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Comment by mvieira38 | Hacker News Reader

Most of these cynical takes about a bad job market for tech seem to come from a very priviledged view... No reasonable mind expected the era of plentiful 200k+/year remote jobs (or on site in a campus full of everything you can dream of) to last forever. Tech is now just like other high skill industries (e.g. finance, medicine, law), where getting internships on big companies is tough, and the workplace is competitive and also, at a lot of these companies, toxic.

Also, lol at 100k not being a lot of money

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I think one point about 100k being a large sum is that we've been talking about "six figures" since the early 2000s, and adjusted for inflation we'd be talking about roughly 180k, i.e. approaching a factor of 2.

And the second argument about 100k not being a lot of money is mentioned by the author: there are many places (in the US and outside) where 100k will not cover rent and essentials. So yeah, in this way, 100k is not a lot of money, because it will not grant you any form of comfortable life in (Austin, Seattle, most of CA, etc.), which is where a large chunk of tech jobs are located.

What do you count as “essentials” such that you can’t afford them and rent in these places?

I know more people than I can count that are doing just fine in places where rent costs a lot and none of them are making over 100k.

$100k won't grant you a comfortable like in tech hot spots because it is full of tech people making tech salaries.

If tech salaries go down, those places will become more affordable.

That's what I'm saying, though. How can 100k be seen as "not granting you any form of comfortable life"? The vast, vast majority of people living in these areas you quoted earn less than that, and it's tone deaf to just assume every one of them is miserable.

Miserable and uncomfortable are different. For a place like SF, if you want to live by yourself in a place somewhat near your work, you’re probably spending 3-5k/mo on rent for a one bedroom. If you make $100k/yr, your take home is roughly $6k/mo. And that doesn’t include any retirement contributions, other fees, etc.

You start including things like food, savings, a car and associated insurance… you don’t have a whole lot left with $100k/yr.

The people who live on less than that make significant compromises. Either roommates, living far away, long commute times, or make up the cost elsewhere. Or they bought property many many years ago and don’t have significant costs.

It’s not comfortable. Saying otherwise is missing the bigger picture.

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