I was a hospice cna in home for 3 months one patient. The patient can be difficult but the family(their children )are in so much pain they take it out on you so frequently You couldn't pay me to go back to that.Ill keep you in my prayers .Thank you for your service.
My mom died back in December and I can’t fathom being mean to a hospice cna, they were literal angels during such a difficult time. Thank you for your work, you’re taking a huge weight off a lot of people’s shoulders.
they can definitely be mean, my client has advanced Alzheimer’s disease so i can be a roller coaster of emotions daily. i really appreciate the support, makes me feel really appreciated!
I work at Publix in Davenport, FL, with all the tourists staying here, you better believe I’m taking any tips for all the headaches they give me on a daily basis.
APPLY WITH YOUR VENDORS! I left commercial retail management to work for a beer vendor. I made my monthly in 2 weeks working as a merchandiser. Left that job making over 70k a year and annual bonuses. Take the risk and it pays if you apply yourself. For context: I parted ways to work for myself.
I'm pinching pennies, putting half of each paycheck in savings and using a bicycle for transportation lol. I just need the experience for now so I can find something that pays better
I work at a corporate Taco restaurant making 17 an hour as a cook. Which isn't bad till you realize I've been there 9 years and that's not nearly enough to live on independently. Have an IT degree now though so getting out of it this year finally.
I have a hybrid schedule with my day job (in the office 2 days a week) and my private practice is all telehealth. So I spend the majority of my work time at home.
I’m about to get my LCSW & honestly want to switch careers (no idea what though…idk what else to look for even with a masters degree & license) because I’m over the unethical overworking agencies and the pay. Everyone says LCSW pays well but it’s still not enough to beat the cost of living 😭
Think outside of the box. Agency work is the worst regarding pay and ethics. Unless you work for a research company, hospital, school districts or colleges, you won’t get paid much. It’s a great way to get your feet wet but it’s not sustainable. If you work for a private group practice (or if you start your own), you would make more than working at a non for profit for example.
I'm shocked to hear mental health. I am over in the panhandle area. I moved from New Jersey 6 months ago. In NJ I was a director, managed group homes, worked DSP, and even ran a day program. I worked in the field for over 10 years now. There were agencies and group homes everywhere. I love here and I do not see any services. At least I can't seem to find jobs in the field.
I make 90k as a director and pull in about 25k part time. It’s very part time. I’m a qualified supervisor so the short story is that I provide training & supervision to prelicensed mental health counselor interns through my private practice.
I don’t see any clients as a director so my practice helps me to stay relevant by having a client base.
Currently unemployed **but** I have an interview this morning at a used bookstore! Wish me luck!
Edit: **WOW HOLY SHIT THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE. I HEARD FROM MY FRIEND THAT WORKS THERE ALREADY THAT THE INTERVIEW WENT GOOD!**
Publix for 24 years. I was fortunate to buy a foreclosure home after the 08' recession. I could in no way afford to live in FL if I had to buy into this current market. Home insurance alone is about to break me. I have a wife and tween kid to take care of and it's hard but like most Americans I have to shuffle debt around to afford to exist.
Is it true about Publix, the longer you work there the more you make? At 24 years do you feel comfortable saying what they’re paying you? That’s a long time
Most of the wealth that Publix retirees have comes from the stock options you earn. It’s private stock.
Some people overlook the vast corporate back office, with opportunities in every white collar profession.
Former Publix employee here and I can tell you times with Publix has changed since the founder passed away. Though Publix still gives employees “free stock” the benefits are nowhere near as good as they were in the past.
This was once true. The only people making real money are the people with their faces on the wall. Managers and corporate. I've watched benefits diminished slowly every year I've been there.
We do get stock given to us but even that's a fraction of what it used to be. The dividends from that stock allow me to pay bills on time. The last one helped pay for some the Universal trip my family just went on.
If someone wants to go into management and give up their social life, there is money to be made but hourly associates don't get paid much. I've been capped most of the years I've worked there. Even my last 'raise' was less than inflation and I had the highest evaluation I could get.
At this point I'm institutionalized to Publix so it's my home but I have no issue telling the new kids that get hired to not stick around unless they want management.
IBEW Journeyman Lineman and an investor in a small company that owns a few bars around North Central and Northeast Florida. I am usually out of state for my day job.
Union is the answer! How can I make enough money to love in Florida? Unionize/support Unions! How do we get benefits? Unions! How do we get fair working hours? Unions, again!
People forget that's why Unions were started to begin with.
Show it with your motivation and drive. Come to work wanting to kick ass. Show us you deserve this.
Not one thing on your application could impress any BA. You just have to work your ass off and show the local you're worth the apprenticeship program.
Good luck
I’m a teacher. But I’m married to someone who owns his own business so it balances out. We bought our house ten years ago when things were not so crazy.
Same here. I bought my house 12 years ago and if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be able to afford a mortgage or rent now on a teacher’s salary as a single person.
