Tech workers at the New York Times plan to strike for half a day on Monday, accusing the publisher of attempting to unilaterally force them back to the office.
Tech workers often don’t make enough money for it to make sense to live in the city long term unless it’s really important to them. If they have kids, this goes double. A lot of people commute from upstate and that is a hellish commute, even by train.
Upstate commutes can definitely be rough. But it isn’t the only ‘affordable’ places. Getting towards the end of subway lines in Brooklyn and Queens can be relatively affordable.
I live in a 3 bedroom in Queens with a 3k rent and only 5 minute walk to the M. I don’t commute but my partner does and it isn’t too bad. There were other 3 bedrooms off the L we looked at this summer that would have been a much faster commute and some where down at like 2800.
It is clear this general news sub has no frame of reference for NYC. A quick glassdoor check says a software engineer makes 100-160k base, with 25-50k bonus. And that is not including Sr Engineer or Architect titles. A one bedroom or two or 3 bedroom with a dual income in tech makes it affordable to live in the city.
Good for you in minimizing cost and maximizing income. The point is the income is sufficient for NYC living, and a lot of people live very satisfactory lives in NYC with that salary. And part of the reason why you stay in NYC is because you enjoy what the cities offers, which can mean you like spending money on life style and going out.
I have several friends that both rent in NYC and own homes in the Hudson Valley/Upstate. I have friends that max out their 401ks, pay rent, and still go out fairly often. I don’t understand this false claim that tech workers can’t afford the city, hate their lives here, and prefer to live out in the suburbs. That makes no sense. Plenty of tech workers make enough, and love the city, and continue to live here. The challenge is getting people sacrifice leaving their comfortable apartments and neighborhoods in brooklyn and queens to come the shit hole that is mid-town/times square.
I’m wouldn’t even spending a 1/3 of my income on that 3k rent. A programmer can very much afford to live in NYC quite comfortably while still saving for the future.
NYC has a housing crisis and MTA is frankly quite shit compared to most public transportation in the world. They have a lot of lines into Manhatten, which is good for NYT, but no circumferential traffic, and delays are frequent. MTA is massively underfunded.
Edit: not sure why downvoted. I guess all these young families in Park Slope or 20 somethings living in the East Village or Williamsburg are lying when they say they are working in tech and appear to have pretty manageable and comfortable lives.
You’d be surprised, a lot of them are lying or living paycheck to paycheck because they’re morons who don’t know how to manage money or just want to blow it in fancy things like many dumb people do
So because they have high salaries they need to work in an office? I’m not seeing how that’s related.
Your comment is not related. This is an irrelevant take away. This comment is a thread from:
“I can only imagine the hellish commute a NYT tech worker must endure. Let them work from wherever the fuck they want.”
No one is talking about salary. It’s about the realty that subway (not to mention citi bike and the occasional uber) are easy ways to get around and not “hellish.”
You want to know how long my commute is each morning? It’s 30 seconds. Working remotely will do that for you. Anything else in comparison would feel hellish, yes, and I even used to commute to a job that was 15 minutes away from where I live as my first dev job.
It’s a 24/7 subway. It is under funded. It’s gotten worse with distressed folks. But it’s pretty good relative to a lot of other US metros. And commutes always take time. So you can’t fault a method of commuting for that.
Look at shit like the green line in Boston or all these other half assed light rail solutions that share space with car traffic and get held up for auto congestion and traffic lights. NYC subway doesn’t have that.
I feel guilty. Without a commute I haven’t read this ever growing stack of New Yorkers and The Atlantic. I’m joking, but serious. Car commute is terrible. When you commute on half decent public transit, you can do shit and was kind of a part of my day to day rhythm. On good days it was almost meditative.
But seriously, who the fuck are these trolls suggesting real tech workers don’t live in NYC. Yeah, the dream is actually living in Jersey City said no one that has money in NYC
I don’t know why I said Jersey City while thinking of my friends in Montclaire, but I’ll stand by my original comment. Stop trying to get me to visit your apartment on a weekend train schedule, bro.
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Tech workers often don’t make enough money for it to make sense to live in the city long term unless it’s really important to them. If they have kids, this goes double. A lot of people commute from upstate and that is a hellish commute, even by train.
Upstate commutes can definitely be rough. But it isn’t the only ‘affordable’ places. Getting towards the end of subway lines in Brooklyn and Queens can be relatively affordable.
I live in a 3 bedroom in Queens with a 3k rent and only 5 minute walk to the M. I don’t commute but my partner does and it isn’t too bad. There were other 3 bedrooms off the L we looked at this summer that would have been a much faster commute and some where down at like 2800.
