100k in <3 years - goal accomplished

A couple years ago I set a goal of making $100k in 3 years. Yesterday I officially accomplished this and bypassed it. Here is the progression for anyone interested.

Title: Helpdesk
Duration: 8 months
Salary: $20/hr
Certs: A+ Net+

Title: System Administrator
Duration: 1 year 9 months
Total comp: $90,000-96,000
Certs: RHCSA

Title: DevOps Engineer
Duration: Just promoted
Total comp: $130,000-147,000 (bottom range is no on call pay, top is with what I believe on call pay is)

Needless to say I've benefited from being in the right place at the right time, as well as living near a tech hub in Boston. When I purchased my A+ book to start my career change in July 2013, I could never imagine that I would increase my salary 4-5 fold.

I hope this shows people new to the field that you can move up quickly if you're looking for the opportunities.

My takeaways for what has worked:
1. Take opportunities that make you uncomfortable
2. Learn on your own time - cert related or not - no surprise for this forum
3. Be ready to ask for opportunities
4. Being likable goes a long way.
5. Learning to script/program makes you stand out.
6. Don't be the first one out of the office everyday, but also maintain work/life balance.
7. If you find a company that gives you opportunities to grow, then try your best to stay and grow in the organization. You never know when the next job req might pop up.
8. Look for new responsibilities to take on, don't wait for them to be shoveled onto you.

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Comments

Sounds Good

Awesome accomplishment!

Can you list out your skillset in regards to what tools you use on a regular basis? (ex. Docker, Ansible, Ubuntu/RedHat, AWS, etc)

srj

Sounds Good wrote: »

Awesome accomplishment!

Can you list out your skillset in regards to what tools you use on a regular basis? (ex. Docker, Ansible, Ubuntu/RedHat, AWS, etc)

- Python programming and Bash scripting
- Django development (mostly APIs, basic front-end development)
- Red Hat/Ubuntu administration
- Tool creation - we can't use a number of common tools because our use case is different and we have restrictions on using open-source software with certain licenses. Recently, we wrote a tool that is similar to Fabric, but for our specific use case.
- I'm currently planning an implementation of SaltStack later this year. I inherited a legacy code base that was the "config management". Essentially, it was a bunch of scripts that enforced the desired state config.

dota2sf46

Congratulations, can you guide us more properly and in detail and please tell me do you have any degree?

srj

dota2sf46 wrote: »

Congratulations, can you guide us more properly and in detail and please tell me do you have any degree?

I've included a lot of detail already in the thread. You'll see that I have a BS in an unrelated field, but I'm working towards a MSCS.

There was some luck involved, but I find that most people aren't prepared when these opportunities arise. I've been given two different opportunities that were a stretch and they really challenged me. This meant many hours of extra work for the first few months when I was ramping up. Other people who were given the same opportunity failed to deliver. I delivered and exceeded expectations.

Another common issue I see is that people don't have goals or don't talk about them. For instance, if you want a promotion, does your boss know? I asked for all of these new jobs/promotions besides the Help Desk to Sys Admin transition. Even in that case, I had discussed my goal to become a Sys Admin with my boss and told him what I was doing to get there. I became the logical choice after they had failed to find someone for ~6 months. The company you're at can also be the problem. If you haven't discussed career progression with your boss, then I suggest you ask for a meeting to discuss it. I'd be moving on if your boss cannot tell you what is expected of you to move forward in your career.

I've been meaning to start a blog to improve my writing. I still have a ways to go before I'm an expert, but I think that I still have some information to share that could help others. I'd be happy to cover some of these areas with more detail on request.

dave330i

dota2sf46 wrote: »

Congratulations, can you guide us more properly and in detail and please tell me do you have any degree?

http://www.techexams.net/forums/jobs-degrees/119817-career-job-advice-observations.html

higherho

Congrats! Change, willing to grow, and pursuing more knowledge is the way to go. Also being favorable in the company really helps as well. Again congrats!