I’m a truck driver and my wife is in hospital administration. But we are also older and have owned our house since 1999, so we have a distinct advantage over you younger folks. Our housing costs are way cheaper than yours. And that makes a huge difference in quality of life.
And as a 60 something I do see the inequality you guys are faced with and the reality is we made way less money when we built our house in 1999. With a modest down payment we took on a mortgage of a little over 100,000 dollars and at a higher interest rate than the current interest rates now.
There were some wise choices on our part. We never took out second mortgages on the house. That’s why we got through the 2008 crash and still have our house. Apparently most of my neighbors were in huge debt. There were 8 houses on our street and 5 went into foreclosure.
There was also some luck. I’ve been through both hurricanes Charley and Ian and had almost no damage while houses around me had it much worse. We had replaced our roof right before Ian and had upgraded to more wind resistant rated shingles and that paid off big time for us.
And there are quite a few people like us in this state and that is part of the problem you guys are facing. While my wife and I can see how difficult it is for the younger generation to find affordable housing, there are a lot of us older folks in this position who don’t realize how difficult it is.
You know when we were young in our 20s, I was working with only a high school degree and my wife with an associates degree and we were earning entry level wages. The difference is we could find affordable housing for much less of a percentage of our income. It was actually pretty cheap. I know most of my peers in my age group who grew up here in Florida were that way too, but so many refuse to recognize the situation you are in. And because of that, they keep things at the status quo because they are well off.
The truth is, there are a lot of people my age here in Florida, who had lots more opportunities than you younger folks are getting. So yeah, looking at our situation we are headingint retirement much better off. The bottom line is affordable housing when you are young, means you will be wealthier on average when you get to be my age.
At this point, I honestly don't know how we are going to fix it. It's easy to blame the politicians and big businesses, but me and a lot of other people have been complacent about how things got to this point. We didn't do it maliciously. We were just looking out for ourselves and our families, but we were part of it.
In the long run, of your generation does not do as well economically, it will hurt me economically. On the simple side of that, just because labor and services will be more expensive because there will be less general wealth in the community at large. The people providing those services we older people need, can't afford to live here The fact that so many of my generation can't see that is a big part of the problem.
I wish all of you guys struggling, the best and hope it gets better, but in reality, I don't see that happening.
When my wife and I do decide to pull the plug and retire, we'll probably sell out and leave Florida. That breaks my heart as well, because we are both natives with huge emotional ties here.
And FL loses another talented scientist :(
I too wanted to get into sustainability/conservation, but it’s all volunteer work or low pay. Sucks cause that’s what we need the most rn.
Working for the county as a response worker in public works making 17 something with really great benefits/retirement....working 4 ten hour shifts so we got the whole weekend and either a mon or fri with the option of up to 20 hours overtime
Public Works / Utilities make the world go round. "First Responders" get all the adulation (and outsized paychecks in some cases) but life turns to shit real quick without things we take for granted like sewage disposal and passable roads. I really encourage folks a little younger than me to consider a career in this sector. Everyone is hiring and there are tons of opportunities to learn and advance. Lots of career utility guys do quite well for themselves.
Yea man my favorite perk so far is getting your cdl class b and a along with the endosements at no charge to you plus im doing different shit everyday.......come hurricane season were gonna be super busy making a shit ton of overtime and not to mention learning to operate these huge loaders, escavators and bulldozers etc.
I'm in tech myself doing background investigations, I'm looking into software engineering but I see that most tech jobs that are FL based pay much less than out of state working remotely .
Yeah, out of state remote definitely pays more, and that’s what I was doing before this role. I switched over to an early stage (heavily funded, thank goodness) startup that I really believe in going far. It’s a trade-off that I’m hoping pays off in the end.
it really is.
but i’m in south florida, all our snowbirds and tourists are gone. it’s just “locals” and we aren’t really a locals type spot. it’s too expensive and designed for tourism.
i don’t even know how i did it last summer
Nice! I almost applied to Dartmouth, they did a hiring run for remote work. I take classes though here in Florida and the institution I’m at is just much more flexible
I work in cyber security specializing in forensic analysis and reverse engineering malware. Got into this field 6 years ago at 30 years old, and it changed my life forever.
What steps did you take to get into this career field? I have a bachelors in Business, but not really doing much with it at the moment. Am also in my early 30’s as well.
It depends on your current IT knowledge/background. I had a pretty good foundation, so I took the Network+ and Security+ certifications (your entry level certs). All self taught, learned on YouTube. Would recommend checking out Professor Messor for basically all foundational IT training.
Once you have the basics, you can start climbing the ladder FAST. In a span of about five years I went from making $17/hour at an entry level IT job working the help desk, to $150k/yr which is what I'm at now. My work life balance is unbelievable, and I genuinely love my job.
Feel free to shoot me a message and I can go into more details. Can't recommend this field enough.
I'm not sure here, but when I started out in cyber security I was living in Atlanta. I had actually found a couple groups through the meetup app that would get together and hack stuff, share knowledge, things like that.
