[Gllug] VACANCY: Site Reliability Engineering

[James Laver]

On Fri, February 20, 2009 10:07 am, Balbir Thomas wrote:
>
> sorry, perhaps I should have been more specific in asking about the
> independent
> living appt. Flat sharing may not be a great option for a family, parents
> and
> say infant or child. But you did partly answer my question and confirmed
> my
> suspicion. I am beginning to suspect that London may not be a great place
> to look to build a career and settle down. So looks like market forces
> and consumer choice must take their toll ! I have always disliked big
> cities for this reason (having grown up in one with a population of > 10
> million then), but made an exception for my wife this time. She seems
> to be changing her mind now, and thank god for that :-).
>

London is a great place for building a career. If you want to own your own
flat inside of it, however, then you need to be picky about salary.

I'm from Lincolnshire and there are still 3-bed houses going for 150k. The
average wage for a programmer up there is zero since there just aren't
any, similar thing for sysadmins (closest thing is network infrastructure
for an office -- ugh...) but the houses are cheap. Industry where I'm from
is manual labour and if you contract for people like Corus, you can earn a
rather excellent living up there. Just not as a programmer or a sysadmin.
If i were in one of those industries it wouldn't be too hard to get a nice
place of my own. It's a bit harder in london.

> I did my dissertation while living in columbus, ohio. I can attest to the
> fact
> that on a Ph.D students stipend there, I could afford my own independent
> 1 bedroom appt. and be able to maintain a decent used car and buy
> some gadgets and books every once in a while.

Heh, there's quite a range of prices in london. Flat/house sharing is
naturally the cheapest. I've paid from 275/month to 412/month for renting
a room. The 275 was when I shared a house over near heathrow with 3
friends. Essentially we shared the cost rather than someone trying to
profit and get the 'market rate'.

1-bed flats I've seen from 150/week upwards. For that you will get a dump
in the arse end of nowhere. To get something nice somewhere nice you need
to be looking at least 190/week, more in 'posh' areas such as fulham,
where 220/week will get you a dump.

Next week I'll be moving to Shepherd's Bush for public transport reasons. 
(not to mention to get away from a rather expensive dump in fulham). A two
bed flat comes to 350/week. As I'm sharing, 175/week. I can handle living
with one other person for saving 45/week, gaining much better public
transport and living in a nice flat rather than a dump, even if the area
isn't quite so nice.

4-person flatshare with friends near Heathrow: 3300/year + bills
Flatshare with landlord: 4944/year
Half of a nice two-bed flat in SB: 9100/year
200k mortgage on a 225k one-bed flat at 6% (guessed average) over 25
years: 15645/year

No, living in london isn't cheap, and there are other factors. A big one
for me is public transport -- it's a major quality of life impact. There
are sweetspots in london if you look hard enough where you get the balance
you feel right for transport, cost, amenities and 'niceness'. The belt
between golders green and muswell hill or so has a few of them in.

Taking the place in SB, to keep that.
28,000
- income tax
21,127.60
- rent at 9100/year
12027.60
- gas and electricity at 100/month over 2 people = 600
11427.60
- water bill at 250/year over 2 people = 125
11302.60
- food shopping at 100/week to account for nice luxuries
6102.60
- two meals out a month, averaging 30 pound / head (to include a nice
bottle of wine between two) = 24 * 30 = 720
5382.60
- Takeaway twice a month, averaging 15 quid / head = 24 * 15 = 360
5022.60
- Tube travel, average 30/week = 52 * 30 = 1560
3462.60
- Lunch out twice a week, averaging a tenner (or sandwiches every day --
whatever) = 1040
2422.60
- Broadband, a quality service , 25/month over 2 people = 150
2272.60
- line rental over two people = 72
2200.60
- Home insurance - 200 over two people = 100
2100.60

Ideally I'd like to put that in the bank every year. Your saving towards
the 10% of the mortgage has already put you over 10%, assuming you don't
want such luxuries as a mobile phone, a few nights out, a car etc., you
can manage. You've also put back getting a mortgage for a minimum of 10
years. Accepting a little less salary actually becomes possible once
you've got the mortgage, or if you don't aim towards one, but otherwise
you really need to be looking higher. And then if you're not putting away
a reasonable amount into savings (and lets not forget a pension), then
what happens come the day you don't have your 28k job to fall back on?

--James
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