Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

Have the local salaries been increasing quite a bit? Some of these reports indicate that some of the local salaries have dwarfed the salaries of the local Microsoft Employees (though they seem to work more overtime than employees of other companies)







No wonder the local RE market is still "affordable".

You've highlighted that overtime pay among government workers is abused, electricians make a butt(crack)-load, and high-tech geniuses in SF run at a premium.

None of this is news.

I should have been a little more clearer in my original posting...

- The base salaries of the city workers is higher than of most fresh-grads joining Microsoft.
- Since Microsoft doesn't pay overtime (though most of its employees work overtime), base salaries+overtime of the city workers exceeds the base salaries of a good number of the MS employees.
- The number of Google employees is (gradually) increasing in this area, and seems like they make a lot more than Microsoft employees
- Other local high-tech companies are also known to pay more than Microsoft.

A common myth in this area seems to be that Microsoft employees are among the few who make a "decent income" -- and that doesn't seem to be true any more.

I know someone with a PhD who received offers from Google and Microsoft last year. The Google position paid much less than the Microsoft position.

As a person who works for the city (ie public sector), yes pay is usually better than in the private sectors (depending on field). This is true not just in Seattle, but as a rule of thumb nationally. Part of this is due to the various unions.

I think the article you are referencing is very skewed... personally I think people should get overtime pay when they work it. Plus when you consider the danger involved in the job, seems like they should make as much as someone typing code. I can live without Vista but I like having light.

I am sure a lot of overtime is due to the "once a century" windstorm. I don't usually like union, but some of these people do risk their life to do a dangerous job, I have no problem with them making more money. If their companies don't want to hire more people in order to save cost, then they have to pay overtime.

Im currently interviewing for jobs at Russell in Tacoma and Marsh in Seattle...along with some others Over the past year I have seen salaries for Financial Analysts increase signficantly. Just reference Salary.com. From April to May the median salary for 98101 incrased by $1000. It is a strong market and have my recruiters calling me every day about interviews...companies in Seattle are hungry for good workers....and yes Im a good worker, lol.

In comparison with what I'm actually making given my educational background and experience, Salary.com looks as bullish as a Ballard homeowner looking to flip their house in 2 years.

People always complain about people in the government supposedly making a "ton" of money in OT, but yet do they really have any clue what these people are doing?

I always hear people complain about the local detective that throws on a uniform and goes on patrol for 8 hours after working an 8 hour shift. If the department is going to pay him to work a 70-80 hour week so that they don't have to pay benefits and retirement to someone else, who cares? They are saving money, not spending more.

If you have a problem with it, strap on a bullet proof vest, go to a couple all night homicide scenes, bust a few crack dealers, go fix some high voltage power lines, go fix some dams in New Orleans, or STFU.

Most of these people are earning the OT for a reason, it's not like the money is free, or some CEO/ hedge fund manager's 50 million dollar bonus for managing OTHER people's money.

The Times and PI always run articles like this about public service workers. Little do they know that most of these peoples put their ass on the line literally risk life and death to support the people of Seattle. So they made extra money this year working round the clock for a couple weeks. BFD. They got your power back online when you were complaining that you couldn't watch American Idol for 3 straight days.

(rant off).

Some? Sure. I was having lunch at Magnuson Park last summer, at a picnic table about 50 feet from the shore.

A park crew showed up to water the landscaping... right on the lake edge. 4 guys -One drove the truck, one put the pump in the lake, 2 others held the hose while the other 2 had a smoke.

That's a nice little story Mike2, I'm sure that those guys weren't making 100K a year either.

And I've worked for both the private and public sectors, trust me, laziness is rampant across the board.