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Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

nytimes.com

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Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#291

Post by s73v3r »

srdev wrote: post #224
s73v3r wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the same time, they're people that are coming in and pushing people who have lived there out, simply because they have more money. That would piss most people off.

Its really understandable why that would piss them off and I sympathize. At the same time, it seems like the only solutions are for me to quit my job and "fuck off", or to live in the suburbs and suck up a > 1 hr commute. People deserve to live a good life and improve their station, and that includes techies who are well off, in addition to the poor and middle class.

Unfortunately, it currently seems like the techies improving their station is coming at the expense of the poor and middle class who were there.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#292

Post by s73v3r »

serge2k wrote: post #158
steve-howard wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear and empathize with this complaint, and I think it's a real problem. But what about the people on the other side of the fence? You work in software, some company pays you a lot to move out here, and you're in a position to choose where you want to live. Should you really not live in a particular area because it makes you part of a bigger problem?

Well you are new, so you should be required to take your substantial income and use it to get a place an hour from work so you can bus everyday. That's totally the way the world works right?

At the same time, why are you more deserving of living there than them?

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#293

Post by mikestew »

city41 wrote: post #139
pera wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep reading all these scary stories about how unwelcoming people from Seattle is; I moved here back in February and my experience until now have been completely the opposite: almost every Seattleite I meet is super friendly and talkative, at the point that it feels almost like being in a small town. Maybe I am just lucky? but I think Seattle is one of the coolest cities in the US, except of course for the traffic.

Having a giant lake dividing Seattle from the rest of the area has a really negative impact on traffic. I lived in Seattle for 4 years and I generally found people cold and distant, my wife did too.

After fifteen years of living here, I've concluded that a large part of the traffic woes are brought on by the general driving habits of the residents themselves. Can't properly merge (speed up to the flow of traffic, please), can't stay out of the left lane, and huge gaps are often left because a driver can't be bothered to push the accelerator (exacerbating the jerky stop-and-go). Seattle doesn't need more roads, Seattle needs to learn to operate their vehicles (though Seattlites will tell you it's the immigrant Californians; talk about denial). Contrast to, say, NYC where it appears to me that everybody just wants it to work and if you're screwing it up for everyone else you get a horn and a finger. Which, despite stereotypes, doesn't seem to happen all that often (disclaimer: never lived there, visited lots) because everyone else wants it to work, too.

That, and they should have said "yes" to federal light rail dollars forty years ago. Now we're stuck with a tunnel that I'm becoming increasing convinced is never going to get finished.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#294

Post by mikestew »

sakopov wrote: post #163
cossatot wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might move a bit farther out of town to extend your savings. Plus if you're outdoorsy or would like to be, being 20 miles closer to the Cascades makes getting out midweek feasible and beating the crowds on the weekends.

The outdoors is exactly why I want to get out to Pacific Northwest. I always find myself chasing nature here. Thank you for a great tip!

I live in Redmond, and "the outdoors" is literally a block down the street, starting at the local trail. Take the dog on a run two miles down that trail, and we're in a wooded park with trails. Two more miles and we're in the Redmond Watershed park with I-don't-know-how-many miles of wooded trails. And that's "outdoors lite". A 30 minute drive gives me a choice three mountains with (if I had to guess) at least 100 miles of trails, some of which you probably won't see another person. I once did a 24 mile run on Cougar Mountain, and never hit the same trail twice (though I did pretty much exhaust the trail system after 24 miles).

Drive a little more, an you get skiing, snowshoeing, forest roads galore for your dual sport motorcycle. Hell, go dog sledding if that floats your boat, I've seen 'em out there.

