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I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

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Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#51

Post by hapless »

ones_and_zeros wrote: post #42

I think there is something to be said about living beyond their means but, to me, a new car and home for my family is a fair middle class lifestyle. (You can quibble over the 40k price tag, but buying a 40k car and making it last doesn't have as much of a financial difference as a 30k car over the long term) I think this article is speaking out against this narrative that techies are incredibly well paid while in rea…

When you support an entire family on a single income, spending 30% or 40% of your annual pay on a car is irresponsible.

No "ifs," "ands," or "buts." That's just bad financial planning. It's a totally unnecessary luxury that holds the potential to burden the entire family.

Additionally, your definition of "middle class" is quite peculiar. The median wage in the United States is less than $30k. The median household income is less than $60k. Do you really think "middle class" families are buying cars that cost as much as one of their salaries?

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#52

Post by alain94040 »

On craigslist, I find 2-bedroom houses in Santa Clara for $2300 [1]. That would give you a very decent commute to Facebook (much better than living in the East Bay). That's $28K/year. His net salary should be around $65K. You should be able to go out more than once a month with the money.

[1] http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/apa/5780924443.html

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#53

Post by ones_and_zeros »

hapless wrote: post #51
ones_and_zeros wrote: post #42

I think there is something to be said about living beyond their means but, to me, a new car and home for my family is a fair middle class lifestyle. (You can quibble over the 40k price tag, but buying a 40k car and making it last doesn't have as much of a financial difference as a 30k car over the long term) I think this article is speaking out against this narrative that techies are incredibly well paid while in rea…

When you support an entire family on a single income, spending 30% or 40% of your annual pay on a car is irresponsible. No "ifs," "ands," or "buts." That's just bad financial planning. It's a totally unnecessary luxury that holds the potential to burden the entire family. Additionally, your definition of "middle class" is quite peculiar. The median wage in the United States is less than $30k. The median household inc…

Again, missing the point.

The narrative is that we are so well paid that we should be able to do that. But we obviously can't.

I'll concede that software engineers are overpaid and in such high demand when that is the case for the median case.

Just caught your edit. Middle class is relative to cost of living. Most of us work in cities where the CoL is much higher and so is the middle class income. It'd be better if we can both stick to comparing apples to apples and I think in this case sticking to cities is our best bet. SF median income is 100k [0]

[0] http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/california/san-francisco...

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#55

Post by flubert »

byoung2 wrote: post #2

The only problem: It’s really hard for a family of four to live in the Bay Area on just one income — even if it’s a great income In any of the prime real estate markets it's hard to live on one salary. That is not a problem unique to the Bay Area. Furthermore, barely breaking 6 figures is not a generous salary in tech (he even says it was on par with his salary in AZ).

Yes. Compare and contrast:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/152-Sagamore-St-San-Franci...

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1055-Gilman-Ave-San-Franci...

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15320-Swan-Ct-Gulfport-MS-...

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#56

Post by hapless »

ones_and_zeros wrote: post #53
hapless wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you support an entire family on a single income, spending 30% or 40% of your annual pay on a car is irresponsible. No "ifs," "ands," or "buts." That's just bad financial planning. It's a totally unnecessary luxury that holds the potential to burden the entire family. Additionally, your definition of "middle class" is quite peculiar. The median wage in the United States is less than $30k. The median household inc…

Again, missing the point. The narrative is that we are so well paid that we should be able to do that. But we obviously can't. I'll concede that software engineers are overpaid and in such high demand when that is the case for the median case. Just caught your edit. Middle class is relative to cost of living. Most of us work in cities where the CoL is much higher and so is the middle class income. It'd be better if w…

Spending 30% or 40% of your family's income on a car is bad financial planning.

If "the narrative" indicates you "should" be able to spend that much, you need a new narrative. Ideally one that will not send you into penury.