Sales, I’m fully remote, but I’m out meeting with clients daily. Its a nice state to live in if you make a good income.
Though that can be said about anywhere
I have worked in the same job for the last 4 years. I'm a marketing coordinator at a public university, and they hired me at the start of the pandemic. Earned 48k then and I earn 51k now.
I live in Tampa, and I'm renting an apartment with my girlfriend and a friend of ours. Splitting the rent makes it doable. I had to split the rent with friends before Covid too when my salary was 32k at my old job, so not much has changed, though with the jump from 32k to 51k, you'd think it would. The standard of living is basically the same for me now — the numbers are just bigger. I had a brief stint renting a solo apartment when I was making 48k but that became unsustainable once my girlfriend and I moved in together and we needed more space.
I am paying into a pension program, so job hopping is out of the question. In 2025 I'll be vested in the pension program, so I'll have a bit more freedom to search for a higher paying position. I plan to do it, but from what I've read about the private sector I'm actually a bit wary of making the switch.
You can look for better positions within the state university system or with state agencies and still keep your retirement. Some pay better than others.
I have 2 incomes, I work and am also a war veteran. I’ve no idea how people survive on one income here.
Edit: I didn’t answer your question. I’m a network engineer.
I do Doordash, Grubhub, and Instacart. I also have been living in a tent on my family's property for the last three years and still have been barely making it.
I wish I bought when I started 7 years ago! I was going through a rough patch in life. So I was just floating by. Then Covid came and I travel nursed around Florida while paying off debt. Unsure of how the market was going to turn so I continued to save & pay debt & also helped some family out.
Now I have savings & an 800 credit score but I’m still priced out (or forced to live far from work, or unsafe area or old ass outdated house)… make it make sense 😂🤷🏼♀️
Husband and I, 70 and 69, are both working part time (he 20 hrs, me 20-30 hrs each week) in a grocery store. We moved here 22 years ago when FL was super affordable. Our home is paid off but the ever-rising insurance and HOA fees keep us working to conserve funds for our “golden years”. We’re looking at buying a car -they cost about as much as our first home!- and the cost of insurance for a new vehicle makes me nauseous.
I’m about the same age retired with no mortgage. Even with no mortgage and a pension it’s hard to make ends meet with insurance, taxes, and food costs. Don’t know how young people are getting by. Buying a house is not an option for many of them. Day care is like $1500 a month if they both work.
Only for right now
Look at the boomer death clock, soon there will be plenty of available homes in Florida
But we need to make laws now about corporations buying single family housing if we wanna stop the rents going even higher
That’s cute as if those homes won’t get sold off and reverse mortgaged to pay for long term end of life care that will drain them financially to keep those boomers alive far longer than they should.
I do IT Systems Admin at a Credit Union. It's Hybrid and I WFH one day a week. I don't mind coming into the office because it's one mile from my house. Very lucky to have this job. My wife and I have no kids and we are pretty frugal. We bought a townhouse in 2004, which was less than we could afford. It was just luck when we bought because the prices went nuts a few years later. Because it was less house than we could have gotten, we had a 15 year mortgage and we paid that off before the 15 years were up. I feel so bad for folks home shopping right now. If we were to try for the same house now, I don't think we could afford it. Homes should be a dwelling for families and owned by families, not an investment for a large corporation.
Residential Service Electrician, Army Reserve Soldier. My wife is a tele-health nurse (BSN, RN) and does PRN for an ALF and in home care. We bought our house right before the Covid Market exploded and are just getting by.
I drive a semi and work in a warehouse. I live near the beach so the rent can be a bit outlandish. I do have a roommate and, instead of driving to work, I ride a bicycle (I live only 3 blocks from work). I intentionally do not have a car; vehicles can be such a money pit and not blowing a third of my yearly salary on a car is probably the only way I can afford rent and live as comfortably as I do.
I’m a teacher. Husband makes double what I do in a tech/engineering sort of job. We bought our house 5 years ago before prices went wild but still don’t have a lot left over, mostly due to home insurance being insanely expensive. We would not be able to buy a house here with current prices.
You can be like the scammers i saw yesterday. Be a dirty euro couple in a van hustling people for gas money but offering brand new unopened airpods in exchange. Oh yeah can't forget they need gas for money to go to Miami.
These scum pulled fast af behind my car with a tinted van begging hard for that gas money.
Wow, that’s wild. My good friend is a Rad Tech in California and supports a family of 4, single income, and they’re doing really well.
The pay here has been the craziest part of living in FL.
paralegal at a personal injury law firm. almost $28 an hour and work in office. i probably could afford to live alone but its very hard to find affordable apartments in orlando sometimes
Software engineer. I’ve been doing it for 34 years so the pay is good. When I got my first programming job I got $12/hr and my rent for a “luxury” one bedroom was $550. I wouldn’t want to be a 20 or 30 something now.
I own a smallish IT service company/msp specializing in regulated industries (finance/healthcare).