If you have 6 months saved up, you should have no problem finding a job. Yeah, you'll get rejected at a lot of jobs not because you suck but because tech hiring sux balls. But I'd bet you'll find something. If you get out here, hit me up if you like; email in profile.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#295

Post by School-Cotton »

sbilstein wrote: post #245
wfo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle has never been particularly welcoming to newcomers; people there tend to be insular and it can be hard to make friends if you don't already know people (even before the amazon/tech stuff -- plenty of articles about 'the seattle freeze' that predate it). Being from there helps. Not being in tech helps -- there are so many new software engineers meeting one just isn't very interesting. You can hardly blame peop…

I moved to Seattle in 2011 and left in 2013. It was a little difficult to make friends at first because (1) people are generally standoffish and (2) the whole 'I work at Microsoft' thing really turns people off for whatever reason. What I learned after a while was you can't really do anything about #1; thats just the NW culture. To deal with #2...just don't bring it up and don't be a stereotype and get to know Seattl…

So the solution to #2 is to be "one of the good ones"? To not talk about important facets of yourself to avoid offending petty people? Fuck that.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#296

Post by itsybitsycoder »

JPKab wrote: post #116
thieving_magpie wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm not all that concerned with making friends with people that are hostile about my profession. That's so petty. >partly because the countless new techbros with no respect for Seattle culture who spend 11hrs/day at work and don't have time to develop a personality romping around town give it a real bad reputation What does that even mean? I hear this all the time and I honestly have no idea how to "respect Sea…

As someone who has lived in a few cities filled with counter-culture types, they can be incredibly insular, superficial, and tribal. Ironically, they end up being a different looking, but similar acting version of the wealthy elite they claim to hate. It seems like everyone in these places is just trying to re-invent a "cooler than thou" image, looking down on others who don't prize their typically temporary life-sty…

I grew up in a trailer park too, and look forward to the day I can afford to go back to a life that simple.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#297

Post by itsybitsycoder »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #270
eastbayjake wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The #1 dating horror story among women I've dated in SF is the introverted engineer who could only talk about work, engineering, or video games and otherwise required Charlie Rose levels of questioning to engage on other topics. I'm wondering if I can get funding for a Personality-as-a-Service startup in SF.

I wonder how many of those engineers have horror stories about women who can only talk about and refuse to discuss anything interesting, like engineering or video games.

Are you saying that all women want to talk about is bland socially-approved topics, or that everything other than engineering and video games is bland and socially-approved? I like talking about work and videogames sometimes but if that's all you can talk about without getting bored, it's pretty bad.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#298

Post by mjevans »

School-Cotton wrote: post #295
sbilstein wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to Seattle in 2011 and left in 2013. It was a little difficult to make friends at first because (1) people are generally standoffish and (2) the whole 'I work at Microsoft' thing really turns people off for whatever reason. What I learned after a while was you can't really do anything about #1; thats just the NW culture. To deal with #2...just don't bring it up and don't be a stereotype and get to know Seattl…

So the solution to #2 is to be "one of the good ones"? To not talk about important facets of yourself to avoid offending petty people? Fuck that.

You're missing the point.

The answer to number 2 is to be more than your job. To leave work /at work/.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#299

Post by School-Cotton »

mjevans wrote: post #298
School-Cotton wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the solution to #2 is to be "one of the good ones"? To not talk about important facets of yourself to avoid offending petty people? Fuck that.

You're missing the point. The answer to number 2 is to be more than your job. To leave work /at work/.

I'm "more than my work". But that doesn't mean my work isn't a major part of me.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#300

Post by mjevans »

itsybitsycoder wrote: post #297
PhasmaFelis wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how many of those engineers have horror stories about women who can only talk about and refuse to discuss anything interesting, like engineering or video games.

Are you saying that all women want to talk about is bland socially-approved topics, or that everything other than engineering and video games is bland and socially-approved? I like talking about work and videogames sometimes but if that's all you can talk about without getting bored, it's pretty bad.

I read this the other way. That the post you're replying to here was saying 'flip the table around and try to read the experience from the other side'. Are the engineers really flat and without life, or is it that the venn diagram of their mutual interests has a very small overlap and neither is particularly good at figuring out how to engage the other?
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