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#57

Post by joesmo »

bbctol wrote: post #41
timtadh wrote: post #21

I think the point is: his salary while not high by SF was high in nearly any other location in the US. In any other location, he and his family could live how they wanted. In any other location, have a $40,000 car instead of a $10,000 or less car is a perfectly reasonable. In any other location, eating out more than once a month would be perfectly reasonable. Having a expensive hobby racing cars is reasonable, just n…

But part of the reason he was paid so much was because he lived in the Bay Area; Facebook wouldn't pay nearly as high salaries if they were based in the Midwest. In "any other location," he still might not have been able to afford hobby racing, and it's weird to act entitled on the one hand and not acknowledge the other, as if the salary is deserved solely based on the work he's done, and the cost of living is a comp…

He says he's just slightly north of $100k (six figures) which I assume somewhere around $125. I'm certain he can get a similar salary in many parts of the country if he's a good SRE, at the very least: Seattle, Portland, Phoenix, Dallas, Austin, DC, NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, San Diego, LA (those are the markets I'm familiar with from my job searches). Other cities might be slightly lower, but still right around $100k. Compared to the difference in cost of living (a few hundred percent now), it's essentially the same salary as the bay area most anywhere else without the expenses.

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#58

Post by grecy »

swsieber wrote: post #38
zeveb wrote: post #28

> I’d been granted a few thousand shares when I got hired, and after the company had its IPO in 2012, I sold all the shares that had vested. … We could finally rent a house for just our family, no roommate. In order to afford that, selling stock became necessary every quarter it vested. Obviously, this is not the path to financial security, but when the sum of money that lands in front of you isn’t life changing, you…

People want the nice things their parents had, but not on the same timeline. They don't realize that nice things take a while to accumulate. Yes my parents drive a Prius. But growing up in a family with 5 other siblings, they pretty much drove beaters. And our house started with, as we so fondly called them, the seven ugly carpets of the world. And those were slowly replaced over time. The house we lived in until I w…

> People want the nice things their parents had, but not on the same timeline

I don't think that's telling the whole tale.

Soon after my parents got married in '74 they bought their first home, brand new. It cost 5 years of my Dad's salary at the time (a new teacher). So with the two of them working, they paid it off in just over 3 years.

Go find me a house for sale now that's less than 10 or 15 years of an individuals salary.

The world is a much different place - so I think people want the nice things their parents had, and they'd be happy if it were even the same timeline, but it's much, much longer.

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#59

Post by atombath »

hapless wrote: post #51
ones_and_zeros wrote: post #42

I think there is something to be said about living beyond their means but, to me, a new car and home for my family is a fair middle class lifestyle. (You can quibble over the 40k price tag, but buying a 40k car and making it last doesn't have as much of a financial difference as a 30k car over the long term) I think this article is speaking out against this narrative that techies are incredibly well paid while in rea…

When you support an entire family on a single income, spending 30% or 40% of your annual pay on a car is irresponsible. No "ifs," "ands," or "buts." That's just bad financial planning. It's a totally unnecessary luxury that holds the potential to burden the entire family. Additionally, your definition of "middle class" is quite peculiar. The median wage in the United States is less than $30k. The median household inc…

Does no one here buy cars? I forgive you. A $40k car will likely come with a 5yr loan that's cheaper than student loans. That'd actually be $8k/yr+interest... which is not 40% of your salary. Find something else to judge the guy for.

Re: I made 6 figures at my Facebook dream job – but couldn't afford the Bay Area

#60

Post by FilterSweep »

pmiller2 wrote: post #40
VLM wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

""living in the East Bay with roommates, commuting at least an hour, (very) occasionally going out," but it's eating good food with a roof over your head." That sounds like me as a part time student / part time grocery store minimum wage shelf stocker around 1990 in the greater Chicago land area (well, within a very distant orbit of Chicago). I suppose most people would have considered me very poor at that time. I wa…

> In summary it sounds like if you work full time plus at Facebook in CA (admittedly in 2016), I don't know by direct experience, but I hear even entry level hires are doing significantly better than $100K at Facebook.

It's 2016 though - before IPO, Facebook, like many other startups, could afford to pay employees less salary with the options.

On that same note, the author should count his blessings. He received options. He was able to sell those options (a move many of us are criticizing) to buy a luxury car. Most people don't, or leave before they vest years later.

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