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Necc0 posted:Uhhh- I mean yeah you definitely want to contribute to your retirement don't get me wrong but what does going up tax brackets have to do with it? As you go up tax brackets, your income is taxed at higher and higher rates. Stuff that is tax advantaged (health care, commuting costs, student loans etc) come out of your income pre-taxes, which makes your total taxable income lower, which means you pay less in taxes. This year I get to write off about 10K in expenses related to moving and other things. Which once you move in to the 28% tax bracket add up fast. Starting this year my company will take out my public transit ticket pre-tax which will save me about $1200/yr after taxes. Below about the $70,000 mark most of these tax writeoffs are rounding error stuff, but 1-2% tax breaks at the 100K mark, those add up really fast.
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Jan 18, 2016 05:07
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Cockmaster posted:I wonder what kinds of strings are attached. One of their nanodegree offerings is "machine learning engineer", something I may be interested in. Trouble is, I'm absolutely not interested in living in Silicon Valley (or California in general for reasons beyond the scope of this thread), or anywhere else where I'd have to choose between commuting 2-3 hours each way or living in a shoebox. Which seems to be where i big chunk of the interesting robotics jobs are at. What's your definition of shoebox?
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Jan 18, 2016 15:24
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Hadlock posted:As you go up tax brackets, your income is taxed at higher and higher rates. Stuff that is tax advantaged (health care, commuting costs, student loans etc) come out of your income pre-taxes, which makes your total taxable income lower, which means you pay less in taxes. The other huge thing is that because 401k money is actually invested pre-taxes, you're getting a larger principle than you could otherwise which grows exponentially with compounding interest/growth/dividends.
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Jan 18, 2016 17:33
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Hadlock posted:As you go up tax brackets, your income is taxed at higher and higher rates. Stuff that is tax advantaged (health care, commuting costs, student loans etc) come out of your income pre-taxes, which makes your total taxable income lower, which means you pay less in taxes. Ithaqua posted:Basically anything you can do to cut down on your taxable income, since you very likely just jumped up a tax bracket or two. Basically, saving is good but people come up with weird complicated reasons like blaming taxes. Just save money if you're earning more and were living okay before this new job. See BFC for more questions. Star War Sex Parrot fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Jan 18, 2016 |
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Jan 18, 2016 20:41
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Ithaqua posted:"Only" Thanks! I'm definitely looking into all my options when it comes to saving and investing, I plan to retire early.
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Jan 18, 2016 20:57
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let i hug posted:The other huge thing is that because 401k money is actually invested pre-taxes, you're getting a larger principle than you could otherwise which grows exponentially with compounding interest/growth/dividends. It doesn't work like that sadly, you end up with the same either way.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:10
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pointsofdata posted:It doesn't work like that sadly, you end up with the same either way. It could make a difference if rates changed significantly. Guess the position you take depends on whether there's a "national" modifier in front of the "socialist" in the name of the glorious revolution you're expecting. I go 50/50 pre/post tax.
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Jan 18, 2016 21:55
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pointsofdata posted:It doesn't work like that sadly, you end up with the same either way. One thing I have been thinking about as a California resident: put away pretax money for retirement, retire in Nevada or some other state without state income tax. Boom, instant ~9%. Or as appropriate depending on what is happening decades from now.
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Jan 18, 2016 22:38
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Series DD Funding posted:What's your definition of shoebox? Pretty much every meaningful hobby I've ever been interested in requires a good amount of workshop space. For some things I could get away with an average two bedroom apartment, but some things would require a single-family house with a garage (though not a particularly large one). Though I had heard there was something of a robotics scene in Texas' major cities, so that's a possibility.
