The average person still has no idea what a jump drive is.
I think most of the younger generation knows what jump drives are and what they are good for. I don't think most people in general do. Especially outside of any of the high-tech cultural hubs. I still get quizical looks and questions from people when I use my PDA to record check register entries into pocket quicken. And I can't remember seeing any other guy with a jumpdrive dangling from his keychain.
I think our perceptions of reality and normalcy might be a bit on the wishful-thinking side of things...
>>What is costing a single person more than $2,200 per month?
In Silicon Valley, 2200 won't pay your rent.
Don't live there.... Really.
Why, in this world, where its almost as easy to hire a group of guys on the Indian subcontinent as it is to hire someone next door, does one need to live in such a place when in other parts of the same country you can buy a McMansion for that much money.
Especially when we are talking compsci, IT, programming, etc. Its not like one is having to type code over a 1200bps, noisy modem connection. Sheesh, we've got bandwidth to run x-servers from a 1000 miles away from the clients.
Outsourcing only occurs because the exchange rates are artificially out of whack, and since the dollar eventually has to find its way back to the US in order to be exchanged for something of value, one can be relatively certain that such an imbalance can not be maintained for long.
Soon, India and China will have to turn their greenbacks into barrels of oil, forcing the dollar down a bit, and the RMB/Rup up a lot, shifting the balance back to the US programmer. Who wants to pay an Indian grouptank 60k for 40 man-hours/wk? Not likely.
It is an interesting feature of our economy that it is so incredibly flexible that whole career paths can be shipped willy-nilly to wherever a company gets the most bang for the buck.
$60k, in most of the country, will buy you a house, a car/truck (or two), a boat, and keep a typical family (overly) well fed and comfortable. Most of the world would hack off a leg to be blessed with such comforts in exchange for the sacrifice of sitting in a comfy leather chair, drinking coffee, and typing various creative things into one's favored shell and development environment.
As long as you aren't trying to live in a place where a manufactured home on blocks goes for $200k, and can restrain yourself from buying the latest Hummer or Ford Expensive, you'll be in hunt'n-dog shape.
I think what has happened and makes this thread narcisistically interesting, is that a lot of programmers who were making way more money than they were worth got canned in the.com bust and were tied to rediculous mortgages and car payments and so faced either the harsh odds of landing another overpaying job or going bankrupt. Those that landed the few remaining overpaying positions felt personally vindicated or possibly guilty, those that didn't simply vanished into the gaping hole of The Help Desk Hell.
And as an aside to the eugenics argument before, thats just nuts. There are plenty of women who'd be more than happy to meet a reliable, predictable, nonviolent engineer, go on some comfortable dates, marry, then grow fat and old together with you. Do they hang out in the "cool" places? Nope. They do, however, go to church.:->
PS: Speaking of coffee, my Krups caraffe is empty and my wedgewood cup has gone cold, so I guess I'll just have to go make another pot that my shit salary paid for...
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I think our perceptions of reality and normalcy might be a bit on the wishful-thinking side of things...
IBM PC - "interesting, but why do I want one... whats that letter slot in front for?"
WordStar - "hmm, I can replace that piece of sxxx Word Processor with the 8" disks"
and finally...
Lotus 123 1A- "hit F9 and lets go to lunch"
return from lunch
"oh my God, it just did 2 weeks of work while I had BBQ."
In Silicon Valley, 2200 won't pay your rent. Don't live there. ... Really.
Why, in this world, where its almost as easy to hire a group of guys on the Indian subcontinent as it is to hire someone next door, does one need to live in such a place when in other parts of the same country you can buy a McMansion for that much money.
Especially when we are talking compsci, IT, programming, etc. Its not like one is having to type code over a 1200bps, noisy modem connection. Sheesh, we've got bandwidth to run x-servers from a 1000 miles away from the clients.
Soon, India and China will have to turn their greenbacks into barrels of oil, forcing the dollar down a bit, and the RMB/Rup up a lot, shifting the balance back to the US programmer. Who wants to pay an Indian grouptank 60k for 40 man-hours/wk? Not likely.
It is an interesting feature of our economy that it is so incredibly flexible that whole career paths can be shipped willy-nilly to wherever a company gets the most bang for the buck.
As long as you aren't trying to live in a place where a manufactured home on blocks goes for $200k, and can restrain yourself from buying the latest Hummer or Ford Expensive, you'll be in hunt'n-dog shape.
I think what has happened and makes this thread narcisistically interesting, is that a lot of programmers who were making way more money than they were worth got canned in the .com bust and were tied to rediculous mortgages and car payments and so faced either the harsh odds of landing another overpaying job or going bankrupt. Those that landed the few remaining overpaying positions felt personally vindicated or possibly guilty, those that didn't simply vanished into the gaping hole of The Help Desk Hell.
And as an aside to the eugenics argument before, thats just nuts. There are plenty of women who'd be more than happy to meet a reliable, predictable, nonviolent engineer, go on some comfortable dates, marry, then grow fat and old together with you. Do they hang out in the "cool" places? Nope. They do, however, go to church. :->
PS: Speaking of coffee, my Krups caraffe is empty and my wedgewood cup has gone cold, so I guess I'll just have to go make another pot that my shit salary paid for...