Any other engineers care to chime in about stock options? Is your company still granting them? Has the volume of options being granted changed? Have your co-worker’s attitude about the company’s compensation plan changed? (my co-workers are feeling pretty well f’d over these days – management is receiving stock and options as bonuses and the line-level troops are lucky to get a 3% raise each year) The original poster of this thread is saying that options being granted to engineers are a significant source of income here in San Diego – I don’t see that and I’m curious if anyone else does
As an EE at a quasi-government university R&D lab, I don’t get stocks or profit sharing (no profit :^{ ), but we do get ~10% contribution to 403b, with no matching required, and ~15% on ever dollar over the Soc. Sec. limit. Typically, experienced engineers get six figures, but the pay profile is pretty flat (ie, the managers aren’t making multiples of the foot soldier’s salary)
These days, though, even dual-six figure families cannot afford any reasonable housing in this area. Either the price leaves you house-poor and the schools stink (private runs 8000-18000 per kid, per year) OR the prices are about 30% too high for $200-250k per year dual income families in the good districts. Only prior owners, like myself, and $300k+ per year families can get in around here, and most of those folks want more than adequate housing. So, IMHO, even with good jobs, the area has at least exhausted its ability to appreciate, probably for a good part of a decade.