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Jan 19, 2016 00:27
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Star War Sex Parrot posted:We have a progressive tax system in the US which means your average tax rate will never be above your marginal tax rate. You never end up in a situation where you take home less by moving into a higher tax bracket. Tax brackets really don't have anything to do with how aggressively you should be contributing to retirement accounts, but if it provides justification in your head for saving then more power to you. Where your MAGI gets important with respect to retirement savings and you need to consider increasing pre-tax contributions and exploiting deductions is when you're coming up against earnings limits that would disqualify you for things like a Roth IRA, but then there are loopholes like backdoor Roth. The extra money you get from being able to write off $x of income is determined by your marginal tax rate, not your average tax rate. The idea that you can lose money by jumping up a tax bracket is wrong, but neither of the posts you're responding to seem to actually be saying that. e: Munkeymon posted:It could make a difference if rates changed significantly. Guess the position you take depends on whether there's a "national" modifier in front of the "socialist" in the name of the glorious revolution you're expecting. I go 50/50 pre/post tax. It really can't. If your contributions are 10% bigger because of them being tax-favoured, 10% is exactly how much bigger the return you get out at the end is. This is the case for any value of 10. Jeb Bush 2012 fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Jan 19, 2016 |
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Jan 19, 2016 04:01
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:It really can't. If your contributions are 10% bigger because of them being tax-favoured, 10% is exactly how much bigger the return you get out at the end is. This is the case for any value of 10. Actually, when comparing tax advantaged retirement accounts that you put pre vs post tax dollars into, it absolutely does make a difference what your tax rate is at deposit time versus withdrawal time. edit: I read the post you were quoting to mean *tax* rates, which I guess wasn't explicitly specified, but is what makes a difference. Steve French fucked around with this message at 05:37 on Jan 19, 2016 |
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Jan 19, 2016 05:34
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The stuff about taxes seems beside the point? It's easier to save money when you get a raise because you haven't committed the money yet.
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Jan 19, 2016 06:23
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Could you people maybe go argue about retirement accounts in one of the threads for that? I thought i was reading the Bad With Money thread for a minute.
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Jan 19, 2016 19:13
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Any suggestions on where to do a telephone interview? I've scheduled one for lunch time next week but have no idea where I'm going to do it. I can't do it in the office and don't drive to work. Current ideas: -By the river. Pros: no one can hear me talking. Cons: cold, river can be noisy -cafe. Pros: warm. Considered: noisy. -pretend I've got a plumber coming and wfh. Pros:warm, quiet, can concentrate. Cons: I can't keep doing this if I have multiple interviews.
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Jan 19, 2016 21:22
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pointsofdata posted:Any suggestions on where to do a telephone interview? I've scheduled one for lunch time next week but have no idea where I'm going to do it. I can't do it in the office and don't drive to work. Current ideas: I've taken phone interviews in my car in the parking lot during lunch hour before (assuming you drive to work). Even if people "catch you" doing it, they don't know what you're on the phone for. Just say you're on the phone with a family member about a personal matter if it becomes a pressing thing.
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Jan 19, 2016 21:30
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I've taken interviews walking around a park. If you're worried about river noise, dry run a call with the same headphones to a family member and see if you have problems. It's also worth asking if you'll be expected to be in front of a computer, I've had screens in google docs and other collaborative editors. Save your home days for those. Worst case, book a conference room and paper over the window.
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Jan 19, 2016 21:42
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No Safe Word posted:I've taken phone interviews in my car in the parking lot during lunch hour before (assuming you drive to work). Even if people "catch you" doing it, they don't know what you're on the phone for. Just say you're on the phone with a family member about a personal matter if it becomes a pressing thing. I don't drive to work, or indeed have a car. JawnV6 posted:I've taken interviews walking around a park. If you're worried about river noise, dry run a call with the same headphones to a family member and see if you have problems. Current company is so small that I can't really use our one spare meeting room. The other is where everyone has lunch  good idea to test out the river beforehand, will do that
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Jan 19, 2016 21:54
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pointsofdata posted:I can't do it in the office and don't drive to work. No Safe Word posted:(assuming you drive to work). This assumption may be faulty.
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Jan 20, 2016 03:40
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:This assumption may be faulty. 
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Jan 20, 2016 05:50
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So I've been putting a net out and looking for something better, since my current company has nothing for me to do 2 months in and my department seems to be an unmitigated disaster. I've been pretty surprised how many places will totally stop talking to me if I don't tell them my salary history and expectations before an offer. Seems like bad business to me - is it really worth potentially missing out on good devs just because you can't take advantage of them and hopefully hire them with a low salary? The thing that really grates me is how they just make up nonsense reasons for it. I was talking to an HR person, after she emailed me to set up a phone interview after I applied. She said she just needed to know if what they were willing to pay was in the right ballpark, so I said I could tell her if it was in the right ballpark if she told me what they were thinking of offering. Of course, I never heard from her after that.
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Jan 20, 2016 17:00
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Truthfully, interviewing and hiring is an expensive process and the more roadblocks hiring staff can put in place as a way to bail on someone who looks like they won't fit, the better. Now to put on my employee hat, never reveal your current salary. If they push, give them your current salary plus 20-25%.
