Hacker News Reader

Comment by MatthewPhillips | Hacker News Reader

Recent grads are only making ~40k, some times less, some times considerably less (people have posted Ask HNs about this topic before). As someone who used to be in that camp, living off half your net at that salary range is not realistic; living on 75% is barely so, if you're eating bologna sandwiches every night.

Having a second job is a great idea, it's just too bad you can't get a good consulting job when you're a junior dev. Once you have a couple of years of experience you can start to get consulting work and from there you are pretty much set financially. The first couple of years are tough though. Vacations aren't realistic unless you have family that helps you out.

View on HN

Up until January of this year I was making $40,084.00/yr. That means about $2k/month net.

I was paying $156/month on rent by living in a small house with two roommates. I drive a 15yo car that is paid off and I live 3km from work so I don't depend on it.

You can live on $12k/yr, you just chose not to.

I can't imagine you were living anywhere desirable that you could pay $156/month in rent.

People living in high cost of living areas can't reasonably live on $12K/year. Luckily, they mostly get paid a lot better $40K/year because they have to.

> People living in high cost of living areas

Feudalism has been eliminated, you could always move. But you're absolutely right. People who choose to live in pricey areas don't get to enjoy extended vacations right out of college. It's your choice to make though.

I visited San Jose a month ago. It's a gorgeous area and the culture is something really special, but it's expensive as hell. But that's fine if you think it's worth it.

Where I live a 3br/2bth house can be rented for <$500. It makes a level of financial independence available that I couldn't have living in CA or most of the east coast.

Where I live a 3br/2bth house can be rented for <$500.

How's the tech/software job market in that area? I can't say I've seen a whole lot of recruiting for jobs in the cheapest towns I've visited.

I don't think people so much "choose to live in pricy areas" as that's where the jobs are. As a result, that's where the people are. As a result, that's where the most expensive living is. You can find a cheaper place to live, but it's likely cheaper, because there's less of a job market there.

Graduate students live on that amount. We are particularly prevalent in high cost of living areas. It can be done, but it might be unpleasant.

I lived in Boston on $800/month. It's no picnic, but it's not hard.

Most undergrads are only making ~$0/year, and seem to get by just fine. Adding an extra $40k into the mix would only seem to help.

I made $37k at my first job, and managed to put $10k of that into the market for the first four years. So yes, it's possible.

Everything the grandparent says is good advice (apart from the waiting tables thing. Freelancing pays 10-30x as much.) Live cheap when you're young, bank away as much as possible, spend your 30s living on a beach. It's very doable if that's what you want.

I just mentioned waiting tables because it was a job almost anyone could do and that pays decently. It's something you could find quickly to stretch savings between jobs. I don't have any experience with freelancing but that's probably a better idea.

The biggest advantage of waiting tables is that you can get a job, and eat before you get your first paycheck.

Most undergrads are only making ~$0/year

They're also generally not supporting themselves on that $0 income.

Dunno where you are, but in New England $60k seems to be entry level and you can get much more if you're skilled and have good college-age work experience.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com