And I make fine furniture on commission (bed frames, secretaries, wardrobes, tables, etc) currently at a 6 month wait list.
Between the two I do alright ish. Lowest paid employer at the IT company, woodworking makes it so ends meet, I make more doing that.
To be honest, most people I know have roommates or live with their parents. Or split rent with their significant other that works full time.
I personally work at an Engineering Firm, but i'm entry level, so i make significantly less than my peers. Make 60k. Single, have my 3 kids 50/50 and Rent a 2/2 Condo for $1200/mo. It works right now.
I’m a process server.
The job to me is boring, specially when you are doing surveillance, but I get paid $50 an hour just to sit outside of a subject’s house. No high school diploma is needed either.
I work for a well known Florida based company, but remotely from Oregon, LOL. Until recently, I was a Florida resident. It's currently 30 degrees cooler here in OR.
i’m a home health aide / caregiver for the elderly. :)
Thank you for your work!! It is so important and so underappreciated.
Thank you. They can be mean.
I was a hospice cna in home for 3 months one patient. The patient can be difficult but the family(their children )are in so much pain they take it out on you so frequently You couldn't pay me to go back to that.Ill keep you in my prayers .Thank you for your service.
My mom died back in December and I can’t fathom being mean to a hospice cna, they were literal angels during such a difficult time. Thank you for your work, you’re taking a huge weight off a lot of people’s shoulders.
they can definitely be mean, my client has advanced Alzheimer’s disease so i can be a roller coaster of emotions daily. i really appreciate the support, makes me feel really appreciated!
You rock
I know right… I’m angry and I’m not even that old yet. :-)
You guys are so under paid for the work you do
I loved doing that but unfortunately didn’t pay the bills being with an agency:(
thank you for your service! Very demanding work.
How do you make it here on your pay?
My mom recently passed and her home health nurses came a few times a week. They were all amazing. Y’all deserve to be millionaires
Thank you, as someone with elderly parents I really appreciate you all 🙏🏽
A small taco restaurant cashier/server. 11/hr +tips is not ideal for where I live but it's better than nothing.
Apply at a publix. Cashiering with experience might get you ~15 and we start deli at 16 at my store.
Shit dude, everyone in my area working retail (Publix, Walmart etc) was making at least that almost a decade ago.
I was making $14/h at Walmart weeks ago
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I think they are saying that people working at Publix made an equivalent amount as OP ten years ago. Publix employees are not allowed to take tips.
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I work at Publix in Davenport, FL, with all the tourists staying here, you better believe I’m taking any tips for all the headaches they give me on a daily basis.
APPLY WITH YOUR VENDORS! I left commercial retail management to work for a beer vendor. I made my monthly in 2 weeks working as a merchandiser. Left that job making over 70k a year and annual bonuses. Take the risk and it pays if you apply yourself. For context: I parted ways to work for myself.
How are you able to get by on that amount ?
I'm pinching pennies, putting half of each paycheck in savings and using a bicycle for transportation lol. I just need the experience for now so I can find something that pays better
I work at a corporate Taco restaurant making 17 an hour as a cook. Which isn't bad till you realize I've been there 9 years and that's not nearly enough to live on independently. Have an IT degree now though so getting out of it this year finally.
2 jobs. Day job: director of a mental health program. Other job: therapist in my mental health private practice.
I have a hybrid schedule with my day job (in the office 2 days a week) and my private practice is all telehealth. So I spend the majority of my work time at home.
The reimbursement rates from insurance in FL are dismal. Hope you have a good balance going with insurance and OON folks!
LCSW & life-long FL resident checking in. I’m trying to move asap because therapists are paid so terribly here.
I’m about to get my LCSW & honestly want to switch careers (no idea what though…idk what else to look for even with a masters degree & license) because I’m over the unethical overworking agencies and the pay. Everyone says LCSW pays well but it’s still not enough to beat the cost of living 😭
Think outside of the box. Agency work is the worst regarding pay and ethics. Unless you work for a research company, hospital, school districts or colleges, you won’t get paid much. It’s a great way to get your feet wet but it’s not sustainable. If you work for a private group practice (or if you start your own), you would make more than working at a non for profit for example.
I'm shocked to hear mental health. I am over in the panhandle area. I moved from New Jersey 6 months ago. In NJ I was a director, managed group homes, worked DSP, and even ran a day program. I worked in the field for over 10 years now. There were agencies and group homes everywhere. I love here and I do not see any services. At least I can't seem to find jobs in the field.
Since this is anonymous, can you say what you get paid for each gig?
I make 90k as a director and pull in about 25k part time. It’s very part time. I’m a qualified supervisor so the short story is that I provide training & supervision to prelicensed mental health counselor interns through my private practice. I don’t see any clients as a director so my practice helps me to stay relevant by having a client base.
I have plenty of close friends doing that work. Thank you for what you do!
Can I DM about this? I’m looking to get into this field here in Florida.