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Jan 20, 2016 19:15
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Ploft-shell crab posted:I'm going to graduate in the Spring with a degree in Biochemistry but with probably 70% of the formal CS training a CS major would have. Long story short I was attempting to double major and it didn't work out. I have a 3.7(which I think is higher for CS classes), some stuff on Github(Google Summer of Code, some stuff I did for an informatics research internship), etc. I'm this guy, applying for jobs now. Would anyone mind taking a glance at my resume? Should I  it?
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Jan 20, 2016 19:17
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Blinkz0rz posted:Truthfully, interviewing and hiring is an expensive process and the more roadblocks hiring staff can put in place as a way to bail on someone who looks like they won't fit, the better. So how do you figure out what to ask for salary? I see numbers all over the place even in specific markets. I'm also a recent grad so I figure I wouldn't be pulling six figures quite yet but...apparently some place start you there? Granted I've also seen some absurdly low offers that felt more like "maybe we'll get really lucky and somebody will take this."
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Jan 20, 2016 19:33
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Doghouse posted:So I've been putting a net out and looking for something better, since my current company has nothing for me to do 2 months in and my department seems to be an unmitigated disaster. I've been pretty surprised how many places will totally stop talking to me if I don't tell them my salary history and expectations before an offer. Seems like bad business to me - is it really worth potentially missing out on good devs just because you can't take advantage of them and hopefully hire them with a low salary? A lot of people will recommend against even going this far, but if you tell them "Hey, I'm looking for $X. Does it make sense to keep talking?" it'd be hard to hold it against you.
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Jan 20, 2016 19:43
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:A lot of people will recommend against even going this far, but if you tell them "Hey, I'm looking for $X. Does it make sense to keep talking?" it'd be hard to hold it against you. Yeah I guess, if it's a company I really, really want to work for and I know they'll stonewall me otherwise - but all that does is put you in a bad position, because they theoretically could have been willing to offer you higher. And if you go super high that's also a risk. But it does seem that with a lot of companies, they simply refuse to go forward without knowing your history and asking price.
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Jan 20, 2016 19:59
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ToxicSlurpee posted:So how do you figure out what to ask for salary? I see numbers all over the place even in specific markets. I'm also a recent grad so I figure I wouldn't be pulling six figures quite yet but...apparently some place start you there? It depends a lot on the area. Try looking around at Salary.com and some other sights to get an idea of what the market is like, ask around if possible.
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Jan 20, 2016 20:01
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Doghouse posted:Yeah I guess, if it's a company I really, really want to work for and I know they'll stonewall me otherwise - but all that does is put you in a bad position, because they theoretically could have been willing to offer you higher. And if you go super high that's also a risk. I mean, do your research first. Don't be a sucker. But I make pretty good money these days and I'm not interested in going to three interviews to find out I'd be taking a bigass pay cut if I took the stupid job.
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Jan 20, 2016 21:53
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Yeah, that's a good point
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Jan 21, 2016 02:15
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If they really push you on it you can always fall back to- Either A: You haven't had enough time to research their company and look into their presence on Glassdoor. In this case- 'I don't know enough about the position or company to make a reasonable estimate let's keep talking and I'll get back to you on that' Or B: *top end of salary range for position they're hiring for, assuming it's acceptable to you* But ultimately the advantage is on your side and playing hardball in negotiations isn't worth anything if you aren't willing to walk.
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Jan 21, 2016 05:26
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Zephonith posted:My feedback has been really good, so I should be fine, but... it sure would be nice to know if I can afford my rent in March.
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Jan 23, 2016 03:24
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I've feel like I've hosed myself over, I'm in the spring semester of junior year and have a 3.1 GPA and not that many projects due to brain poo poo. I COULD get an internship with my dad at an (apparently?) pretty important tech company but that's gross. Do you guys think that's my best shot? Projects I've done are basically helping some grad students analyze and identify sections of a 3D printer program and that they wanted and then make that section work on their own with external output. And some class stuff, including PINTOS which was implementing OS features (file systems, virtual memory, etc) in a group. I've also done some small things on my own like a simple irc chat bot and a lovely RPG character maker that doesn't work, I don't think those are very impressive?? 
