Disappointing photos show what living in San Francisco on a tech salary really looks like
Due to a housing shortage, the high demand for living accommodations has sent real estate values skyrocketing in the Bay Area.
And the region's behemoth tech companies aren't slowing down on talent recruitment. Engineers are constantly pouring in.
Many arrive viewing their new lives through rose-colored glasses, holding high expectations of what a tech salary will look.
Fancy cars, colossal homes, and a more-than-comfortable lifestyle fill their minds.
The reality is oftentimes much different than what they expected.
The biggest wake up call? The astronomically-priced rent.
They end up spending a good portion of their salary purely on rent, leaving little else to cover the other outrageous expenses in the city.
And so tech workers, both seasoned and newly-minted, have had to get creative with how they can outsmart the city's notoriously absurd rental costs.
Like the people behind The Negev, a communal living organization that houses tech workers in San Francisco.
Source: Business Insider
It's one of many communal spaces in the city designed to help techies circumvent the housing shortage and high rent. The home offers 50 rooms across three floors.
Source: Reuters
Many of the Negev residents sleep in bunk beds and shell out $1,900 a month to live here.
Source: Reuters
The tenants are software engineers, UI designers, operations analysts, or virtual reality engineers, and most are under the age of 30.
Source: Business Insider
There's also a social element to The Negev. Residents are encouraged to bounce ideas off of each other, and to code and create apps.
Source: Business Insider
Resident Zandar Dejah (left) told Reuters that it's "basically an extension of college. We sort of live in a frat house."
Source: Business Insider
Every Sunday there's a communal dinner for housemates, and on the weekend the house hosts parties.
Source: Reuters
As convenient as it is for its occupants, the home has been criticized for depriving natives of affordable housing.
Source: Reuters
But many young tech workers can't afford conventional housing...
Micah, along with his wife Jana and their son, moved to the Bay Area to pursue a tech career.
Source: Exploring Alternatives
To avoid the city's steep rental costs, they had a tiny home built for their family of three in Texas and lugged it out to California.
Source: Exploring Alternatives
...so they teamed up with a family already settled in the Bay who allowed them to post up in their RV pad, for a fee.
Source: Exploring Alternatives
They use an extension chord to stay hooked up to the house for power, and they also keep a generator outside for when they want to use the air conditioner or washer and dryer.
Source: Exploring Alternatives
Guests are educated on proper toilet use with a handy cheat sheet on the windowsill.
Source: Exploring Alternatives
The couple has a lofted sleeping nook, with another loft opposite them in the house for their son as he gets older...
Source: Exploring Alternatives
...at which point they said they might need to reevaluate living spaces since a teenager will make the home a tad more cramped.
Source: Exploring Alternatives
...and his wife Kara shelled out $1,900 for a Winnebago van and moved to Silicon Valley from Chicago when Pete snagged a job with one of Google's self-driving car teams.
Source: Tech Insider
They parked their mobile digs in the Google parking lot and lived there for a year and a half to two years (before having their daughter,) putting 80% of their income into savings.
Source: Tech Insider
To maximize space, they placed a cutting board over the sink for when they're not using it.
Source: Tech Insider
“I think a lot of people think this is like the antithesis of comfortable, but I actually really loved it,” Jana told Tech Insider in 2016. “I was really happy.”
Source: Tech Insider
They saved up enough to put a down payment on a house. Seven months after moving into it, they got a dog, four cats, and three chickens. That was also when their daughter was born.
Source: Tech Insider
As for their van, they'll hang on to it and use it for traveling. Pete told Tech Insider that he sees plenty of other vans parked in the parking lot at Google. “We’re not the only ones," he said.
Source: Tech Insider
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