Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 19:28     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a mom and stopped RTO because it was a time suck, so work from home. So I'm like those dads. Otherwise, I notice some parents stay at home or have very part-time jobs because the spouse makes $$$. Think spouse works at Amazon so mom can be a freelance graphic designer sort of thing. Some people negotiated fulltime WFH during Covid and got grandfathered in. Also, don't forget in expensive cities, a lot of people have generational wealth or some sort of leg up that affords them to not work full-time.


How much do you think people make at Amazon on average, that would allow them to have a stay at home spouse in the most expensive neighborhood of Arlington?


It depends on their role and length of time there. Many employees get worked out by the time their 4 year contract is up. They're not making as much, probably 300k, no more than 500 annually. The longer you stay the more you make. My 40 something husband is right around 1.5, and he is not a director. But...I don't live in Arlington, and Amazon is completely RTO.


Huh? W2 employees in big tech aren’t on 4 year contracts. Are you conflating the initial 4 year equity grant at time of hire? They also get annual RSUs refreshers and multipliers based on performance ratings.


Amazon routinely fires before 4 years to avoid the biggest equity grant. You have to find a champion to survive
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 17:47     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a mom and stopped RTO because it was a time suck, so work from home. So I'm like those dads. Otherwise, I notice some parents stay at home or have very part-time jobs because the spouse makes $$$. Think spouse works at Amazon so mom can be a freelance graphic designer sort of thing. Some people negotiated fulltime WFH during Covid and got grandfathered in. Also, don't forget in expensive cities, a lot of people have generational wealth or some sort of leg up that affords them to not work full-time.


How much do you think people make at Amazon on average, that would allow them to have a stay at home spouse in the most expensive neighborhood of Arlington?


It depends on their role and length of time there. Many employees get worked out by the time their 4 year contract is up. They're not making as much, probably 300k, no more than 500 annually. The longer you stay the more you make. My 40 something husband is right around 1.5, and he is not a director. But...I don't live in Arlington, and Amazon is completely RTO.


Huh? W2 employees in big tech aren’t on 4 year contracts. Are you conflating the initial 4 year equity grant at time of hire? They also get annual RSUs refreshers and multipliers based on performance ratings.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 14:29     Subject: Re:Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:25 years ago, Arlington was doable on Fed incomes. It’s not now due to the insane rise in real estate prices. I have an elementary-aged child, and I can only think of three parents I know who work for the government.

So most Fed workers who live in Arlington are much older and unlikely to be the parents you see at elementary school dropoffs. RTO didn’t affect many of my neighbors/friends, because so few work for the Federal government.


Forget no Feds, there are few 9-5 employees in NA. It’s all owners of companies, executive levels, or high performance sales. These are not jobs you sit at a desk and clock in.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 12:04     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:44 male. I have worked from home for 11 years. Most days 3-5 hours. I could wear shorts and sweats, but I don't. No one sees me. Maybe 3-5 times a year I am on camera. I net $8-950k a year.


Finance?


No, sales. Tangible items. Not SAAS, insurance, finance etc.


Medical devices?
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 09:40     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:We live in North Arlington, and our local elementary starts at 9 AM. We are older parents in our 50s, and we both work so I go to work in person and dress business casual.

When I’m walking to drop off, I often see father’s dropping off their kids, and they are dressed in shorts and sweats and T-shirts, but they are younger like in their 30s early 40s.

Does everyone have a work at home job now except me? I thought we had RTO happening, or these dad’s going to work late after going home and changing first and getting there at like 930/10?

Our neighborhood is very expensive, I did not know they were that many jobs that paid that well to stay home in your sweats! Except maybe tech, but I am in tech and I’ve never met anyone else in our school that is in tech.

I guess they’re all in sales?



OP - This is probably just specific to the area where you live. (Arlington). and yes, it draws families with high incomes and not necessary 9-5 type of people. Many work in private sectors with flexible management roles. That's what I've seen at soccer games.

I live in the suburbs and all I see are moms at drop off. Most dad are gov. employees.

I also know, in my area, a few dads who are in sales Tech.



Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 08:29     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:44 male. I have worked from home for 11 years. Most days 3-5 hours. I could wear shorts and sweats, but I don't. No one sees me. Maybe 3-5 times a year I am on camera. I net $8-950k a year.


Finance?


No, sales. Tangible items. Not SAAS, insurance, finance etc.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 07:55     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:44 male. I have worked from home for 11 years. Most days 3-5 hours. I could wear shorts and sweats, but I don't. No one sees me. Maybe 3-5 times a year I am on camera. I net $8-950k a year.


