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How do software developers afford Cape Town rental
- Thread starter zaozzie
- Start date
I find most he software development jobs are in Cape Town city center or in Woodstock.
Spending 3 hours in traffic driving from the Northern Suburbs or Somerset to Cape Town city would be a pretty hefty petrol bill not to talk about the time waste considering as a software dev your mind is your most valuable asset and if you want to work on side projects in the evenings you would have considerable less time to do so.
I would also imagine car insurance cost is much more expensive with off street parking (home and/or work) but I could be wrong as I don't know if car theft is big in Cape Town.
Spending 3 hours in traffic driving from the Northern Suburbs or Somerset to Cape Town city would be a pretty hefty petrol bill not to talk about the time waste considering as a software dev your mind is your most valuable asset and if you want to work on side projects in the evenings you would have considerable less time to do so.
I would also imagine car insurance cost is much more expensive with off street parking (home and/or work) but I could be wrong as I don't know if car theft is big in Cape Town.
StrontiumDog
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3 hours return trip? I think you can generalize till the end of time. Specific circumstances can vary so much despite similarities in work and home location in Cape Town.
kripstoe
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You don't have to spend 3h in traffic per day. If you like sleeping late, or want to leave the office at 17h00, then you have to.
That's realy worse case but my point I'm trying to highlight that a the biggest chunk of software dev jobs are in the city center where as in Gauteng it's pretty spread out. Property in the city center and southern suburbs are very expensive. If you already have a place there then lucky you but spare a thought for those who don't.
Traffic to the city from residential areas like Blouberg, Parklands,Northern suburbs,Muizenberg,Houtbaai & Somerset can be hectic. Central Suburbs in between can pretty dodge and not really a place where you can have a good quality life.
AchmatK
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I live in SW and work in Pinelands and wife works in Mowbray. Because we work at different times, we travel in two cars. I leave home at 07:30 and get to work at 08:25. Leave at 17:00 and get home at 18:00.
Wouldn't trade SW for anything though.
What so special about SW that you'll trade an extra 10 hours a week for?
akescpt
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It offers a brilliant lifestyle. An active one if you prefer. If you into you wines that's close. The beach is right there. If I had the mula I would consider it.
StrontiumDog
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OP, where do you live and work currently? What type of software dev do you do?
akescpt
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In recent times I've had traffic after work heading to the lovely beach there. Seems the secret is out about the loveliness of the beaches there.
Renting out a room in a crappy area near train tracks near work. Need to find a nicer place but rent is so expensive.
What type of sotfware dev do I do? Bit of everything. Not specialist enough to go for a high paying job. Would rather call myself a problem solver using software than a software developer since I am work on my own and not in a dev team.
Everytime someone asks me what do you do in software dev I feel like this is the most appropriate answer.
[video=youtube;Rr0J2mQRWqs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr0J2mQRWqs[/video]
Since software development changes so much and you have to keep up there is a very fine line in knowing the latest best practice and tech stack or being labelled as having outdated knowledge. Hence my desire to waste as little time as possible in traffic.
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AchmatK
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Coming from the mall traffic can get bad sometimes. I go on the N2 and get to the beach via Main road.
The other thing about not wanting to move closer is the property I would be getting would not be the same. Currently on a 1000m^2 plot with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a pool. No way that I would get the same/similar property in the southern suburbs for R1.6m with plenty of space for my 3 German shepherds.
akescpt
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I stay in Somerset West and work at Waterstone Village. 1.5km drive every day, gym during lunch time, and rent is cheap.
Still at mom and pops?
To cheer everyone up: Cape Town is no where near as depressing as house shopping in Palo Alto, CA:
http://www.mlslistings.com/property/ml81434808/258-middlefield-rd-palo-alto-ca-94301
http://www.mlslistings.com/property/ml81434808/258-middlefield-rd-palo-alto-ca-94301
kripstoe
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Nefertiti
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That's crazy
StrontiumDog
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Is that the norm? :wtf:
Lol, I was gonna ask about Los Altos Hills as my one Aunty stays there... stumbled upon this comment now,
In terms of pecking order Palo Alto is right up there since it's close to Stanford?
It's not the norm - Palo Alto is just really inflated. There are far more reasonable places, but prices are still pretty steep in the surrounding areas. Palo Alto is expensive because it is near Stanford, and is an extremely well established little town with a lot of character (vs. the cookie cutter buildings throughout much of Northern California), that matches the American ideal - except that it's in the Bay Area and near San Francisco, unlike the other perfect little towns that are in the middle of nowhere
The other big factor is of course, that there are so many millionaires in the area due to operations like Facebook, Google, Apple, etc., that money is no object when trying to find that perfect white picket fence house for the family.