Jesus christ those prices are horrendous.
That’s double my monthly mortgage
You have a $1400 mortgage? Where?
I have a ~1000 mortgage on a 15 year loan for a 3 bedroom. Ohio.
Mine is 985 for a 1800sqft house
Central PA
Mine is a little less in rural mideast.
WTF that’s supposed to be cheap?? I think you’ve been living in NYC too long. Your perception is skewed.
It is clear this general news sub has no frame of reference for NYC. A quick glassdoor check says a software engineer makes 100-160k base, with 25-50k bonus. And that is not including Sr Engineer or Architect titles. A one bedroom or two or 3 bedroom with a dual income in tech makes it affordable to live in the city.
Yeah if you’re spending 50% of your disposable income on rent, it’s “affordable”
Meanwhile I make similar money with WFH but I own a house with a mortgage less than half of that ridiculous rent rate.
Good for you in minimizing cost and maximizing income. The point is the income is sufficient for NYC living, and a lot of people live very satisfactory lives in NYC with that salary. And part of the reason why you stay in NYC is because you enjoy what the cities offers, which can mean you like spending money on life style and going out.
I have several friends that both rent in NYC and own homes in the Hudson Valley/Upstate. I have friends that max out their 401ks, pay rent, and still go out fairly often. I don’t understand this false claim that tech workers can’t afford the city, hate their lives here, and prefer to live out in the suburbs. That makes no sense. Plenty of tech workers make enough, and love the city, and continue to live here. The challenge is getting people sacrifice leaving their comfortable apartments and neighborhoods in brooklyn and queens to come the shit hole that is mid-town/times square.
I’m wouldn’t even spending a 1/3 of my income on that 3k rent. A programmer can very much afford to live in NYC quite comfortably while still saving for the future.
NYC has a housing crisis and MTA is frankly quite shit compared to most public transportation in the world. They have a lot of lines into Manhatten, which is good for NYT, but no circumferential traffic, and delays are frequent. MTA is massively underfunded.
I think you mean corrupted…
Most tech workers probably live in the suburbs and the public transit from the burbs into the city both suck and are insanely expensive.
In NYC? No.
Edit: not sure why downvoted. I guess all these young families in Park Slope or 20 somethings living in the East Village or Williamsburg are lying when they say they are working in tech and appear to have pretty manageable and comfortable lives.
You’d be surprised, a lot of them are lying or living paycheck to paycheck because they’re morons who don’t know how to manage money or just want to blow it in fancy things like many dumb people do
So it’s by choice, not because they are underpaid?
Yes
So because they have high salaries they need to work in an office? I’m not seeing how that’s related.
Your comment is not related. This is an irrelevant take away. This comment is a thread from:
No one is talking about salary. It’s about the realty that subway (not to mention citi bike and the occasional uber) are easy ways to get around and not “hellish.”
You want to know how long my commute is each morning? It’s 30 seconds. Working remotely will do that for you. Anything else in comparison would feel hellish, yes, and I even used to commute to a job that was 15 minutes away from where I live as my first dev job.
I am high salary work from home as well. I get it. But you did not respond to a thread about commute time. You responded about salary.
Dude. Have you ever ridden the NY subway? It sucks.
And the bigger issue is the amount of time taken out of the day by a commute when it’s not needed for the vast majority of tech workers.
It’s a 24/7 subway. It is under funded. It’s gotten worse with distressed folks. But it’s pretty good relative to a lot of other US metros. And commutes always take time. So you can’t fault a method of commuting for that.
Look at shit like the green line in Boston or all these other half assed light rail solutions that share space with car traffic and get held up for auto congestion and traffic lights. NYC subway doesn’t have that.
The subway does not suck. I hate using it, but that’s not what they care about. It’s about moving mass not comfort
I feel guilty. Without a commute I haven’t read this ever growing stack of New Yorkers and The Atlantic. I’m joking, but serious. Car commute is terrible. When you commute on half decent public transit, you can do shit and was kind of a part of my day to day rhythm. On good days it was almost meditative.
But seriously, who the fuck are these trolls suggesting real tech workers don’t live in NYC. Yeah, the dream is actually living in Jersey City said no one that has money in NYC
Yes please don’t come to Jersey city. The PATH is the stuff of commuting nightmares.
I don’t know why I said Jersey City while thinking of my friends in Montclaire, but I’ll stand by my original comment. Stop trying to get me to visit your apartment on a weekend train schedule, bro.