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Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

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Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#81

Post by base698 »

taurath wrote: post #54
bradlys wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's $230k after tax. > Anyone can live even in the bay area on half of that, extremely comfortably. You really might want to expand on "extremely comfortably". We all have very different definitions. I'd like a home with AC, good transportation, close enough to SF to actually make it up on weeknights (30-40 min drive), a retirement plan that works with the assumption I live in this area indefinitely, and a <=20 minu…

$115k/yr is $9600/mo. You can spend $5k/mo on a rental with all of those properties, and have $4600/mo for food, utilities, bi-annual trips to europe, the payment for your porsche, and a housekeeper, all whilst saving half of your income to buy a house in the most expensive region of the US in 2-3 years. You can literally have all of those things.

Eh, twice that ($230K) after 401K, insurance, and taxes is barely over $10K a month. Not sure how you got $115K being $9600.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#82

Post by BubRoss »

bradlys wrote: post #63
taurath wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$115k/yr is $9600/mo. You can spend $5k/mo on a rental with all of those properties, and have $4600/mo for food, utilities, bi-annual trips to europe, the payment for your porsche, and a housekeeper, all whilst saving half of your income to buy a house in the most expensive region of the US in 2-3 years. You can literally have all of those things.

Where is this $5k/month house with AC within 40 minutes drive of SF and 20 minutes drive of work? (Menlo Park to Mountain View generally being work area) It basically limits you to San Mateo to Mountain View. I haven't seen anything for $5k/month with AC there. If you find it, let me know. I'm in the market - lol. I have seen one show up here and there but it's almost unequivocally in a terrible neighborhood and/or n…

In 40 minutes you can get so far north that there are no cellphone towers, no lights and no pavement.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#83

Post by scarface74 »

borski wrote: post #76
bradlys wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> https://www.padmapper.com/apartments/35506914/3-bedroom-2-ba... . Doesn't have AC. Looks like a pretty depressing home - tbh. HDR'd to hell but a brick yard and a BYO washer/dryer that's literally underneath the sun and skies isn't exactly where I'd like to put my expensive appliances. You can check Craigslist and you won't have much better results. Adding AC | Air Conditioning to your search criteria makes it narr…

I think your standards may be too high. That looks like a gorgeous home to me. To be fair, I will agree with you that most places in the Bay Area don't seem to have A/C, but that's also because it's not generally needed here except for a couple weeks a year. You could do what we did in NYC all the time: window A/C's.

That is kind of depressing. My wife would swear I was joking if I told her that we could rent a house for $3,000 more than our mortgage that was less than half size and looks like something built in the 70s.

And people on HN wonder why software engineers living in other major cities in the US have no interest in going to the west coast.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#84

Post by joshuamorton »

base698 wrote: post #81
taurath wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$115k/yr is $9600/mo. You can spend $5k/mo on a rental with all of those properties, and have $4600/mo for food, utilities, bi-annual trips to europe, the payment for your porsche, and a housekeeper, all whilst saving half of your income to buy a house in the most expensive region of the US in 2-3 years. You can literally have all of those things.

Eh, twice that ($230K) after 401K, insurance, and taxes is barely over $10K a month. Not sure how you got $115K being $9600.

They're talking about net, not gross.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#85

Post by borski »

scarface74 wrote: post #83
borski wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think your standards may be too high. That looks like a gorgeous home to me. To be fair, I will agree with you that most places in the Bay Area don't seem to have A/C, but that's also because it's not generally needed here except for a couple weeks a year. You could do what we did in NYC all the time: window A/C's.

That is kind of depressing. My wife would swear I was joking if I told her that we could rent a house for $3,000 more than our mortgage that was less than half size and looks like something built in the 70s. And people on HN wonder why software engineers living in other major cities in the US have no interest in going to the west coast.

Nobody wonders why. The Bay Area is clearly more expensive than anywhere else other than NYC. Nobody has ever argued that that isn't true. The salaries are also significantly higher, to compensate.

What is being argued here is whether you can live comfortably on a six figure net salary (after taxes).

