While I agree cost of living is a tough pill to swallow in California, a salary table is irrelevant to the concept of 'furthering ones's career'. To further your career is, in fact, usually about taking something that is not financially beneficial but valuable for the experience or worldview that it imparts.
Same, however my company is wanting me to relocate to the Bay Area.
For a bit of background, I have been in Austin for about 7 years, and coding professionally for almost 3 at this company. This has been my first full time job out of college and I have really enjoyed working for them.
The cost of living adjustment they're offering is not what I was hoping it would be. After you take out California state taxes, it is really only about a 15% bump. I would say I make slightly above average for austin, and it would put me about below average in SF/OAK according to this graph. Rent is the huge killer for me because we (wife and I) will probably be paying around $1000 more a month.
Long story short, the financials aren't ideal for moving out there, however part of me wants to get out for a bit and live somewhere new. Also I do think it would help me advance faster if I was out there, because Austin is a satellite office and HQ is in the Bay Area.
I'm 32 and recently married. I also have two large dogs. SF is completely out of the question for me. If I was younger and unmarried or had a working spouse I'd be more interested in trying it out purely for the experience of being out there (I'm told it's fun).
Having said that. Aside from the financial decision I have so little interest in being inside the giant tech bubble that most of my peers out there seem to live in. The vast majority of my friends in Austin are not in tech and I like it that way.
I totally understand your situation though. It's tough if you plan to stay at the same company and want to move up. Do you think you could negotiate a bigger bump for the move? It's one thing to be able to technically afford to survive out there. It's another entirely to be out there for 5+ years and then leave and realize you have basically nothing saved.
Oh, last point. I obviously have no idea what your relationships are like at your company but could you possibly make it clear to some people above you what your concerns are about the move and sort of get an idea for how likely it is you could move up and how long that would take? For instance if your manager thinks it's possible you could be in some new position in 2 years that pays a much better salary maybe it makes sense. Of course they cant guarantee that to you but you could judge the situation yourself.
We just recently started the move conversation, so negotiations are still on going. I will definitely take your point and try to get a more concrete answer from my manager on how this would affect my career trajectory.
The realist in me is saying it will be a no-go if they don't budge a bit. However we don't have kids and are still relatively young (27), so we are feeling that this might be a good opportunity to move and try something new. Also I skateboard and SF is one of the skate meccas of the US, not to mention all of the other awesome things California has to offer. I love Austin, but I am just feeling like I know every nook and cranny now a days.
Even though the adjusted income is slightly under average we wouldn't be scraping by, however we would definitely have to scale back our lifestyle a bit which we were expecting. Also my wife would definitely do some sort of work out there which will help. My biggest concern is maintaining our current savings rate, and if I can do that then I think we will pull the trigger. The decision will be hard none the less.
