Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#261

Post by sitkack » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 3:35 AM UTC

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #237

bkjelden wrote: post #25

Seattle's housing costs are definitely rising but Washington's lack of an income tax is a boon for software engineers. Also, many of the big players in tech will pay within 10-20% of their bay area total comp packages in Seattle, so your take home pay might be almost the same, but of course your dollar is going to go a lot further. I ran some numbers comparing Seattle, Denver, and Minneapolis, and found the descendin…

I moved away from Seattle to the Bay Area partly because it was so damn depressing. My company-sponsored doctor gave me a bottle full of two _GRAM_ pills of Vitamin D, and she said she has had to give it to most of her patients. In the dead thick of the winter, it gets dark at 3 PM (after a 10 AM sunrise), and the rain literally never stops. When it's not raining, it's misting, and it will go weeks on end with everla…

Having just moved from Seattle to Chicago, and having returned for a long weekend during "the grays" cemented on of the reasons for the move. Beautiful place, but unless you actually get above the cloud cover and go skiing or snow shoeing, the overcast will kill your soul.

It doesn't take that many people to make a place amazing. Make amazing where you are.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#262

Post by awschnap » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 3:43 AM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #178

I've spent some time in Denver and I could easily see moving there full time from the SF Bay Area. That said, I like camping and hiking in my spare time which Denver has in abundance, and it has Sparkfun just outside of Boulder for your tech toys urges. Denver is more of a burgers and beer town from a culinary perspective, but it has lots of young people and downtown is very walkable. Also, unlike the bay area, they…

Must disagree on the culinary scene. We have everything you could want, from hole-in-the-wall ethnic to fine dining, though we are most definitely a beer town.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#263

Post by CodexArcanum » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:05 AM UTC

I've been living in New Orleans for the last year, and I'd have to say it's been great. NOLA is a blossoming place, with lots of startups and a rapidly growing tech scene. The culture is incredible, full of its own unique charms, delicious food, and vibrant music.

I don't know, maybe it's not for everyone, but I love it!

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#264

Post by Johnny555 » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:07 AM UTC

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #237

bkjelden wrote: post #25

Seattle's housing costs are definitely rising but Washington's lack of an income tax is a boon for software engineers. Also, many of the big players in tech will pay within 10-20% of their bay area total comp packages in Seattle, so your take home pay might be almost the same, but of course your dollar is going to go a lot further. I ran some numbers comparing Seattle, Denver, and Minneapolis, and found the descendin…

I moved away from Seattle to the Bay Area partly because it was so damn depressing. My company-sponsored doctor gave me a bottle full of two _GRAM_ pills of Vitamin D, and she said she has had to give it to most of her patients. In the dead thick of the winter, it gets dark at 3 PM (after a 10 AM sunrise), and the rain literally never stops. When it's not raining, it's misting, and it will go weeks on end with everla…

Vitamin D is typically dosed in I.U., not grams. 2000 I.U. is 50 micrograms.

The max recommended daily dose is 10000 IU (but people have taken higher doses).

2 grams would be 80 million IU.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#265

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:15 AM UTC

sheri wrote: post #185

eclipxe wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The atmosphere here is, I dunno, toxic. Too many people here size each other up based on where they work and where they live and people are way too obsessed with advancing their careers and chasing higher salaries, more luxurious cars, nicer apartments, etc. Everyone seems to have some sort of inferiority complex if they don't work for the "Big 4". People in Davis/Sac seemed less superficial and it was a lot easier…

> Is this your own set of insecurities being projected on others? I never got that sense in SV... I am not the OP, but I share his/her views. To the above point, maybe? I used to perceive NY/Wall-Street as all about image, and SF/tech-scene to be much more down-to-earth and friendly. I don't find that anymore. Taking Caltrain, I see people wearing Google/FB/Twitter/XXX t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, bags etc. Compan…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#266

Post by tehwebguy » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:25 AM UTC

afontaine wrote: post #158

agentgt wrote: post #113

I'm particularly biased as I went to school at GaTech but Atlanta has greatly improved over the last decade or so. It obviously has a completely different social, ethnic and economic diversity than SF does as well as being far far more cost effective. It also has real BBQ as well as being not that far from Miami (my favorite city but not good to live/work in). I would recommend Boston (where I currently live) except…

"Miami (my favorite city but not good to live/work in)" How come you consider Miami not a good city to live/work in? I live here and I'm genuinely curious.

Cost of living, humidity, unbelievable corruption, traffic, lack of tech, deadly and destructive hurricanes and probably the worst internet access in a major city.

On the other hand, it does have Chicken Kitchen and Samurai, effectively canceling out all of those other items IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#267

Post by ctstover » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:25 AM UTC

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #237

bkjelden wrote: post #25

Seattle's housing costs are definitely rising but Washington's lack of an income tax is a boon for software engineers. Also, many of the big players in tech will pay within 10-20% of their bay area total comp packages in Seattle, so your take home pay might be almost the same, but of course your dollar is going to go a lot further. I ran some numbers comparing Seattle, Denver, and Minneapolis, and found the descendin…

I moved away from Seattle to the Bay Area partly because it was so damn depressing. My company-sponsored doctor gave me a bottle full of two _GRAM_ pills of Vitamin D, and she said she has had to give it to most of her patients. In the dead thick of the winter, it gets dark at 3 PM (after a 10 AM sunrise), and the rain literally never stops. When it's not raining, it's misting, and it will go weeks on end with everla…

This peaked my curiosity since I'm considering moving there. You must be exaggerating a bit since I just looked it up, and around the winter solstice the sun rise set times are like 7:55 - 4:20.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#268

Post by sillypog » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:26 AM UTC

Tempest1981 wrote: post #250

Anyone up north in Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, or Petaluma? What's it like up there? Any jobs?

I bought a house on Russian River when I realized I'd never be able to afford SF. I spent a lot of time in those towns while coming up to work on the house. I found the culture shock too hard to deal with and ended up renting the house out. Sebastopol is a gorgeous town with its own personality (not something I could say for Santa Rosa). But it's still quite expensive to get a house there and I don't know what the job situation is like.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#269

Post by mronge » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:28 AM UTC

relaunched wrote: post #4

Minneapolis. - Affordable, great culture / food, low unemployment, tons of public companies, rapidly growing startup scene (100 meetup groups)...If you have kids it gets even better. The suburbs are amazing, with great parks, schools, etc. Work life balance is the norm.

Another +1 on Minneapolis. A growing tech scene, lots of outdoor activities, low unemployment (2.5%!) and very affordable.

Been here 5 years now, and it's the best place I've lived

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#270

Post by jsonmaur » Wed, Mar 09, 2016, 4:30 AM UTC

nhumrich wrote: post #231

There are a lot of startups in Salt Lake, UT. Billboards everywhere looking for devs. I really am surprised it never gets mentioned on posts like this. Salt lake area cost if living is about the same as Austin I believe l, but based on the fact that it isn't as well known that it is truly a tech hub, cost probably won't rise nearly as quickly as the other places. It has recently been called *Silicon Slopes" by Google…

Google Fiber is already under construction in Salt Lake. +1 for Utah--not just Salt Lake, but Ogden and Provo as well. An awesome startup scene, and very low cost of living. Plus SLC is the only city within a few hours of some of the best skiing, hiking, and red rock in the country.