Just a bit of background on myself. I work a full time job, am a professional drummer which has me traveling out of state, have a two and twelve year old at home and have been spending my free time the passed three years trying to get a startup off the ground. I do not suffer from a lack of passion but rather have not had the time to focus on getting interview ready for a new position (really there has been no need as I have not been thinking about getting another job up until now). When I mentioned six months before that would translate into a few hours a week brushing up on things I should know but do not. Sorry, should have been more clear on that. thanks fan27
And the USA is hell right now. Everyone is working hard, making less, and paying a ton of taxes to support slacker bureaucrats who are intent on making compliance more important than prosperity. HK sounds great !!!
HK is a horrible city life style wise but if one can hang in there for a few years and stay nimble and save up a good chunk then the low tax rates are a real reward. I have seen it all , wiz kid who worked as highly paid quant (>350k USD equivalent in base alone) and burnt it all on hookers and later on blow. Left the city after 5 years with empty pockets and a cleaned out bank account. Then the many expats (traders, managers in other industries) whose lives have degenerated into the ever repeating weekend practice of getting drunk with their peers. They occupy the Soho and Hollywood Rd pubs on Saturdays and Sundays and are completely loaded by 11am. Whatever choices people make...just saying this city is not much fun and not remotely the great getaway such as Singapore. Everything in life comes with a trade off and compromises. But I admit I would feel shitty if I had to fork over American income taxes. I would pay myself (as business owner) a minimal sum and rather bank upon sale of the business.
I'm surprised no one hasn't suggested moving where the $$$ is. Sure, Florida is relatively inexpensive to live in but there's no core industry hub (except Disney lol) to drive pay. OP, you're grossly underpaid. You wanna make mid-100's like I and many other software guys do? Move to the Washington DC area. For better or worse, DC is where the power, influence, and $$$ are. Pay is high but the cost of living is waaaaaaaaay less than the left coast.
what do you do precisely that earns you mid-100's (per my definition 300k- 700k) in a salaried IT job in Washington DC? Just curious because it sounds more like you are overpaid.
I understand I could make much more at other locals but I have family close by and am well connected in the music scene here (though that only accounts for a small portion of my income but a big portion of my enjoyment). Also, keep in mind that Clearwater (right next to Tampa) is the global head quarters for Scientology so that is kind of cool fan27
Unless you know software professionals who are making 100k+ in your area then you're probably gonna hafta resign yourself to your pay reality. Killing it in a job interview will get you an offer but they simply won't overpay if the market's soft.
Actually, I know quite a few making 100k+. The annoying thing is some are on my team! The last review I had, my request for more money got escalated to the CEO. We had a chat and while he did throw me a couple more bucks, he admitted that he could not "normalize" every ones salaries all at once as it would kill the companies expense column. I currently have a new manager and will likely get promoted to Senior Software Engineer shortly but it is not going to get me to a market rate for Senior Software engineers in my local. Based on that I really have no choice but to leave. fan27