I did what you did but in Washington, DC (granted my base Salary before I left was 97k in 3.4 years of working total). Then I bounced to Franklin county, PA (houses here go for 220k for what would be 500 to 600k in the cheaper parts of the DC area) making 104k base (before any benefits).

It is possible to do what you did but really hard (it's difficult for some to change and take risks) and it's awesome that you did it! Linux and big data did it for me. I was Dev Ops (mainly taking care of production for the developers) and as everyone else stated in here, Its a hot market! I still get pinged for big data jobs because there isn't as many talented people who know big data on the east coast as there is on the west coast. Right now I'm doing Red Team stuff with a mixture of improving technical audits.

Again congrats, this isn't about me but you. I always tell people in IT never to get taken advantage of when it comes to pay. These companies can afford it. Know your skills, how valuable they are, and don't take no for an answer!

init6

Nice work! Sounds like you really put the work in and it paid off. I don't see how anyone can begrudge someone who works hard being paid what they deserve!

Sadly, there are so many bad shops that don't care about turnover and just put their people through the grinder until they quit. I worked for a shop like that my last job. Unpaid overtime (everyone was salaried, but low salaries, so it was just an excuse not to pay OT), pathetic compensation for a grueling on-call schedule. Everything in the shop was completely screwed up because of the high turnover. Nobody taking ownership, no accountability, no change management procedure to speak of, no configuration management. All on a private cloud infrastructure in a data center that would do things like test its UPS failover at 9:30am on a Friday morning (and you can guess how that went). I'll stop short of saying it gave me PTSD but after a year there I was messed up and it took me about 3 months to get back to normal once I quit.

I only tell that horror story to give others some perspective! These are the two extremes! You have great jobs that pay well, and you have terrible jobs that pay very low salaries ($45K!). But I also use this to illustrate another point - cost of living. $100K+ in Boston is great money, but it's not the same as $100K in Florida (where I'm located). Much higher taxation (we have no state income tax), much more expensive housing. So for those of you who are either upset you're not making six figures yet, or think it's an insane amount of money, just remember that it's all relative.

I've been doing IT work for a long time but I don't have a degree. This holds me back (it's not fair, and there's no practical value to a degree in the sysadmin game in my opinion, but that's just the way it goes). Just remember that if you keep trying you will get where you want to be. I wasn't reaching my full potential until recently - and that was nobody's fault but my own! Looking for a new permanent gig now, and hopefully one with tuition reimbursement. I want to go back to school and finish a degree, but I can't afford it right now. So I'm doing as many certs as I can instead.

Great work, man, and I hope all of the stories in this thread can inspire people to keep achieving and keep pushing toward their goals. It's not all about money for me, but I can guarantee that a lack of money will make anyone miserable!

anhtran35

Here is how I help my brother get into the IT Field starting at 30k a year to now 75k in less than 12 months. Brother move in with me 2 years ago after my dad passed away. Graduated with a liberal arts degree. NO JOB EXPERIENCE. He was a caretaker for my dad for a few years. Was always a gamer in IT and introvert. Dad life insurance gave him 50k. I do not charge him rent now or ever. He lived in my living room of my one bedroom condo. VA area near DC. First year he focus on getting IT certs: Sec+; MCSA 2012; Wins 7; ITILv3. Referred him to a company that was giving away clearances. They were desperate to fill in DOS help desk positions. Paid only $15 an hour. He got a Secret within 4 months. Informed them he was leaving for another offer. They offer him 45k to stay. He stayed for 2 months. I refer him to another company closer to home. They offered him 60k. He stayed for 5 months. Left due to nepotism: Help Desk Manager did not give him administrative rights till PM needed his PW reset and wondered why he was not given rights. Excuse? Didn't think he was ready. He left and now works on a DOD contract making 75k. He started his IT journey June last year. He is now an System Administrator.