That housing is expensive in the bay area does suck, no doubt, and is super annoying. But it's far worse for non-engineers. Engineers are fine, and frankly, are the ones who are driving the prices up, by virtue of being capable of and willing to pay more, as companies continue to increase compensation.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#86

Post by scarface74 »

borski wrote: post #85
scarface74 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is kind of depressing. My wife would swear I was joking if I told her that we could rent a house for $3,000 more than our mortgage that was less than half size and looks like something built in the 70s. And people on HN wonder why software engineers living in other major cities in the US have no interest in going to the west coast.

Nobody wonders why. The Bay Area is clearly more expensive than anywhere else other than NYC. Nobody has ever argued that that isn't true. The salaries are also significantly higher, to compensate. What is being argued here is whether you can live comfortably on a six figure net salary (after taxes). That housing is expensive in the bay area does suck, no doubt, and is super annoying. But it's far worse for non-engin…

Are the salaries “significantly enough higher” that someone moving to the Bay Area could buy a 3000 square foot 5 bed/3-1/2 bath house with a large office, as soon as they move there?

The average software as a service CRUD journeymen developer could do that in many non west coast cities could do that with an FHA loan with less than $15K down with 3-5 with a salary they can make with around 5 years experience. If they are part of a married dual income couple they would be quite comfortable.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#87

Post by PenguinCoder »

base698 wrote: post #81
taurath wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$115k/yr is $9600/mo. You can spend $5k/mo on a rental with all of those properties, and have $4600/mo for food, utilities, bi-annual trips to europe, the payment for your porsche, and a housekeeper, all whilst saving half of your income to buy a house in the most expensive region of the US in 2-3 years. You can literally have all of those things.

Eh, twice that ($230K) after 401K, insurance, and taxes is barely over $10K a month. Not sure how you got $115K being $9600.

Do people really bitching about ~barely~ over 10k USD a MONTH? There's a lot of people living on that or barely double that, for a year. Yes, even in/near SF. Quit with the damn entitlement.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#88

Post by PenguinCoder »

Terretta wrote: post #74
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are a top talent there really is no upside of joining a startup anymore - even as a founder. It's terribly depressing. FAANG pays orders of magnitudes better, has better benefits, has flexible work locations and schedules, is working on the most leading edge stuff (autonomous everything, AR, VR, GreenTech etc...) contributes to FOSS, gives leadership opportunities etc... I'm not sure when this shift happened,…

> FAANG pays orders of magnitude better That would be two more zeros. You sure they’re paying two more zeros for a dev job? PhD or no, if your skills are good enough for FAANG, I would love to offer you competitive comp in New York, LA, or three lower cost of living university + fintech towns in SE, S, and SW. The FAANGS are sure not paying an extra zero over what we can offer.

I declined multiple 6 figure salary + RSU offered positions with FAANGs due to on-site requirements in CA/SF. What can you competitively offer? Remotely?

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#89

Post by PenguinCoder »

sidlls wrote: post #79
MuffinFlavored wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

because the cost of living is different? lol

The cost of living has nothing to do with the value of the work. It impacts supply and demand of labor, though.

Totally agreed. I keep trying to explain this to companies as an interviewee, but it does not go well. Even in my current job, doing the same thing/title/exp/degree as others on the team, I am paid less; because I work remotely. Yet they do not expect less of me than my coworkers, but they pay me less due to geographical region.

Re: Interview with the creators of levels.fyi

#90

Post by valleyjo »

twblalock wrote: post #58
ryandrake wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people forget that. They see a few people at a FAANG company making $400k and conclude that everyone at that level makes about that much. People also disregard the infamous “4 year cliff”: At most of these companies, your initial stock offer fully vests in 4 years, so your 5th year, your take-home comp nose-dives. Even if you get modest raises and “refresh” stock grants (which not all companies do), you’re l…

At most big companies the refresher grants are large enough to prevent a cliff.

Most maybe... but not all. Amazon and Microsoft to name at least two.
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