Post #39,326
5/20/02 6:09:57 PM
8/21/07 6:41:36 AM
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Looks 'tits up' to me.
Hey Broomie, I'm not sure where you are located, but those salaries look pretty low to me for really qualified professionals. Or are you just looking for fry cooks? Of course, you'd have to compare the average cost of a house and get the cost of living/wage ratio to be sure. Does $50k translate into $100k in BABs (Bay Area Bucks)?
Anyhow, Thane, I exited university in 1989 with a BS in Petroleum Engineering. So while I have training and certifications saying I know how to bore holes several thousand feet into mother earth and suck out her juices, the collapse of OPEC in the late 80's guaranteed my total unemployability. I did things like work the desk at a truck rental company, stuck labels on floppy diskettes, branded cattle, did word processing, etc. I was sure the oil business was dead.
The oil business came back eventually, but never like it was and by then I had moved on to a career developing software. My advice to you is just finish whatever degree you are working on, then get out and network yourself a job. You never know what kind of work you're going to take to or how your career is going to move. Don't worry too much about it. You'll eventually fall into something you like. But you gotta have a degree (in anything).
As for the business of developing software - its pushing up the daisies. Throughout the 90's the Denver Post had 2-4 pages of large ads for software developers and about the same number of little want ads. Last week I was in Denver and there were about 1.25 columns of obliquely computer related jobs. Vendor or enterprise, the market is glutted with a huge number of java-loving no-talent ass clowns confusing the recruiters and disappointing the hiring managers and shareholders to no end.
Its going to take awhile for the chaff to settle out and go join the peace corps. Meanwhile, I spend whole days trying to get a department of developers to figure out how to remove a key from a Map. Whatever. Hell, I have MIT grads who what to know what "that patterns book" is about. Good people are in short supply, but nimrods are ubiquitous.
Good luck. Don't get too down and do take any piece of work you can get regardless of how far beneath you it may appear to be at the time. Often the most amazing set of circumstances can lead you to a real plum job, but you gotta get into the game to become exposed to the circumstances.
The average hunter gatherer works 20 hours a week.
The average farmer works 40 hours a week.
The average programmer works 60 hours a week.
What the hell are we thinking?
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Post #39,331
5/20/02 6:48:27 PM
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I dunno, you tell me
My house is a 4 bedroom center hall colonial in a good suburban neighborhood with good schools.
It is about $180K, and the pricing is the norm for this type of house. How does that compare?
I'm not in the sticks, though, so I am close to pretty much everything.
I live about 15 minutes from center city Philadelphia, and am close to the local train if I wanted to work in center city without driving.
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Post #39,336
5/20/02 7:12:49 PM
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HOLY ****!
$180k for a 4 bedroom colonial? NEAR some kind of commuter center?
In Seattle, that would probably go for $4-500k. Easy.
InThane - Now running Ashton rev 2.0
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Post #39,341
5/20/02 8:42:11 PM
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That's what I thought
So you can see I feel mildly insulted when Todd
tells me I'm offering fry cook wages.
Near a commuter central?
Hell, I could WALK to the high speed line
in about 35 minutes. Bike in under 10.
And parking is 25 cents if I drive.
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Post #39,343
5/20/02 8:52:05 PM
8/21/07 6:42:00 AM
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Not too shabby
Compare to Sausalito - Average home price around $600k and homes are on the small shack side - probably a 2 bedroom 1300 sq ft affair. I beat the system by living off land.
So you're paying around 1/3 the cost of a home per year, same job should be $200k here. More likely, the developers can be got for slightly over $100k which means we are getting hosed in this part of the world.
Still, the scenery is a little better here.
I just like to point out that numbers in a vacuum are just that - numbers. I think wages should be advertised in housing units. Its telling that only 3 percent of people living in the bay area can afford to buy a home. Actually, its criminal.
Kill the landlord, kill the landlord. (Eddie Murphy)
The average hunter gatherer works 20 hours a week.
The average farmer works 40 hours a week.
The average programmer works 60 hours a week.
What the hell are we thinking?
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Post #39,350
5/20/02 9:58:53 PM
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Based on your description
My house would cost about a million dollars.
4 bedrooms w/ 2 bedrooms rather large, big enough
for king size bed and comfortable spacing around.
walk in cedar closet.
laundry room
2 1/2 bath
den
eat in kitchen
formal dining room and living room
basement
2 car garage
It is about a 45 minute drive to the Jersey shore.
Crappy waves, though.
1.5 hour drive to the Poconos.
Now are there any qualified takers for the jobs I mentioned?
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Post #39,351
5/20/02 10:12:07 PM
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Based on your....
description of the place to work... I'd do it in a heartbeat... but...
I am in a slow area myself picking up the slack other can't do.
In the last month, I have cleared just under $25K after material and service costs, but before taxes and such, in side jobs...
I have finally gotten my reputation where I want it... and could actually lose my job and survive very well.
greg, curley95@attbi.com -- REMEMBER ED CURRY!!!
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Post #39,386
5/21/02 11:38:09 AM
5/21/02 11:59:54 AM
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Same here, pretty much.
25 miles north of Detroit, we bought a 4-br colonial on a hyarge corner lot (bleah, I have to mow it) for $155K 6 years ago. Current asking is probably around $250K or so, but we've completely gutted and replaced two rooms, one of which was the kitchen.
Great neighborhood, good schools (I think, we're homeschooling for other reasons).
About 10 minutes from work, 20 minutes to anything else we would need tops.
Suburb, but countryish. Cider mills, a few miles from farms, etc.
45 minutes to the Detroit Symphony or Art Museum.
Edit: Forgot to add, even when unemployment was around 20% around here last year, I was looking at jobs in the $100K+ range. Found one at $135K, took a different one for less to be a LOT closer to home (1 hour vs. 10 minutes). Caveat: I am highly skilled and talented. "Normal" computer jobs around here hit between $50K and $80K. Entry level is probably $30-35K, but I haven't looked at that recently for obvious reasons.
If you are willing to drive a half hour or more, you can live where the houses are fairly inexpensive, moreso even than mine.
2BR aparments are around $700/mo, 3BR probably about $900/mo. That's a luxury garden apartment, about 800-1000 sq ft.
Downsides here: almost all of the jobs are dependent upon the auto industry in some fashion; that's how I got laid off last year. My current job very carefully is not so dependent. ;-)
Regards,
-scott anderson
"Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson..."
Edited by admin
May 21, 2002, 11:59:54 AM EDT
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