[Deleted User]

Congrats srj!! That is quite impressive!! I hope that I can start making up to 100k soon!! Going on 2 years of real world experience in IT. Only 1 can hope/wish!!

jamesleecoleman

I also dream of reaching six figures but I dream even more about getting into InfoSec full time. I think that it a couple of years, I'll be able to make high 50's or low 60's. I gave myself the goal of six figure by the age of 35. I'm 29 right now.

PC509

Congrats!

I know why I haven't hit a milestone like that - location. I live in a small town. Wife won't move to a large town. I am planning on moving closer to one and then commute in. But, where I'm at I'm making good money. Very low COL, good experience, working on certs and education. Moving up slowly at my current job, but I'm getting the experience that I want/need for my career path. It should be easier to move on in a couple years.

NEODREAM

Amazing! You are an inspiration for myself as I want to hit 100k in at least 5-6 years from now.

Iristheangel

anhtran35 wrote: »

Here is how I help my brother get into the IT Field starting at 30k a year to now 75k in less than 12 months. Brother move in with me 2 years ago after my dad passed away. Graduated with a liberal arts degree. NO JOB EXPERIENCE. He was a caretaker for my dad for a few years. Was always a gamer in IT and introvert. Dad life insurance gave him 50k. I do not charge him rent now or ever. He lived in my living room of my one bedroom condo. VA area near DC. First year he focus on getting IT certs: Sec+; MCSA 2012; Wins 7; ITILv3. Referred him to a company that was giving away clearances. They were desperate to fill in DOS help desk positions. Paid only $15 an hour. He got a Secret within 4 months. Informed them he was leaving for another offer. They offer him 45k to stay. He stayed for 2 months. I refer him to another company closer to home. They offered him 60k. He stayed for 5 months. Left due to nepotism: Help Desk Manager did not give him administrative rights till PM needed his PW reset and wondered why he was not given rights. Excuse? Didn't think he was ready. He left and now works on a DOD contract making 75k. He started his IT journey June last year. He is now an System Administrator.

$75K sounds great but cost of living in DC/VA area easily offsets that. It's very similar to California cost of living with higher housing prices. It's good progress though for someone with 12 months though

kalimuscle

Salary means nothing.

Its more like location and salary...

For an example

Everyone who graduates from university lands 100k plus a year jobs in the silicon valley and its the norm because cost of living there is so high as well as taxes etc.

However someone landing a 100k a year job in an area where the average person makes 42k a year is the real challenge and the real success story.

srj

kalimuscle wrote: »

Salary means nothing.

Its more like location and salary...

For an example

Everyone who graduates from university lands 100k plus a year jobs in the silicon valley and its the norm because cost of living there is so high as well as taxes etc.

However someone landing a 100k a year job in an area where the average person makes 42k a year is the real challenge and the real success story.

I agree with the general premise, but I think there are at least three things that are important to consider in order:

1. Your cost of living - how much can you live for in your area?
2. Cost of living in your area - how much does it cost the average person to live in your area?
3. Median income - how does your salary compare to others?

You have to look at the total picture because the people who make out the best seem to be those who work in large markets, but can avoid the high cost of living. For instance, if I can make $200,000 a year and save 20% of my salary ($40,000), then I'm better off than someone who makes $80,000 a year and save 40% of their salary ($32,000). These are theoretical numbers, but it seems to be easier to find cheaper places to live in some higher paying markets than it is to find a high paying job in a low cost of living area. I'm sure there is someone out in Silicon Valley making $200,000 a year living on their friends' couch, or renting a small studio apartment.

I'm not suggesting that everyone try to make $100,000. This was just my arbitrary goal because that is a decent amount of money for where I'm living. To give you an idea of stats for my town:

Cost of living index: 131.50
Median home price: $280,000
Median household income: $78,000

For Boston:
169.60
$500,000
$54,000

Washington DC:
158.50
$510,000
$69,000

Atlanta:
101.80
$191,000
$46,000

San Fran:
272.60
$1,122,000 (holy ****)
$78,000

This is all from bestplaces.net. The median income in the cities is also likely lower than the suburbs. In any event, my total comp. is currently 2.12x the media household income and 59% of a home. If I were to make the same amount in San Francisco, it would be 15% of a home. My goal of $100,000 would have represented 33% the cost of a home, or $1,000 for every 1.31 points of cost of living index. Using these values, my same goal in San Francisco would have been: $370,000 or $208,000, respectively.

