Hacker News Reader

Comment by xyzelement | Hacker News Reader

Depending on where you live most cars you see on the road are in the ballpark. It costs about 40k to change the roof on a house around here.

So 75k is both objectively massive, and not.

I won't argue "privilege" but it seems like both people in the couple have been working for a long time and took equity bets that paid off.

Another way to look at it, in many tech jobs 75k could be a bonus (additional to salary an equity)

View on HN

75k bonus? I’ve worked one job ever with a formal bonus structure at all. The annual target for that bonus was less than a third of that amount.

Sometimes I wonder if I work in the same tech industry as some of the other folks around here, but then, I guess I haven’t worked FAANG.

You don't. I'd guess most of the developers don't. For example, my near 20 years of experience nets me a salary FAANG interns would find offensive. But in this part of the world it's "raise a family comfortably" money. In the end, it all depends on cost of living. And accepting you are not building 20 seat Lan party setup in your spare wing of the house.

My salary literally doubled just working remote/hybrid for London companies around COVID. I much prefer the lifestyle now I work for a smaller company in Canterbury and get paid less for the role. Turns out all that extra travel and overtime ended up being materially worse for my quality of life. And my job is way more fun nowadays.

He is relatively early at Cloudflare, joining via CF’s acquisition of his startup.

My understanding most Tier 1 employers are paying $700k-$1.5m usd per year in TC.

$75k is less than his tax bill.

Also the home is in Texas (I think). So lower cost square footage.

One year after we graduated, the guy I'd shared a flat with in London got a £30,000 bonus from the small fin-tech company he worked at.

But the more stressful work, and the idea that I'd be working to trade stock a few nanoseconds faster than the competition, didn't not appeal.

The last tech job I worked at which had a bonus structure had the bonus amount set at 100 euros (not a typo).

> most cars are in the ballpark

If you’re in the Bay, maybe, otherwise it’s $35-50k depending on how new

That's why I wrote "depending on where you are"

Brand new cars, yes, most people are NOT buying brand new that is another privilege.

I don't think the 75k number is what's shocking. It's a house that costs 7 figures. That is not remotely attainable for most people in this country.

It's not surprising given the author's background. What I don't get is the part right before about not being able to afford a family-sized house in Palo Alto. Guessing the answer is yeah, they could afford it, but they don't want to pay that much for something still not very large.

There is no argument from which this can be minimized. Even in an incredibly rich country like the US this is an enormous expense. You're looking at this from the top of a field that is already at the top of the economic pyramid which is in turn at the top of a global economic pyramid.

This is excess on a scale that is essentially laughable for the entire human race, minus some statistically insignificant population.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com