Newbie here. Is everyone's TC really this high or is there some joke I'm not getting?
I work in fintech but am not an engineer. I'm a back office guy who knows some programming but not enough to get paid to do it full time. Where I live -- Tokyo -- my TC of about 5M JPY (~45k USD) is pretty standard for someone doing my job. Younger folks work much longer hours for less. And I'm not a native speaker of the language, either. So when I see all these six figure numbers, it feels like I'm the only one in the room not in on some giant joke. My wife and I are looking to move back to the US and start a family and these salary and housing numbers are just mind-boggling to us. Obligatory: TC 45, YoE 20, STEM bachelor's, humanities MA/PhD
Big variety of salaries and costs of living across the country
To illustrate the variety; a household income of $117k is considered low income and will qualify your family for “affordable housing” in parts of the Bay Area https://www.newsweek.com/bay-area-median-income-housing-crisis-cost-living-affordable-housing-hud-san-994962
So if I get hired in the Bay, we get subsidized rent? Good deal :) And we're used to living in 400 square feet so we don't mind small spaces!
$117K is only low income if you’re a family of four. Not your average single tech guy making that amount. Or even your average couple. You’d have to be the only one working with 2 kids and a wife, which is true that it’s not really that much
Take the numbers with a grain of salt. The ones you see usually are top of band for a high performing candidate - it's boring to see "average" offers. But in general, if you get an offer from a desirable company, then yes, the compensation can be a lot. But we're still in the vast minority. Lots of companies out there that only pay a fraction of Goog/FB/Uber/etc.
^ This
I want to learn more about what "average" people earn. Not just because I want to see realistic numbers, but also because it can be depressing to be led to wrongly believe that everybody makes 100k+.
How do you afford to live in Tokyo on that salary? Holy shit.
Tokyo col is actually quite low
Twenty million people manage it, and most make less than I do!
welcome to Blinds! How’s life in Tokyo?
Not complaining, though I'm more of a Kansai kind of person!
Short answer is No. You are reading posts from a privileged few. Long answers read above.
Figured. It feels strange to know I'm the upper half of society economically but reading so much from the people above me that I feel like I've fallen behind.
If you get into any of the bigger companies (FANG, unicorns, etc.), you can easily bring in 5x more money every year compared to your current TC. It's not like only the best of the best make that amount. This is, of course, you're working in a bigger tech hub in America and not somewhere in the Midwest.
My TC is only 116k (single, mid 20s, no debt), but I do know people either crazy salaries the same age as me. Like ~180-220k. But it's uncommon I would say. I'm okay with my pay for now I guess. But I think by next year I need to hit 130-140k to stay happy in the Bay. So I'll start applying in a few months. My girlfriend makes about 90k though (not in tech), so if we ever got married we would be around 206k which is kind of cool to think about. We don't mind living in a small apartment either, we're out most of the day anyway.
At nearly triple what I earn and double what I have ever earned, your salary is already "crazy" by my standards! What does your partner do to make that much while not being in tech? My wife does office work for about $12 an hour - modest by American standards - and if we moved back to the US we don't think she could find something that good as she's not a native English speaker.
The salary is crazy here, but so is the cost of living. Even lower skill jobs generally pay more. So don't be too concerned about what you've earned previously in another city. For example, I live in a much smaller city and made about 60k and that was good there. It's just very location based in the US. Look up "average salary <your or your wife's job role> <city name> Glassdoor" and that will give you a good idea of what you can expect to earn. Then Google cost of living and poverty wage in that same city and see how you compare. My partner is an architect. That being said, it's possible to have a lower paying job here. I would say if it's you, your wife, and maybe 2 kids, I wouldn't move here unless you + your wife can clear 160k a year to live a decent quality of life. That might seem insane to you right now, but in the Bay I would not be surprised if you guys can swing that which as much experience as you have. Your wife would probably be on the lower end of the spectrum (no mean for disrespect, just being honest), but I think she could even make 40-60k doing basic office work. Definitely practice your English if you're going to move here. I'll say there are are other places you can live other than the bay. You should definitely consider other cities as well, especially if you have kids. There are cities where you could earn about what you make now and be doing fabulously. They're cities you might not think about either. Look at some places in Colorado and Boise, Charleston South Carolina etc. They're good places to live too, and if the whole salary thing is freaking you out those places are much more normal. I'm sure you guys could make like 15k more each in those places and that would be pretty good pay there. If I ended up marrying my partner and decide to have kids, I would probably move away from the bay. My target would be Denver Colorado most likely.
Hey OP. I work at a FAANG company and I used to have teams in Tokyo, London, Hyderabad, and Seattle. I’ll tell you one thing: even in FAANG, people in Tokyo get short shafted. I remember having people the same level report to me in Tokyo who made 50% of what I made, and they were thrilled by their pay. Now there were some factors like that I was a top performer and in management which boosted a little bit, but the main booster was that Tokyo is not a competitive salary location. I would ask though, is 45k your salary or TC? I thought you got a huge bonus every year.
I’m not at amazon anymore.
Salary is 367k JPY per month, so about $3300/mo or $39600 per year. Add in a bonus of half a month's pay twice a year and 100 shares of stock (about $800 at today's value) per year vesting after four years, and so 45k is a good estimate for TC. We pay for OT in excess of 40 hours in a month, but I rarely work that much OT. (The yen was worth much more 7+ years ago, as was our stock. I also used to work the overnight shift which brought in another $45 per *day*. My TC was far higher in USD back then.) I've been with the company for almost 20 years. The new people we hire make about 300k JPY per month. That includes SWEs and other roles that would make much more in the US.
$45k is like an auto mechanic salary here. Fresh Bachelors from an average school in STEM gets at least $60k. CoL really changes things, but I’m surprised Tokyo is so much different.
I had a STEM bachelor's from my state U when I started 20 years ago; it and being English-Japanese bilingual got me the job, as back then few people had that combination. I made $36k then but NY and SF hadn't leapfrogged Tokyo in CoL like they since have.
Son... life here is like Kanye videos... nude chicks rolling over a money mattress. For all of us nerds. 🤓