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Jan 26, 2016 16:41
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You're fine, the bar for internships is pretty low. Just try hard to get an internship, you should be able to find one, depending on what area you're in of course.
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Jan 26, 2016 16:52
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Xun posted:I've feel like I've hosed myself over, I'm in the spring semester of junior year and have a 3.1 GPA and not that many projects due to brain poo poo. I COULD get an internship with my dad at an (apparently?) pretty important tech company but that's gross. Do you guys think that's my best shot? You made anything outside of school. If you put those (at least the working ones) on your resume it would put you ahead of 90% of the new-grad resumes I've ever seen. Is the idea of the internship gross because you don't want to work with your dad or that you think the internship would be worth less because it's with your dad? Because you put "Internship, Summer 2016" on the resume not "Internship I Got From My Dad, Summer 2016". Many jobs are received because of networking with the people you know, including family, and if you're legitimately qualified for the internship and learn from it then no prospective employer should care if your foot-in-the-door came from your parents or not. Have you tried using your university's resources to help you find an internship in your area?
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Jan 26, 2016 16:58
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Xun posted:I've feel like I've hosed myself over, I'm in the spring semester of junior year and have a 3.1 GPA and not that many projects due to brain poo poo. I COULD get an internship with my dad at an (apparently?) pretty important tech company but that's gross. Do you guys think that's my best shot? Spoiler alert: the world runs on nepotism and networking. 'Meritocracy' is a convenient lie. By the very fact you're aware of the issue indicates you aren't an rear end in a top hat who will take it for granted and that's all that really counts. I had the exact same opportunity in college and threw it away because 'icky' and I've been kicking myself ever since. Sure you can apply for other internships but do not allow your connection anywhere into your decision making process in which to take. If your dad's gig is the best take it. Don't make the same mistake I did. Once you're well out of school all of your best opportunities will come from people you know. That's just how it works. Necc0 fucked around with this message at 17:11 on Jan 26, 2016 |
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Jan 26, 2016 17:09
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Regarding stuff outside of schoolwork, what makes for a good hobby project? I've done a bit of pointless stuff, like a program that goes through a given users Steam wishlist, and outputs which games to buy to get as many as possible within a budget, or a small thing for my previous employer which parses some Excels into a database and includes a basic GUI to search said database. I'm currently working on a simple matrix calculation library, implementing everything (except arrays) myself. Would that stuff be worth mentioning?
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Jan 26, 2016 17:13
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Yes, definitely
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Jan 26, 2016 17:36
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I would take the internship with your dad, become good friends with his boss, and immediately turn that in to a follow-up internship for the next summer. Also keep working the angles on getting an internship elsewhere for the following summer, but walking out the door with 2 years corporate experience puts you way ahead of your peers, both on paper and in terms of practical experience.
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Jan 26, 2016 17:44
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Xun posted:I've feel like I've hosed myself over, I'm in the spring semester of junior year and have a 3.1 GPA and not that many projects due to brain poo poo. I COULD get an internship with my dad at an (apparently?) pretty important tech company but that's gross. Do you guys think that's my best shot? You know what makes the world go around? Networking. You know what the highest and best realization of networking is? Nepotism.
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Jan 26, 2016 18:58
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baquerd posted:You know what makes the world go around? Networking. You know what the highest and best realization of networking is? Nepotism. Seriously, nepotism is only really bad when it's used to keep useless people from being fired. Take full advantage of it to get any kind of real world experience, and prove that you deserved the chance by treating it like a real job (because it is a real job).
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Jan 26, 2016 20:26
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What stuff is and isn't worth mentioning? I've made random games for game jams, some ones that I never finished, and a simple XNA shooter before XNA was discontinued. Pretty much everything I've done on my own was games. I've been leaving that off my resume so far. It's also problematic in that my sense of humor is pretty offensive and it shows in the games. On one hand I'd hate to have somebody see that and go "wow don't hire him" but on the other hand I'm wondering if my trouble finding work is because I leave that stuff off. I also feel like "I made a bunch of games" might not impress people in the non-game world. The game world also seems to want people with way more experience than I have. Also is it normal for an interview to end up asking for a language that the interviewee doesn't even know? I had an interview but the code was in PHP which I've literally never used. It isn't on my resume. If memory serves it was among the "it'd be nice if you knew these" things but not an actual requirement. Granted now it's on my "things to learn more about" list but that really left me scratching my head.
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Jan 26, 2016 20:27
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