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Comment by _delirium | Hacker News Reader

They're good salaries, but they're middle-of-the-road for a professional, white-collar job. As far as mid-career salaries by profession go, software engineering at ~$100k isn't even midway between history major (~$75k) and petroleum engineer (~$160k).

Plus, everyone on all sides could be accused of whining, because the entire technology industry is well off compared to most people. When a VC complains about terms on a deal, you could ask, why are they whining when they're already well off?

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Out of curiosity, where do you find jobs with the title "history major"? Or are you using that phrase as a stand-in for something else?

Poor phrasing; it was median mid-career salaries of people with history degrees (versus petroleum-engineering degrees, versus software-engineering degrees). So I guess it's a stand-in for whatever it is that the median history major does.

Based on a data set of two (I only know two history majors), car mechanics or Windows Server admin.

In my city (Vancouver) only 7% of the workforce makes over 100k a year. I don't know what the professional breakdowns are but I would consider myself pretty fortunate if I was in that 7%. Hell, I consider myself fortunate even though I am not in that category.

100k goes considerably further in Vancouver than in many parts of the Bay Area. Real Estate Rents and Sell prices are between 40-100% more expensive in that region than where you are. I'd need to make about 180% of what I do here to get what I have here in Atlanta, GA

Does it really? Vancouver is ranked something like #1 most unaffordable housing market in the world. As in, the average salary is $50K but the average home price is $500K. I guess you're right, if you actually ARE making $100K in Vancouver, it will be easier to buy the $500K house. However, the reality is that programmers there make about $60K, so you're better off being a real estate broker.

Yup, compare the two on cost of living calculators that break it out by category.

http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?coun...

  Rent Per Month	 
  Apartment (1 bedroom) in City Centre	 	 1,202.29 $	     2,433.33 $	      +102.39 %
  Apartment (1 bedroom) Outside of Centre	 1,093.54 $	     1,500.00 $	      +37.17 %
  Apartment (3 bedrooms) in City Centre	 	 2,660.64 $	     3,965.49 $	      +49.04 %
  Apartment (3 bedrooms) Outside of Centre	 1,754.56 $	     2,692.00 $	      +53.43 %
 
  Buy Apartment Price	 
  Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment in City Centre	 5,897.44 $	     8,250.00 $	      +39.89 %
  Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre	 4,376.52 $	     6,000.00 $	      +37.10 %

Depending on what SV company you work for, ~$100k isn't a mid-career salary, that's what they pay graduates fresh out of college, not including bonuses. I don't consider that underpaid.

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