I don't want to get too crazy with analyzing this, but there was a ton of mention of it and I was generally curious about other areas. In other areas of the country, $100,000 could certainly be closer to an anomaly. That being said, in my part of the country it is not, but $100,000 is still worth much more here than it is in San Francisco, or even if I were working and living in Boston for that matter.

hurricane1091

I wouldn't really worry about making it a point to get to 100k in 3 years. It's really not very easy no matter what. Takes a lot of studying, constant job hopping, etc. I went from 34k to 85k (plus whatever bonus) in three years, but I'm about to quit my 3rd job already and move on to my 4th. It gets old moving around so much. Nothing really changes, it's just more work/responsibility. A little more financial security, a bit nicer material things. If I do a good job, I could see breaking 100k in one or two years easily. I'll feel good about myself, but it's just 100k. People make better money doing less studying/work. Big boss man makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and can go buy a 50k truck on a whim and not really care, but that takes years and for a lot of people here just will never happen.

People should understand that there really are jobs that pay more than they should, and it's possible with some luck to get ahead that way. I interviewed for a network engineer job that was willing to pay 80k for a person with a CCNA (or willing to get one within a year) and 1-2 years experience. That's insane, yet it was real. So imagine you luck into that 0-2 years into your IT career, it's going to be pretty easy to go get a CCNP and 100k somewhere else now in 1-2 more years. It didn't happen for me - I had to go the long and hard way, but I still feel like I've gotten some lucky breaks to be honest.

kalimuscle

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I wouldn't really worry about making it a point to get to 100k in 3 years. It's really not very easy no matter what. Takes a lot of studying, constant job hopping, etc. I went from 34k to 85k (plus whatever bonus) in three years, but I'm about to quit my 3rd job already and move on to my 4th. It gets old moving around so much. Nothing really changes, it's just more work/responsibility. A little more financial security, a bit nicer material things. If I do a good job, I could see breaking 100k in one or two years easily. I'll feel good about myself, but it's just 100k. People make better money doing less studying/work. Big boss man makes hundreds of thousands of dollars a year and can go buy a 50k truck on a whim and not really care, but that takes years and for a lot of people here just will never happen.

People should understand that there really are jobs that pay more than they should, and it's possible with some luck to get ahead that way. I interviewed for a network engineer job that was willing to pay 80k for a person with a CCNA (or willing to get one within a year) and 1-2 years experience. That's insane, yet it was real. So imagine you luck into that 0-2 years into your IT career, it's going to be pretty easy to go get a CCNP and 100k somewhere else now in 1-2 more years. It didn't happen for me - I had to go the long and hard way, but I still feel like I've gotten some lucky breaks to be honest.

No offense and i say this with a great deal of respect and i hope i dont offend anyone here.

But

Why in the heck would anyone hire a job hopper

They are selfish and they do nothing but cause harm to the employer

They start a job and stay for 4 months to 10 months, make mistakes costing the organization money ,once they learn and think they know what they are doing and feel bored oh well time to change jobs! I dont want to spend anymore time with this employer because i am greedy and even though i am paid what i am worth i can make more else where and i dont want to show loyality to this employer for taking me on and helping my career.

Time to job hop !

The cycle continues and their pay cheq gets bigger and bigger until they hit a wall and then they complain about their careers going backwards or feeling burned out because all they took were short cuts.

I see time and time again of people in TE posting about how they started in IT and within a couple of years they are making good money and they THINK they are a Senior resource when all they did was job hop and lied in their resumes by adjusting the dates and B.S about their job titles and responsobilities.

It is just hillarious !

There is no alternative for hard and smart work !

