Just heard a former Q coworker is financially free after moving to Bay Area simply 3 years ago
8 replies (most recent on top)
lol there is NO financial freedom in the Bay Area and Qualcomm is not going to pay you enough to finance a million dollar home, not many of them will. Unless you want to drive from that war zone in Stockton or commute from Monterey, don't even bother moving there.
I'm still hoping something will turn around things. We'll see.
The future of Q is doomed. Recessing is the unavoidable. The royality model will be deeply hurt by the Apple case. Chip business is gradually deteriorating with the fierce competition from Asian rivals. Staying in Q is the delayed execution of your career. Though this will be a long exhausting process to burn your passion and energy. And finally a young talented engineer becomes a useless human feces for Q. Can't imagine if a mid-40s engineer with very narrow skill set could find any job in SD. This could happen no kidding. 2015 layoff is a fairly good warning sign.
MAN JOSE
Americans have already left. Third World types mopping up.
Just go young people. Don't be intimidated by these fat A$$ rest&vester bastxxds. Your existence in Q only means being a slave for these SOB status collectors. Career development is slim to none in Q. Just count how many levels of fat A$$ are above you. There are so many politics nepotism in Q now. Bay Area is full of chances for young people. Stucked in Q is career suicide for sure. So many young people left Q in recent years. They are for sure not dumb guys.
The ONLY thing in bay area is the fact that there is a good chance of always having a job (not always what you want to do, or of your choice). It is very very competitive and if you are good enough to get into one of the big fours, it's OK. That only means a good (not necessarily a huge life changing pay). pay and benefits.
Real state and housing are insanely high and takes a big byte of your take home pay. Good luck getting anything reasonable below 1.8 million if you intend to stay in the valley. Even renovating a fixer upper is quiet expensive.... Contractors have caught on to this and will have you pay excessively for any home improvements on a shack.
Heavy traffic EVERYWHERE. No getting around that , regardless of where you live. Way too many people. Even stores seem to jam-packed in some places.
If you have kids, be warned that if you are not in a good school area, you will pay heavily for private school (unless you don't care about school rated below 6).
Day care a lot more expensive than what I used to pay in San Diego.
Quality of life is horrendous here. If your quality of life is dictated by your job primarily, you will be happy. Can't say that for your family members and kids.
I don't know why everyone thinks the bay area is so great. It's expensive as sh-- up there and companies don't really make up the difference.