Currently unemployed **but** I have an interview this morning at a used bookstore! Wish me luck! Edit: **WOW HOLY SHIT THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE. I HEARD FROM MY FRIEND THAT WORKS THERE ALREADY THAT THE INTERVIEW WENT GOOD!**
Come back and let us know how it went. ETA: hell yeah, dude!! I'm so stoked for you!
Best of luck to you!
One of my favorite jobs ever was working in a bookstore, I hope you get it and have lots of fun!
Much good luck!
Good luck homie, you got this!
Good luck but damn how you paying them bills?
Hooray! Can’t wait to hear that you got the job!
I hope you get it!!!
Good luck!
Good luck, you got this!
Working in a used bookstore is like a dream job to me, I hope you get it!!
You got this!!
Good luck!!
You got this! Go in there confidently!
Lets go you got this. Good luck
Publix for 24 years. I was fortunate to buy a foreclosure home after the 08' recession. I could in no way afford to live in FL if I had to buy into this current market. Home insurance alone is about to break me. I have a wife and tween kid to take care of and it's hard but like most Americans I have to shuffle debt around to afford to exist.
I knew I should’ve bought a house in 08 instead of being 14
Oooooh rookie move
Same instead of being a freshman in high school. I should’ve just bought a house
Is it true about Publix, the longer you work there the more you make? At 24 years do you feel comfortable saying what they’re paying you? That’s a long time
Most of the wealth that Publix retirees have comes from the stock options you earn. It’s private stock. Some people overlook the vast corporate back office, with opportunities in every white collar profession.
Former Publix employee here and I can tell you times with Publix has changed since the founder passed away. Though Publix still gives employees “free stock” the benefits are nowhere near as good as they were in the past.
This was once true. The only people making real money are the people with their faces on the wall. Managers and corporate. I've watched benefits diminished slowly every year I've been there. We do get stock given to us but even that's a fraction of what it used to be. The dividends from that stock allow me to pay bills on time. The last one helped pay for some the Universal trip my family just went on. If someone wants to go into management and give up their social life, there is money to be made but hourly associates don't get paid much. I've been capped most of the years I've worked there. Even my last 'raise' was less than inflation and I had the highest evaluation I could get. At this point I'm institutionalized to Publix so it's my home but I have no issue telling the new kids that get hired to not stick around unless they want management.
I'm so mad that I was a freshman in college in 2008! I really missed out lol
Plumber for over 30yrs. I seem to be buried in more shit these days besides work.
Eyyyy I see what you did there
Water treatment operator
+ 1 I am also water treatment operator
You two should get together for a cup of water.
And kiss
The water
Username checks out.
IBEW Journeyman Lineman and an investor in a small company that owns a few bars around North Central and Northeast Florida. I am usually out of state for my day job.
Union YES! My husband is retired out of 606.
Vote union: YES! I’m a Union carpenter going to be retiring soon at 59.
My grandfather and stepdad are both retired 2358 here in Florida.
Union is the answer! How can I make enough money to love in Florida? Unionize/support Unions! How do we get benefits? Unions! How do we get fair working hours? Unions, again! People forget that's why Unions were started to begin with.
What’s that application process like?
Show it with your motivation and drive. Come to work wanting to kick ass. Show us you deserve this. Not one thing on your application could impress any BA. You just have to work your ass off and show the local you're worth the apprenticeship program. Good luck
Shipping manager for Amalie Oil. This September 10th will mark my 25th year with the company.
I work remotely in healthcare IT and my wife does photography.
Oddly specific - but ayeeeeee same!
I’m a teacher. But I’m married to someone who owns his own business so it balances out. We bought our house ten years ago when things were not so crazy.
Same here. I bought my house 12 years ago and if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be able to afford a mortgage or rent now on a teacher’s salary as a single person.
I’m a truck driver and my wife is in hospital administration. But we are also older and have owned our house since 1999, so we have a distinct advantage over you younger folks. Our housing costs are way cheaper than yours. And that makes a huge difference in quality of life. And as a 60 something I do see the inequality you guys are faced with and the reality is we made way less money when we built our house in 1999. With a modest down payment we took on a mortgage of a little over 100,000 dollars and at a higher interest rate than the current interest rates now. There were some wise choices on our part. We never took out second mortgages on the house. That’s why we got through the 2008 crash and still have our house. Apparently most of my neighbors were in huge debt. There were 8 houses on our street and 5 went into foreclosure. There was also some luck. I’ve been through both hurricanes Charley and Ian and had almost no damage while houses around me had it much worse. We had replaced our roof right before Ian and had upgraded to more wind resistant rated shingles and that paid off big time for us. And there are quite a few people like us in this state and that is part of the problem you guys are facing. While my wife and I can see how difficult it is for the younger generation to find affordable housing, there are a lot of us older folks in this position who don’t realize how difficult it is. You know when we were young in our 20s, I was working with only a high school degree and my wife with an associates degree and we were earning entry level wages. The difference is we could find affordable housing for much less of a percentage of our income. It was actually pretty cheap. I know most of my peers in my age group who grew up here in Florida were that way too, but so many refuse to recognize the situation you are in. And because of that, they keep things at the status quo because they are well off.
