Salary Discretion
Page 1 of 111 Replies - 3473 Views - Last Post: 14 May 2014 - 04:39 PM
#1
Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 06:36 AM
Replies To: Salary Discretion
#2
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 07:15 AM
#3
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 07:17 AM
Secondly, pay is very region specific. Atlanta is a big tech hub, so there's a lot of high paying jobs.
You might go to another region that has lower, or even higher paying gigs.
The USA is a big place, and cost of living varies, with it comes varying pay scales.
#4
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 07:17 AM
Quote
Is this all of them, or just a few you've seen?
Don't forget the ever so important cost of living adjustment.
http://money.cnn.com...cost-of-living/
#5
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 07:24 AM
I don't see why you think programming is any different than any other job in the world.
This post has been edited by tlhIn`toq: 13 March 2014 - 05:58 PM
#6
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 07:29 AM
modi123_1, on 12 March 2014 - 09:17 AM, said:
Quote
Is this all of them, or just a few you've seen?
Don't forget the ever so important cost of living adjustment.
http://money.cnn.com...cost-of-living/
I checked that calculator out.
None of the cities I've ever worked in, other than Los Angeles, are available as choices.
Oh, New York and Yakima are on there. But I didn't work in Yakima, and I didn't live in New York.
This post has been edited by lordofduct: 12 March 2014 - 07:31 AM
#7
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 07:35 AM
modi123_1, on 12 March 2014 - 09:17 AM, said:
Quote
Is this all of them, or just a few you've seen?
Don't forget the ever so important cost of living adjustment.
http://money.cnn.com...cost-of-living/
Of the ones I've seen the salary listed. The lowest was a web developer job at around $50K. I'll try to find some specific examples.
I also think there's a lack of programming talent in Atlanta. The research triangle is right up north in NC, there's a bunch of government jobs in SC, etc. While GA Tech is right there, it still isn't enough to fill the demand. And the south isn't known for being as technologically advanced as the NE Corridor, Research Triangle, Silicon Valley, metro-Texas, etc.
tlhIn`toq, on 12 March 2014 - 09:24 AM, said:
I don't see why you think programming is any different than any other job in the world.
Not so much that, I guess I just highly underestimated the cost of living. I knew GA has very low cost of living, but I guess it's normal big-city costs in metro-Atlanta.
#8
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 06:20 PM
Xaos, on 12 March 2014 - 08:35 AM, said:
Tell ya what... Here's a quick test:
Check the cost of a 2bedroom, 2bath apartment for rent in San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, New York then some small towns around the country. Then do the same to buy an 1800 sq.ft. 3 bedroom 2 car garage house in all those same cities. You'll find huge differences.
Then there are other cost of living considerations. Some states don't have a state income tax for example. Nevada no, Arizona yes. There's 10-15% of your income right there. Property taxes are much different in different states. Oh... and climate control. It costs a lot more to cool your home in Las Vegas' 120° summer than to cool a home in North Dakota. But the heating in North Dakota -30° winter is more than in Scottsdale Arizona by a long shot.
If you want to live on the sand at Long Beach or the mountains of Aspen its a lot more than the open plains of Nebraska.
When you look at the pay you have to look at ratio of income to outflow, as well as the lifestyle you want. If you make 100k/year that's good if your annual cost of living is 50k and you're close enough to walk to work. It sucks if you spend 90k just to live and have to commute 2 hours each way.
My two best jobs were in small towns that weren't tech centers for anything. But the entrepreneurs that founded them started locally usually with a client that was willing to take a chance on an unknown coder and in exchange get very customized product. They grew big but stayed in their small towns. So you don't always have to go Houston and work for Shell to find a good job in a place you will be happy living a lifestyle you can enjoy when you punch off the clock.
#9
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 12 March 2014 - 08:30 PM
Like I said, most of the places I lived weren't even in that calculator. Yet I've made great money, relative to my cost of living. My cost of living is like 25k where I live currently (before partying... woooh), and I own a house. I'm close enough to big city that if I want to visit I can, but far enough away that it's pretty cheap living (not as cheap as some no name town in the middle of nowhere, it's still a pretty hopping town where I'm at).
So cheap that I'm not even living there, and I'm working remotely from New England, again in a small town, where my living costs are low, but I can go skiing in just a half hour drive (well that'll stop this month).
Sure, I work for a small company no one has ever heard of. Sure I will probably never work for Google. But I don't care... I can travel around the country and work remotely out of small places and see stuff the way I like it. And know that if I needed to, for whatever reason, head back to Florida and the sunshine, and still make 3 or even 4 times my cost of living. This for a guy who grew up on food stamps in section 8 housing and doing things not exactly legal... I think I'm doing stellar!
This post has been edited by lordofduct: 12 March 2014 - 08:32 PM
#10
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 13 March 2014 - 05:45 AM
Working remotely is TO ME, the ideal situation.
It also gives you a fairly low cost of living and a small 'green' footprint. The average RV park is less than $500/month and that includes all the utilities. I can't rent a worthwhile apartment for that and would still have to pay my own electric, gas, broadband and so on. Even if you add in the cost of the RV loan, I'm still living well below the average for a very nice lifestyle that most people aspire to when they retire. My thinking is that if I keep living at this level now, then I *can* keep living at this level until the end.
#11
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 13 March 2014 - 06:19 AM
tlhIn`toq, on 13 March 2014 - 07:45 AM, said:
Working remotely is TO ME, the ideal situation.
It also gives you a fairly low cost of living and a small 'green' footprint. The average RV park is less than $500/month and that includes all the utilities. I can't rent a worthwhile apartment for that and would still have to pay my own electric, gas, broadband and so on. Even if you add in the cost of the RV loan, I'm still living well below the average for a very nice lifestyle that most people aspire to when they retire. My thinking is that if I keep living at this level now, then I *can* keep living at this level until the end.
That's pretty awesome, really. I'm not sure it's my cup of tea (I prefer local camping and whatnot) but I'd totally do something liek that after a few years, especially as I get older. But working from home is great 100% of the time

Lord, I have similar situations to you, so that's pretty inspiring.
This post has been edited by Xaos: 13 March 2014 - 06:20 AM
#12
Re: Salary Discretion
Posted 14 May 2014 - 04:39 PM