Finance?
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 07:47     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a mom and stopped RTO because it was a time suck, so work from home. So I'm like those dads. Otherwise, I notice some parents stay at home or have very part-time jobs because the spouse makes $$$. Think spouse works at Amazon so mom can be a freelance graphic designer sort of thing. Some people negotiated fulltime WFH during Covid and got grandfathered in. Also, don't forget in expensive cities, a lot of people have generational wealth or some sort of leg up that affords them to not work full-time.


How much do you think people make at Amazon on average, that would allow them to have a stay at home spouse in the most expensive neighborhood of Arlington?


Not sure about Amazon, but DH is a manager at another big tech company and clears $500K before any stock appreciation with under 10 YOE. Directors (2 levels up, average age is probably around 40) are easily over $1M and VPs (mid 40s) are minimum $2M but most push $3-4M. And that’s before any stock gains. If you hit EVP you’re mid-7s or higher.


PP here - forgot to add those #s are for non technical roles. I’d multiply by 1.5 - 2 for technical roles at each level eg SWE Manager should be around $600-750K etc.


Google? Otherwise, you’re out of your mind.


Google, Meta, OpenAI (w recent PPUs refresh for all employees including 2024 grads their average employee is over $1M now regardless of level), Coinbase, NVIDIA, Apple, Anthropic, Twitter before the Elon buyout.

Big Tech and the leading crypto / AI companies are a beast comp-wise and employ hundreds of thousands (millions?) collectively.

People around the DC area don’t realize how well those companies pay because we’re a law/policy focused job market and most of these employees are on the west coast or NYC. It’s kinda an IYKYK around here still.


To be fair not only the people working for these companies are small in number but they are also the best in their fields. We are comparing outliers to the general workforce. Let's not do that please.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 07:41     Subject: Re:Dads at elementary drop off
25 years ago, Arlington was doable on Fed incomes. It’s not now due to the insane rise in real estate prices. I have an elementary-aged child, and I can only think of three parents I know who work for the government.

So most Fed workers who live in Arlington are much older and unlikely to be the parents you see at elementary school dropoffs. RTO didn’t affect many of my neighbors/friends, because so few work for the Federal government.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 07:21     Subject: Re:Dads at elementary drop off
I work from home in Arlington and I’m in consulting. I usually wear casual clothes, sometimes dresses or nicer outfits. I live in a walkable area with all the large companies around so I often walk to grab lunch or run to get coffee. In the summer I wear a lot of athleisure too. All of my clients work from home too.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 06:48     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If you think all Feds are RTO, I have a condo in Miami for you. White color Feds with advanced degrees are NOT rto, regardless of of what all the GS 11s whining on reditt and DCUM tell you.


What agency? I’m at commerce and we are all RTO?!


It is very Agency dependent. My agency lost a ton of people and can’t hire and they don’t want to lose any more. We are one people generally like, and want to exist even if they don’t agree with every decision. We didn’t have extensive RIFs (mostly support staff) but because it’s relatively easy to find private sector jobs many people have done that, due to the commute,, job insecurity and low morale. We have a couple days of telework back for most staff I guess so people will stop leaving. I don’t think anyone is happy about how understaffed we are. But here we are!
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 06:42     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I often see mothers wearing yoga pants and other casual clothing when they drop their kids off at school and I, too, wonder what jobs they are doing dressed like that. I mean, do they go home and change before Zoom calls or before heading into the office (late)?


I’m a mom and just throw on a sweater for zoom calls. No one sees my pants.

+1
I sometimes do a button up shirt and jacket over my yoga pants. It doesn't feel quite right for me though- normally I do a whole outfit - but if I have a call that cuts close to my favorite Friday class, I'll do it.
Anonymous
Post 09/12/2025 06:38     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:I think there is a causality issue here. 9am is pretty late to be starting a commute to the office! The people who have to work in an office are gone long before 9am. The people who don’t have to go into the office are self-selecting into a 9am school drop off.


This! Many of the people in formal offices have a spouse who does drop off or they do before care. I’m a mom and I rarely do drop off because we stagger our work schedules and my DH could not reliably be done in time for pick up. He is able to WAH a couple days a week and has some flexibility (also travels some like another PPs husband). If he had to be in the office every single day at 9 we could not make this work. It’s been a lot but our kids are much happier with this schedule.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2025 22:12     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
Anonymous wrote:I often see mothers wearing yoga pants and other casual clothing when they drop their kids off at school and I, too, wonder what jobs they are doing dressed like that. I mean, do they go home and change before Zoom calls or before heading into the office (late)?


I’m a mom and just throw on a sweater for zoom calls. No one sees my pants.
Anonymous
Post 09/11/2025 22:03     Subject: Dads at elementary drop off
44 male. I have worked from home for 11 years. Most days 3-5 hours. I could wear shorts and sweats, but I don't. No one sees me. Maybe 3-5 times a year I am on camera. I net $8-950k a year.