Hacker News Reader

Comment by amccloud | Hacker News Reader

Fun picture taken tonight downtown on Freemont East during First Friday: http://cl.ly/image/2U3m2I0p2O0v

I've come to realize Vegas is facing a problem with talent in tech. Plenty of companies are looking to hire, but there is not much selection. I guess that makes it a great place to move. Low cost of living and a sellers market.

View on HN

Just be prepared for low rates. You can't demand what you can on the coasts. Low cost of living means low salaries. Companies are often willing to expense living and travel, though.

If it's a choice between low cost of living/low salary and high cost of living/high salary do you happen to have any figures which show which one actually works out as more profitable?

Normally depends on what you need to live. Family needing family house go low cost. Recent grad, share a place in high cost high salary area. It's a spectrum and particular jobs may override the general but it is a start.

Good point, I never thought of it like that.

My thinking is that a good job with pay appropriate to the area is better in a high-cost area than in a low-cost area. The reason being is that part of your pay goes towards housing which eventually means a mortgage.

Once you decide to retire you can cash out that mortgage. A modest house in the bay area is still a million dollar house. A modest house in vegas is a $200K house. $1M in hand gives you a lot more flexibility than $200K.

Also, an iPod or other globally-priced goods are cheap in high-cost high-wage areas, expensive in low-cost low-wage areas. Student loans, etc. are like iPods.

I think the ideal is to work in a high-wage high-cost area early on your career, to build up a high salary history and cover some of your fixed costs (student loans, etc.), while not incurring large recurring high costs (buying a house). Then, relocate to a low-cost low-wage area while working remotely for a high percentage of your original salary.

A $150k/yr Silicon Valley salary that became $110k/yr to telecommute from a low-cost, low-tax, low-wage area would be awesome buying power.

A lot of people do this with fixed retirement income (pensions, or even social security) -- retire to a low cost area.

It's obviously case by case. Some cities have better bang for your buck. Here's one report from Forbes.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joelkotkin/2012/07/09/the-cities...

Also really depends on what you want. Cheap house or great nightlife? Great schools or rock climbing?

What're the best sites to find companies hiring in the Las Vegas area?

http://hirevegastech.com/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com