Bust your asses off and do it the right way because a career is not a sprint race it is a marathon.

higherho

@Kalimuscle,

You can blame how our system is setup now. It encourages people to jump ship rather than stay long term with companies. Plus job hoppers (granted moving to a new job every two year's isn't bad. The government allows you to jump to your next grade after 52 weeks in the grade below) bring something new to the table from other organizations (which is a plus).

My former buddy stayed at his same job for 5 years straight and didn't believe in jumping jobs. I said to him your time is limited on this earth and time is valuable. I knew my value and jumped to a new job after 2 years and then jumped to another after 1 year and 0 months. It is very rare for companies to give you what your worth. Most care about the bottom line (which is important) but your time and knowledge is worth a lot more if you're good.

In our area companies are seeing that contracting out or contract to hire is the best approach because having your own dedicated IT staff costs too much money (401k, health benefits, high pay, etc). Now I agree that job hopping every 4 months is a problem if you're not a contractor that does that for a living.

NetworkNewb

kalimuscle wrote: »

There is no alternative for hard and smart work !

Bust your asses off and do it the right way because a career is not a sprint race it is a marathon.

Soooo you would just sit at the same position for a bunch of years if company doesn't have, or isn't giving you, the opportunity to grow? Sounds like horrible career advice.

kalimuscle

higherho wrote: »

@Kalimuscle,

You can blame how our system is setup now. It encourages people to jump ship rather than stay long term with companies. Plus job hoppers (granted moving to a new job every two year's isn't bad. the government allows you to jump to your next grade after 52 weeks in the same grade) bring something new to the table from other organizations (which is a plus).

My former buddy stayed at his same job for 5 years straight and didn't believe in jumping jobs. I said to him, your time is limited on this earth and time is valuable. I knew my value and jumped to a new job after 2 years, then jumped to another after 1 year and 10 months to get were I am at today. It is very rare for companies to give you what your worth. Most don't care, most care about the bottom line (which is important) but your time and knowledge is worth a lot more.

Plus in our area, companies are seeing that contracting out or contract to hire is the best approach because having your own dedicated IT staff costs what to much money (401k, health benefits, high pay, etc).

Now in the end, job hopping every 4 months is a problem if your not a contractor that does that for a living.

Exactly

If you are going to change jobs often become a contractor !

I know project managers that change jobs 3 times per year because they are just temp contractors.

Also staying far too long doesnt do good either you need to put in a decent amount of time and you know find the balance and leave when time is truely right!

RHEL

So I guess these cost of living calculators may have some merit to them... I'm always shocked when I use them to compare salaries from two drastically different CoL areas.

Take the OP's $100,000 goal in Boston... Apply that to Rochester, NY CoL:

"You would need around 61,365.83$ in Rochester, NY to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 100,000.00$ in Boston, MA (assuming you rent in both cities)."

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&city1=Boston%2C+MA&country2=United+States&city2=Rochester%2C+NY&amount=100000&displayCurrency=USD

What a crazy difference.

kalimuscle

NetworkNewb wrote: »

Soooo you would just sit at the same position for a bunch of years if company doesn't have, or isn't giving you, the opportunity to grow? Sounds like horrible career advice.

Ofcourse that is not what i am saying.

Staying in the same role for 10 years and doing the same crap over and over again (lifers) is not what i am preaching.

What i am saying is when the time is right and you have put in your time and you feel the need to move then do so.

However if you were lied about the role and the role was not what you expected then thats a different story.

hurricane1091

kalimuscle wrote: »

No offense and i say this with a great deal of respect and i hope i dont offend anyone here.

But

Why in the heck would anyone hire a job hopper

They are selfish and they do nothing but cause harm to the employer

They start a job and stay for 4 months to 10 months, make mistakes costing the organization money ,once they learn and think they know what they are doing and feel bored oh well time to change jobs! I dont want to spend anymore time with this employer because i am greedy and even though i am paid what i am worth i can make more else where and i dont want to show loyality to this employer for taking me on and helping my career.

Time to job hop !

The cycle continues and their pay cheq gets bigger and bigger until they hit a wall and then they complain about their careers going backwards or feeling burned out because all they took were short cuts.

