Something doesn't sound right with this. In Atlanta a developer worth their salt with 7 years of experience is going to be getting into the 80-100K range depending on their skills etc.. The only time it is lower is if they are with a startup and taking equity. Atlanta is also much less expensive the New York, San Fran etc..
Looking at Ruby developer salaries it looks like there is a bit of a different between Atlanta and the midwest, but the spread between New York, Atlanta and the Midwest appears to be a 30k difference from what I could find online. Which skill set does the developer with 7 years of experience have making 50K?
I'm genuinely curious.
Re:Agony of an African programmer
by gamegoblin on Sunday April 06, 2014 @08:53PM
(#7544016)
He's making 50K by choice. He has a great work/life balance and spends his free time developing indie games. I mainly mentioned him to demonstrate that it's easy to live a great life on 50K here, whereas there is no way he could support his stay-at-home wife and kid on 50K on the Bay at the same standard he does here.
Re:Agony of an African programmer
by deathanatos on Sunday April 06, 2014 @06:56PM
(#7543566)
> Cost of living is huge factor when taking into account salary and location.
To add to this comment, I live in Silicon Valley, and spend ~20k/yr on rent alone, for a 600 sq. ft. apartment. I'm also not in the worst areas, price-wise. Of course, salaries tend to be higher here.
10K in the vast majority of African countries puts you way above average.