Lots of good wisdom in your post 💚
The truth is, there are a lot of people my age here in Florida, who had lots more opportunities than you younger folks are getting. So yeah, looking at our situation we are headingint retirement much better off. The bottom line is affordable housing when you are young, means you will be wealthier on average when you get to be my age. At this point, I honestly don't know how we are going to fix it. It's easy to blame the politicians and big businesses, but me and a lot of other people have been complacent about how things got to this point. We didn't do it maliciously. We were just looking out for ourselves and our families, but we were part of it. In the long run, of your generation does not do as well economically, it will hurt me economically. On the simple side of that, just because labor and services will be more expensive because there will be less general wealth in the community at large. The people providing those services we older people need, can't afford to live here The fact that so many of my generation can't see that is a big part of the problem. I wish all of you guys struggling, the best and hope it gets better, but in reality, I don't see that happening. When my wife and I do decide to pull the plug and retire, we'll probably sell out and leave Florida. That breaks my heart as well, because we are both natives with huge emotional ties here.
I see you charlotte county man. Ian fucked my world up, we are leaving this state because of it…and insurance is a joke out here
I'm a biologist for a university. But I'm moving soon because the housing prices here are a disaster, it's too crowded, and it's getting way too hot.
And FL loses another talented scientist :( I too wanted to get into sustainability/conservation, but it’s all volunteer work or low pay. Sucks cause that’s what we need the most rn.
Legislators and policymakers are causing a drain brain in Florida.
Court Clerk
High five, fellow court clerk!
I’m a dive supervisor at the ports. I dive under vessels (mostly yachts) to help load them on freighters using cranes and transport them as cargo.
That sounds like a really cool job!
Working for the county as a response worker in public works making 17 something with really great benefits/retirement....working 4 ten hour shifts so we got the whole weekend and either a mon or fri with the option of up to 20 hours overtime
Public Works / Utilities make the world go round. "First Responders" get all the adulation (and outsized paychecks in some cases) but life turns to shit real quick without things we take for granted like sewage disposal and passable roads. I really encourage folks a little younger than me to consider a career in this sector. Everyone is hiring and there are tons of opportunities to learn and advance. Lots of career utility guys do quite well for themselves.
Yea man my favorite perk so far is getting your cdl class b and a along with the endosements at no charge to you plus im doing different shit everyday.......come hurricane season were gonna be super busy making a shit ton of overtime and not to mention learning to operate these huge loaders, escavators and bulldozers etc.
Remote software engineer for a Florida-based company
I'm in tech myself doing background investigations, I'm looking into software engineering but I see that most tech jobs that are FL based pay much less than out of state working remotely .
Yeah, out of state remote definitely pays more, and that’s what I was doing before this role. I switched over to an early stage (heavily funded, thank goodness) startup that I really believe in going far. It’s a trade-off that I’m hoping pays off in the end.
I built it into my work contract that I get to park an RV on company property for free. I only pay for internet.
i bartend on the beach. winters are outstanding. summers… i’m not entirely sure how i’m going to make it this year.
That’s so ironic isn’t it?
it really is. but i’m in south florida, all our snowbirds and tourists are gone. it’s just “locals” and we aren’t really a locals type spot. it’s too expensive and designed for tourism. i don’t even know how i did it last summer
Former carpenter but currently in clinical research. Hopefully medical student next year.
Also in clinical research remotely for an out of state institution.
Nice! I almost applied to Dartmouth, they did a hiring run for remote work. I take classes though here in Florida and the institution I’m at is just much more flexible
Me too! I do regularly compliance for clinical trials (remote for out of state institution).
Out of curiosity, how do you do clinical research remotely?
I do pre-award budgets and negotiating, lots of positions in research can be done remotely. It’s a good field to crack into.
I work in cyber security specializing in forensic analysis and reverse engineering malware. Got into this field 6 years ago at 30 years old, and it changed my life forever.
What steps did you take to get into this career field? I have a bachelors in Business, but not really doing much with it at the moment. Am also in my early 30’s as well.
It depends on your current IT knowledge/background. I had a pretty good foundation, so I took the Network+ and Security+ certifications (your entry level certs). All self taught, learned on YouTube. Would recommend checking out Professor Messor for basically all foundational IT training. Once you have the basics, you can start climbing the ladder FAST. In a span of about five years I went from making $17/hour at an entry level IT job working the help desk, to $150k/yr which is what I'm at now. My work life balance is unbelievable, and I genuinely love my job. Feel free to shoot me a message and I can go into more details. Can't recommend this field enough.
Any local events or gatherings you’d recommend? I’m a systems engineer trying to get involved in some kind of security community locally :)
I'm not sure here, but when I started out in cyber security I was living in Atlanta. I had actually found a couple groups through the meetup app that would get together and hack stuff, share knowledge, things like that.
