I’ve found that biotech jobs that pay 80K in the Bay Area only pay 70K in San Diego. And unless you’re with a good company whose going to survive and have the stock be worth it — well you’ll be looking for another job in a few years.

It is very exciting that Genentech is moving to O’side, though.

I used to work at UCSD, which I believe is SD’s largest employer. Employees that have been there a long time are doing OK, since they were grandfathered in at a time of sweet retirement benefits and probably got cost of living increases. Or at least until every one was forced to take pay cuts in the 90s. But people who started in the last decade or so are not only taking a 25-30% hit for the pleasure of working in academia, they’re getting paid at least 10-15% less than other UCs. Plus parking is $70 a month, you now have to pay for your health insurance, you start with only 3 weeks vacation, etc, etc. I have a friend there now who’s gotten a total of 4% increase in salary over the past five years.

In a presentation on posted on the HR website, the average UCSD staff salary is $46K.