I see time and time again of people in TE posting about how they started in IT and within a couple of years they are making good money and they THINK they are a Senior resource when all they did was job hop and lied in their resumes by adjusting the dates and B.S about their job titles and responsobilities.

It is just hillarious !

There is no alternative for hard and smart work !

Bust your asses off and do it the right way because a career is not a sprint race it is a marathon.

I think you need to understand something. I had a 6 month contract as my first IT job. It expired, I needed to get a new job. So, on to job #2. I was desperate, I took the first job I could get. Desktop support with some admin functions. Got my CCNA while I was there, and really wanted to do networking. There was no networking to be done there, so after 6 months it was on to job #3 (job #2 always knew I had more in me and would not last long). Job #3 comes with a 20k+ raise and it's network engineering, what I wanted to do. How could I NOT take this job? I did, and I've been here for 2 years. Tomorrow I put in my two weeks notice for job #4. Why leave job #3? It's been a great two years, and they gave me a 10k raise + 12% bonus in February (my boss has also always said I know you'll move on to bigger things but I hope to work with you for a few years, he's said this since very early on), but I've found a place who wants to give me another 12k on top of that and it is closer to home. Both amazing things, no? Even better, they want me to do new/exciting/innovating things that I myself do not even know how to do yet (they know this - I was EXTREMELY honest). How could I pass that opportunity up?

So there you have more story, do you still want to pass fault to me? I really doubt it. People are not getting rewarded out there for their efforts. My brother quit, and they tried to offer 16k for him to stay. 16k to say in a REACTIVE move, why not be PROACTIVE and offer than 16k BEFORE someone is walking out the door? System is designed for you to quit every couple of years, that's just the way it is.

kalimuscle

hurricane1091 wrote: »

I think you need to understand something. I had a 6 month contract as my first IT job. It expired, I needed to get a new job. So, on to job #2. I was desperate, I took the first job I could get. Desktop support with some admin functions. Got my CCNA while I was there, and really wanted to do networking. There was no networking to be done there, so after 6 months it was on to job #3 (job #2 always knew I had more in me and would not last long). Job #3 comes with a 20k+ raise and it's network engineering, what I wanted to do. How could I NOT take this job? I did, and I've been here for 2 years. Tomorrow I put in my two weeks notice for job #4. Why leave job #3? It's been a great two years, and they gave me a 10k raise + 12% bonus in February (my boss has also always said I know you'll move on to bigger things but I hope to work with you for a few years, he's said this since very early on), but I've found a place who wants to give me another 12k on top of that and it is closer to home. Both amazing things, no? Even better, they want me to do new/exciting/innovating things that I myself do not even know how to do yet (they know this - I was EXTREMELY honest). How could I pass that opportunity up?

So there you have more story, do you still want to pass fault to me? I really doubt it. People are not getting rewarded out there for their efforts. My brother quit, and they tried to offer 16k for him to stay. 16k to say in a REACTIVE move, why not be PROACTIVE and offer than 16k BEFORE someone is walking out the door? System is designed for you to quit every couple of years, that's just the way it is.

My post was NOT directed at you. If you felt so i apologise.

It was about something that i seen happening in the forum so i spoke about it.

Thats why i said i hope i dont offend anyone here

anhtran35

Iristheangel wrote: »

$75K sounds great but cost of living in DC/VA area easily offsets that. It's very similar to California cost of living with higher housing prices. It's good progress though for someone with 12 months though

I agree. However, it took me 8 years to make over 100k. He is at 75k in under 12 months time. I inform him to stay in this position for 24 months before he makes his next jump. Currently DC/VA is experiencing a shortage of cleared people due to the backlog. Additionally, there seems to be an uptick in DOD contracting jobs. Requirement is a Security +CE due to the 8570 standard. It's not unheard of for an SA or NA to be hired and put on the bench for 3 months till he/she pass the Sec +CE around here. VA housing is OK. In regards to housing, I predict it will get cheaper due to the surplus of housing constructions all over DC/VA and MD. Additionally, the elder population are moving out while the people with kids are moving to the subs.

hurricane1091

kalimuscle wrote: »

My post was NOT directed at you. If you felt so i apologise.