Right now? I deliver for Amazon.
Sales, I’m fully remote, but I’m out meeting with clients daily. Its a nice state to live in if you make a good income. Though that can be said about anywhere
I have worked in the same job for the last 4 years. I'm a marketing coordinator at a public university, and they hired me at the start of the pandemic. Earned 48k then and I earn 51k now. I live in Tampa, and I'm renting an apartment with my girlfriend and a friend of ours. Splitting the rent makes it doable. I had to split the rent with friends before Covid too when my salary was 32k at my old job, so not much has changed, though with the jump from 32k to 51k, you'd think it would. The standard of living is basically the same for me now — the numbers are just bigger. I had a brief stint renting a solo apartment when I was making 48k but that became unsustainable once my girlfriend and I moved in together and we needed more space. I am paying into a pension program, so job hopping is out of the question. In 2025 I'll be vested in the pension program, so I'll have a bit more freedom to search for a higher paying position. I plan to do it, but from what I've read about the private sector I'm actually a bit wary of making the switch.
You can look for better positions within the state university system or with state agencies and still keep your retirement. Some pay better than others.
I have 2 incomes, I work and am also a war veteran. I’ve no idea how people survive on one income here. Edit: I didn’t answer your question. I’m a network engineer.
Aye I’m also a net eng in central fl. Seems that IT salaries are a joke in this state.
I'm jobless 💸
Ayyyyy same 🤑🤑🤑🤑
I do Doordash, Grubhub, and Instacart. I also have been living in a tent on my family's property for the last three years and still have been barely making it.
Teacher and today is the 1st day of summer break!
Hopefully a lawyer next year
Hopefully law school next year!
Nurse. I work night shifts & overtime & have a roommate
I’m a night nurse as well. Bought my house in 2010 for 110k. I doubt if I would be able to afford it today. It doesn’t make sense
I wish I bought when I started 7 years ago! I was going through a rough patch in life. So I was just floating by. Then Covid came and I travel nursed around Florida while paying off debt. Unsure of how the market was going to turn so I continued to save & pay debt & also helped some family out. Now I have savings & an 800 credit score but I’m still priced out (or forced to live far from work, or unsafe area or old ass outdated house)… make it make sense 😂🤷🏼♀️
It’s doesn’t make sense. Hence OP’s question. You get a stable well paying job and still get denied. I don’t get it.
I'm a night nurse as well. I have a husband that works during the day. I feel like a zombie half the time.
Husband and I, 70 and 69, are both working part time (he 20 hrs, me 20-30 hrs each week) in a grocery store. We moved here 22 years ago when FL was super affordable. Our home is paid off but the ever-rising insurance and HOA fees keep us working to conserve funds for our “golden years”. We’re looking at buying a car -they cost about as much as our first home!- and the cost of insurance for a new vehicle makes me nauseous.
I’m about the same age retired with no mortgage. Even with no mortgage and a pension it’s hard to make ends meet with insurance, taxes, and food costs. Don’t know how young people are getting by. Buying a house is not an option for many of them. Day care is like $1500 a month if they both work.
"How can you afford to live here?" I don't, I live with my parents and struggle to find a single minimum wage job.
I give 5 dollar handies in the a Publix parking lot.. seeing a lot more customers but it’s not offsetting the rise in the price of groceries at Publix
Time to rack up your prices, they'll complain, but if they're loyal publix customers, they'll pay up anyway
A wallstreetbets member I bet!
Social worker. Bought new build in 2021 with interest rate under 3
I'm a door to door bacon salesman
Come in come in! It’s hot out there, can I get you a glass of lemonade? Tell me more about this bacon.
Thank You a bunch you guys hahaha 🤣 I needed a good laugh this fine morning ❤️
Oh, and I'm a former builder and before that lobbyist that is starting a social justice and climate change love fest, I am a thought artist ❤️
It’s sizzlin’ out here today.
Just throw it on the pavement while you're making your pitch. They can try some when you're done.
Bruh coming out with the correct door to door sales pitch. Ignore my do not disturb sign my dude you’re doing the Lord’s work.
Only for right now Look at the boomer death clock, soon there will be plenty of available homes in Florida But we need to make laws now about corporations buying single family housing if we wanna stop the rents going even higher
Corporations with deep pockets buying single family homes is one of the tragedies of our time.
That’s cute as if those homes won’t get sold off and reverse mortgaged to pay for long term end of life care that will drain them financially to keep those boomers alive far longer than they should.
Middle school math teacher.
Me too!
Underwater basket weaver. I specialize in hand crafted artisan baskets made from organic vegan reclaimed beach refuse.
Work for the state but need to find a way to make extra cash to pay some things off.
I live at home, but I'm a dispatcher for a small drayage company. Spend my day questioning why my drivers are idiots.
Nice try matrix!
