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.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.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.