Ask HN: I earn 14K post-tax in a baltic country, worth moving to Bay Area? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I earn 14K post-tax in a baltic country, worth moving to Bay Area?

2 pointsvaliduserfr3 comments

I work remotely for a Bay Area company and get paid SF money. The CoL here is very low, my rent is around $400 for a 4-bedroom apartment. Have 2 kids (3 and 5 years old), wife is happy, our whole family is here. But ...

I want my kids to learn proper english and I don't know how long sustainable I can keep up working remotely. I'm always working alone and need to put more efforts to keep up with technological advancements. Second, I have the feeling that my career will get a hit in the long term and that I could learn more by joining a proper big-corp (Google, FB, Apple, etc...) I have the abilities to join them very easily. Most of my friends are already working for them.

I know Bay Area is very expensive. I made the calculations and seems like I'll be able to put only around $1K money aside (for $200k annual minimum while working for a big-corp). Currently I can put aside at least $10K money each month from my current gig.

My concern is that my kids would have harder time in the future to learn english (the younger the easier they can learn english) and that I might not be able to join these companies in the future due to ageism and not be able to keep up with technical knowledge.

So, is worth moving to Bay Area, get a hit money wise but increase quality of living (nature, career, etc..) or is it better I earn as much money as possible?

Since you are already working remotely, my advise would be to consider other places where the cost of living is not as high as SV. Anywhere else in the US or other English speaking countries for instance.

I am in Indian. I've lived and worked for 2+ years each in Singapore, Germany and now in Ireland. So I know a bit about moving countries and the associated pros and cons.

I would highly recommend considering Ireland, Australia, New zealand if you are looking for English speaking countries with a good standard of life (in fact better, if you factor in health, social services and kids education) vis-a-vis cost of living.

If you are adventurous you might also consider places like Singapore or Malta or Dubai ...all of which have a good tech scene.

Don't get hugh up on 'keeping up with technological advancements' and ageism. Ageism is, in my (most likely biased) opinion a US tech industry specific thing (I am 40 and have not yet felt that's a disadvantage). As far as tech stacks go, keeping up with them can be done anywhere and you don't necessarily /have/ to work on the latest and greatest in a professional environment all the time. As you age, you'd realize the actual rate of advancement in tech, in real innovation terms, is pretty darn slow.

HTH

Former Bay Area tech worker here, also working remotely now from Central Europe. IMO if you are already making SF money and working remotely, you have it made. Keep saving 10k and enjoy a more relaxed life. Your kids can learn English from youtube, duoLingo and Khan. Maybe your city has an American School or something equivalent.

You have to decide if career climbing is what you really want, because along with that comes long hours, stress, likely a lot of business travel and other headaches. Personally I don't have a hard time keeping up w new tech and to fix the working alone thing I work at a co-work space. I get as much social interaction as I want.

If you really want them to be in a native English environment then move to the US but not the Bay Area. cost-of-living arbitrage! You can literally live anywhere since you are already remote. The US is full of beautiful areas, just take your pick.

Re: ageism, it will be the worst in the Bay Area. Other places are more open to workers with experience.

There are other tech hubs you should look into:

Seattle, Washington

Boston, Massachusetts

Austin, Texas

Atlanta, Georgia

Raleigh, North Carolina

Denver, Colorado

Boca Raton, Florida

Don't limit yourself to the Bay Area.

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