As someone who has worked in sf tech for 5-6 years I feel like I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve become too critical of the industry to continue working in it.
Pointless article. What apps are they even talking about? The only thing I could remotely think of if they’re talking about buying guns online is some dark net market linked to from a TOR browser app.
Honestly if a kid can not only figure out how to get to a dark net market but set up a bitcoin wallet, convert fiat to bitcoin, use PGP to decrypt/encrypt messages, and figure out how to get things delivered without their parents knowing then are they really just kids?
Mean is probably better than median here, right? Because salary isn't quite a normal distribution. The high end is super high. 300k is normal for FAANG, but that class of tech employee is in the top 10% of the wider tech salary pool, at least.
Interesting that you call out being single. I've had the opposite experience – the trick seems to be a salary like that and a spouse that is at least pulling down a normal salary as well. If they're also making engineer money, then you're super set. If I'd have been splitting rent and groceries for the past 10 years, my finances would look a lot better.
That's not an excuse, I could have gotten a roommate with the same effect. Just to say that it seems being single raises expenses because you lose the little collaborative economies of scale.
I would put DINKs in the same group, yes (double income no kids). Kids are a very big expense, even for high earners, and actually especially in pricey areas like Silicon Valley because housing near good schools commands an even higher premium than average for that area.
What percent of millenials are working in the tech sector and earning the median salary? Also, is that the median salary for all tech workers, or only Silicon Valley big company workers?
I believe you may be not thinking outside your bubble at the rest of the world. You're actually looking at one single vocation in one single area at one single point in time and assuming that therefore all millenials should have no trouble saving that up, totally ignoring that not even most tech sector workers earn that, and the vast vast majority of millenials are not tech workers?
When I went to college only a few years ago the best paying jobs in consulting and banking were largely gated by what school you went to. Now students from “non-prestigious” schools or no formal schooling at all have a good chance at earning that much.
Again, if you move to the right bubble with the right education at the right time. Are you arguing that any millenial that wanted could get that education and move to SV and get a job that paid that much? Does FAANG have unlimited room for developers?
There's definitely a bit of an arms race going on, and it's unfortunate. I find both products to be very different, and we could stand to have some diversity in the area of alternative meat products.
Off the top of my head, in terms of commercial availability I've seen them at:
Beyond:
- Safeway (both meat patties, and frozen boxed crumbles)
- Del Taco
- Carls Jr.
- Veggie Grill
Impossible:
- Umami Burger
- White Castle
- Smaller retail locations
- pilot w/ Burger King
Beyond also has a lot of products, from sausages, crumbles, and different flavors of meat.
I think Impossible is highly focused on reproducing ground beef.
I think they're afraid that one brand will be so much more successful that the other goes away. Each brand has different flavor, texture, and nutritional profiles so if any of those are particularly important to you then it's hard to make do with one of the other options.
For example, both Beyond Meat and Quorn sell meatless "beef" crumbles. Each has a noticeably different flavor and fairly different nutrition (The Quorn has significantly fewer calories, but less protein for example). I would be sad if either one went out of business because I use them differently.
It's still such a niche market that expanding it right now is the best thing for all the players. Beyond Meat revenue is $33m compared to say Tyson at $33b. The veggie meat market is also a lot less homogenic than meats since everyone makes their own proprietary blends from thousands of possible ingredients. Compared to say cheap chicken where it's impossible to tell brands apart.
The vast majority of Impossible Burger's distribution is in restaurants. I haven't been able to find them in stores. Beyond Burgers, I buy weekly at the local mainstream (non-Whole Foods) grocery. Comes out to about $2.50/burger. Works great for my near-vegan partner, and we can still cook out at home!
Anyone else find the Patreon experience very slow and janky? The entire experience feels like a bootcamp final project and not a company with top engineering talent 5+ years in the making.
