I got a couple offers: - FB: E5, 190k base, 15% bonus, 600k RSU/4years, 75k signon, in Menlo Park. - Citadel securities: 250k base, 200k target bonus, 100k signon, in Chicago. On one hand, I am intrigued by Chicago because I am fed up with living in this shit hole of the Bay Area where renting a decent place is 4k, whereas in Chicago I could spend 1.5k and live downtown and walk to work in a semi luxury high rise building. On the other hand, FB seems better for career opp? I work in infra, a mix of SWE and ops with distributed systems and performance. Age: 32 YOE: 9 NW: 2M (liquid, I am a renter)
Weather is one more thing you may want to consider. Chicago is Siberia for ~6 months.
That’s fine. I come from Eastern Europe so I can deal with it :)
I’m from Siberia, and I would like to disagree. Also, by measures of weather any place will loose to Bay Area (with exception of European Mediterranean coast).
Really rent savings are irrelevant, but I think overall Chicago has much better life to offer for your money. It’s urban, city vibe, cultural, and in some aspects much more diverse than Silicon Valley. Go for it, bro!
Cloud engineer. I have no idea, I always worked in tech companies so this would be my first time. What I can tell you is: leave the startup, your time is limited and startups are for suckers. I know because I have done a few at the beginning of my careers, and I totally regret it.
What about the Bay are you fed up with in particular? Is it just the high cost of living? The tech bubble?
cost of living and over crowdness, too many people everywhere. It’s insane how much I need to spend just to have a decent life. I understand I can still save a lot and that’s what I did since I accumulated 2M in a decade, but if I can save more while being in a better place, that’s tempting.
Congrats on citsec
Can you please share how was your interview preparations like ? How many companies did you I interview With before Facebook and citadel ?
No, off topic.
That's a very reasonable question, and not off topic. You sound like an asshole, so take citadel; fb has enough assholes.
You make 500k and complain about 20k in rent?
Correct
The real problem is not even price, but what you get for what you pay. Landlords have like zero incentives to upgrade properties. As far as it meets very relaxed housing section of municipal code, it’s gonna rent at some crazy price. Real estate market here is not expensive, it’s totally FUBARed
Try Citadel and if you don’t like it you can always go back to FB.
100% Citadel. That money will go really far in Chicago. Granted, a downtown apartment (ie River North) is more than 1.5k (unless shared), but still will have much more money in the bank after all said and done. You could get a decent non-upgraded apartment in Lakeview for 1.5k though. Generally 1.8-2k can get you a nice 1br. 2-2.5k for luxury.
Thanks. Yeah 1.8 would be awesome to walk to work. I am currently paying 3k for an old shit hole with one hour commute.
Damn why such a long commute?