.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1345-16th-Ave-APT-7-San-F...

Literally the first result. Gorgeous 2 bedroom, and at 250k you'd have ~7-8k each month left over after mortgage. 7-8k per month is more money than most people in SF make period, even before paying for their homes. You're not even close to being "poor in the end with it". Also well below the "thirty percent rule" with this condo.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1485-11th-Ave-San-Francis...

Second result. 3 bedrooms, central air, all the amenities. At 250k/yr. At the list price (assuming you can't negotiate lower) with a house note of 5-6k/mo, you are still within the "thirty percent rule" without even stretching your income, and you're still looking at ~6k+ in discretionary spending after paying the house note.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/717-Kirkham-St-San-Franci...

3 bed, 3 bath condo. All the amenities. At 250k/yr, this condo would put you at slightly above the thirty percent rule which isn't wise depending on how much you want to be able to save for retirement, but still doable without worrying about money, and certainly still not even close to worrying about being "poor".

And these are three that I picked off of Zillow in literally 10 minutes without any further research. With any actual effort and talking to an agent, the prices and options would likely be even better.

I had some time to think about this comment, and I really like it. It demonstrates the issue underlying issue I was getting at with my original comment, but didn't express because it would not have come across as believable. I've encountered a lot in my career and has been the impetus for my last three job changes.

Hearing this tells me three things: you don't respect my work, you're publicly demonstrating that you're better than me, and that you're entitled to something from me for putting me in my place. Microaggressions like these are difficult to work with, no matter how much you're paid.

I'm sure you're a great developer, you've probably been promoted a lot, lead a big team and are generally well liked (at least on the surface). However, there are lots of developers and engineers that have been put down their entire lives and never really developed the social skills to stand up for themselves. Somehow, even over the internet, people like you can hone in on this and leverage it.

Your first listing is an apartment. Shouldn't have to explain why that's not a house.

Your second listing has an estimated sale value of nearly $1.7m. Your third is nearly $2mil. Have you ever tried to get a loan for that much at that income with a traditional 20% down? (Assuming you have 350-400k laying around) You will not get approved for a loan on that at $250k/yr. Your monthly cost on that first home is $8,375 after tax (tax is around 1.2-1.6% in CA) + insurance. That's past the maximum 36% of gross monthly income. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/mortgages/how-much-can-i-... Try the calculator. In general, going past 4x yearly income is not going to get approved by a bank. Theoretically, you might find some lender who'd do it but I haven't seen many. Most people buying here are buying homes with cash or really large down payments.

The fact you're even mentioning negotiations on buying homes in the bay area tells me you have no idea how the market here works. There are bidding wars - there aren't negotiations.

At this point - it's obvious that you're completely out of touch. You think spending 50%+ of your take home pay on rent is sustainable and that you can somehow retire with that expense. Maybe lay off the tidepods?