How the Other Half Works: an Adventure in the Low Status of Software Engineers
This is bloody depressing to read, and rings true in my experience.<p>One of my pet peeves is relocation costs.  Companies in nyc try to hire me at least every six months, particularly since I used to live there.  You can tell who is an asshole by asking about relo packages.  If they start at $5k my wanker detector goes off.  Assholes offer maybe up to $10k, often as a hiring bonus, so it's taxed; maybe $6k might land in my checking account.  That's a joke for a mid-30s data scientist.  A trip to nyc for me plus partner to shop for apartments alone is $2.5k (2 airline tickets, taxis, meals, boarding a dog, 3 nights in manhattan hotels).  Then the costs of apartment rental, job search for partner, winding down an apartment lease here, selling a car, and moving a grown up apartment -- ie I own a real bed and dressers and a couch and a table -- across the country.  A relocation would cost me on the order of $15-$20k after taxes.<p>Yet ceos whine endlessly about the lack of good employees.  You never see them in a bwm dealership bitching they won't sell a 5-series for $30k though.