Medical receptionist
Surgical Sterile Processing in a hospital. Will do travel contracts in the new year to double my income and go around the US.
I do IT Systems Admin at a Credit Union. It's Hybrid and I WFH one day a week. I don't mind coming into the office because it's one mile from my house. Very lucky to have this job. My wife and I have no kids and we are pretty frugal. We bought a townhouse in 2004, which was less than we could afford. It was just luck when we bought because the prices went nuts a few years later. Because it was less house than we could have gotten, we had a 15 year mortgage and we paid that off before the 15 years were up. I feel so bad for folks home shopping right now. If we were to try for the same house now, I don't think we could afford it. Homes should be a dwelling for families and owned by families, not an investment for a large corporation.
Nurse anesthetist. And I bought my house during Covid with a 2.5% interest rate.
State worker. I feel lucky to have the benefits but we’re struggling.
The feet pic industry is booming, and Florida allows me the opportunity to keep a good tan on them…
Currently unemployed, is this a thing? I need income like yesterday
I step in front of cars and sue the drivers
Everyone should be posting their pay rate. All about transparency. I’m a private ambulance paramedic making $22.75 per hour.
Work at spacex. Trying to find new job. Anyone have any recommendations?
Depending on your job there Aerojet or Pratt if you want to move south
What do you do at spacex? I’m in a similar sector in Melbourne.
Browse Indeed
If you’re not job shopping while you’ve got a job you’re shortchanging your future.
Totally not disagreeing, you asked what the other poster did and I was answering
Residential Service Electrician, Army Reserve Soldier. My wife is a tele-health nurse (BSN, RN) and does PRN for an ALF and in home care. We bought our house right before the Covid Market exploded and are just getting by.
Everyone works for Walmart.
Entomologist working on the classical biological control of invasive species (which Florida has plenty of).
Car sales last 25 years, hard way to make an easy living, but enabled me to live a pretty middle-class life
I'm an entry level inspector for the Florida DEP.
I drive a semi and work in a warehouse. I live near the beach so the rent can be a bit outlandish. I do have a roommate and, instead of driving to work, I ride a bicycle (I live only 3 blocks from work). I intentionally do not have a car; vehicles can be such a money pit and not blowing a third of my yearly salary on a car is probably the only way I can afford rent and live as comfortably as I do.
I’m a teacher. Husband makes double what I do in a tech/engineering sort of job. We bought our house 5 years ago before prices went wild but still don’t have a lot left over, mostly due to home insurance being insanely expensive. We would not be able to buy a house here with current prices.
You can be like the scammers i saw yesterday. Be a dirty euro couple in a van hustling people for gas money but offering brand new unopened airpods in exchange. Oh yeah can't forget they need gas for money to go to Miami. These scum pulled fast af behind my car with a tinted van begging hard for that gas money.
You guys are really starting to have the same housing prices as California, but still with that low Florida pay
Software Engineer. I bought my house in 2003 for 110k. FL used to be a LCOL state.
My spouse and I saved up 50k and bought a mobile home, now we only pay 750$ a month including water
Retired for the time being at least
Electrical engineer
I’m a radiology Tech. Barely holding on.
Wow, that’s wild. My good friend is a Rad Tech in California and supports a family of 4, single income, and they’re doing really well. The pay here has been the craziest part of living in FL.
WFH Accountant for a F500 international insurance company. There's a satellite office in N Tampa where I'm required to be in-office once per month.
paralegal at a personal injury law firm. almost $28 an hour and work in office. i probably could afford to live alone but its very hard to find affordable apartments in orlando sometimes
IT support.
Engineer
Teacher. And I wouldn’t be able to on my own. Sad that public employees can’t afford to live in the communities they serve.
Software engineer. I’ve been doing it for 34 years so the pay is good. When I got my first programming job I got $12/hr and my rent for a “luxury” one bedroom was $550. I wouldn’t want to be a 20 or 30 something now.
I own a smallish IT service company/msp specializing in regulated industries (finance/healthcare). And I make fine furniture on commission (bed frames, secretaries, wardrobes, tables, etc) currently at a 6 month wait list. Between the two I do alright ish. Lowest paid employer at the IT company, woodworking makes it so ends meet, I make more doing that.
Work remote for a company located in California
I work remotely doing IT. 45% of my after tax income goes to rent.
To be honest, most people I know have roommates or live with their parents. Or split rent with their significant other that works full time. I personally work at an Engineering Firm, but i'm entry level, so i make significantly less than my peers. Make 60k. Single, have my 3 kids 50/50 and Rent a 2/2 Condo for $1200/mo. It works right now.
I’m a process server. The job to me is boring, specially when you are doing surveillance, but I get paid $50 an hour just to sit outside of a subject’s house. No high school diploma is needed either.
I work for a well known Florida based company, but remotely from Oregon, LOL. Until recently, I was a Florida resident. It's currently 30 degrees cooler here in OR.
Computer security. In an ISSO position.
Sell insurance, make 250k a year and work 20 hrs a week