It was about something that i seen happening in the forum so i spoke about it.

Thats why i said i hope i dont offend anyone here

You didn't offend me, I just wanted to offer some insight on how it could happen.

You are not totally wrong, believe me. Some people here are overpaid, some under. Some lucky, some not so much. That's life for you. Look at that 80k job I mentioned. Someone with potentially 2 years experience of desktop support making 50k might get that networking job. They might stay there for 2 years and get a CCNP. Suddenly they might quit for 100k as a senior guy somewhere, and bam they fit the mold of the kind of person who job hopped to a great pay day. You'd be right in that they aren't likely a senior resource. I consider my past two years of networking experience to be the best possible experience one could have, and even I really need another year or two here to really be a solid senior resource. But if talent is lacking in the area and this hypothetical 2 year deskside, 2 year CCNP networking guy is able to benefit from it - who is stopping them?

Four months is too short to stay at a job. I did two 6 month stints, but one was a contract. The other actually was a contract too and I quit like 2 weeks after it become full time. Once I finally got to the networking side of things, I stayed for two years. I'd be staying for at least another year if I didn't luck into this new role.

anhtran35

I have no issues with JOB HOPPERS. Companies preach loyalty yet they have no issues laying people off within 24 hours notice. Obviously if one job hops too much their resume will be in question. But to talk about company loyalty I want to see a company that provides the necessary benefits to obtain an employee loyalty. It's a 2 way street.

dave330i

When I graduated from college in the late 90's, 1 of my goal was earning $100k/year. It's interesting that people are still using $100k as a goal. During the ~20 years price of good have doubled, tripled and beyond, but salary haven't kept up.

srj

RHEL wrote: »

So I guess these cost of living calculators may have some merit to them... I'm always shocked when I use them to compare salaries from two drastically different CoL areas.

Take the OP's $100,000 goal in Boston... Apply that to Rochester, NY CoL:

"You would need around 61,365.83$ in Rochester, NY to maintain the same standard of life that you can have with 100,000.00$ in Boston, MA (assuming you rent in both cities)."

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=United+States&city1=Boston%2C+MA&country2=United+States&city2=Rochester%2C+NY&amount=100000&displayCurrency=USD

What a crazy difference.

One thing to keep in mind is that not everyone who works in an expensive city like Boston also lives in Boston. The largest disparity in prices that you posted was rent (~60%). Fortunately, I don't have to work or live in Boston, but still benefit from the higher salaries in the area.

Manchester, NH is a much smaller and cheaper city that is equidistant from where I live to Boston. Doing a comparison between Rochester and Manchester shows a very similar cost of living. Many people I know exploit this by getting the higher salaries of Boston, while living in a place like Manchester. You end up spending more time in your car/traffic, but this is also good time for learning (audiobooks and the like). There are also WFH opportunities at some companies for at least a couple days of the week.

So, as I mentioned before, I still think the most important factor in considering a goal for your salary is YOUR cost of living. The cost of living of the city you work in is not the most important thing. For my cost of living, $100,000 was very comfortable and allows me to save a lot of money for retirement, pay my mortgage/bills, build an emergency fund, and still have some extra each month.

I'm sure there are additional opportunities in Rochester and similar areas where you can still live 30 minutes away and exploit the higher salaries. I think the important thing ultimately, however, is the delta between your salary and cost of living in absolute terms. If it is $70,000 in one area, but $30,000 in another, then the former will result in more money being saved over time.

In any case, I think that I've probably beaten the cost of living discussion to death.

Cyberscum

100k really is not that much anymore.

Everyone I work with makes well over 100k in a very low cost area and no one is living a lavish lifestyle.

It's a good goal, but most people I know making over 100k despise their jobs in reality ha ha.....me included