Or Phoenix, where I have lived for years after selling my SV home in 2010 because of traffic and living costs. We have an amazing tech community in Phoenix that has come together to work on cybersecurity, bioindustry, health care, edtech and SaaS. The weather is great, housing is inexpensive, and we've got Blue Apron, Uber, and all the stuff you need.
Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
351–360 of 392 posts
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've entertained the idea of living in Sacramento, mostly because it's closer to the Sierras than SF. But one question: do you guys have air conditioning? I presume so, if it gets hot. SF's lack of air conditioning is brutal!
Sacramento gets about 3-6 weeks of 100+ weather a year, and probably 1-2 weeks worth of freezing weather (freezing overnight only). Almost all homes and cars sold here have AC. The heat here is pretty dry so people complain about it but not a lot. Sacramento very consistently gets a ~30mph wind from the southwest in the summer (we call it the "Delta Breeze") that will push temperatures at night down to the 70s or 60s…
Very true. We live in Sacramento area, and I rather like it here. It's a pretty diverse area and the cost of living to salary ratio is a lot better than in the Bay Area.
We're considering having to move somewhere else that's less allergenic because of the allergy situation. I start sneezing and blowing my nose a lot in April or May, but it's manageable. My wife and kids have much more severe allergy and asthma issues. My wife pretty much has to remain indoors all the time between March and October because her allergies to various pollens have become so severe and Sacramento has a lot of pollen in the air. She doesn't really like that and wants to live somewhere else where she can go outside without having breathing issues.
I sure love the nice Delta breezes we get in the evenings. It cools everything down and summer evenings are very pleasant. Unfortunately, we're unable to open the house up because of the breathing issues it causes among my family members. Very frustrating.
The Bay Area would be better for allergies, but it's so astronomically expensive that I want to stay far away. Sure I'd probably double my salary, but my cost of living would probably go up by 4x or 5x. No thank you.
My wife loves Seattle because she can breathe so much better there so maybe we'll end up there someday.
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only caveat about the freelancer/entrepreneur route is that you have to prove that you have a bunch of money in the bank at all times. For example, over 10K euros or something like this. Because as a freelancer, they want to ensure that you are not going to become unemployed and have to live off the system, presumably. You also have the option to work in Germany at a real job, and thereafter apply for a freelance…
When I was applying for the freelancer visa in Austria the requirement was 100k, not 10k. Not sure if a typo or if stuff changed.
nah. it's 10k for germany. austria seems way more xenophobic and way more hostile
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#354Earlier quoted context omitted.
They say that just to keep the bastards out.
Why would they care how many parents you have?
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
I grew up in cuse and went to school at RIT. Why I'd never go back: 1. Snow, 2. Taxes Why I'd go back: 1. Insanely cheap 2. Hot plates Thus is life.
1. I don't mind the snow. 2. Taxes totally suck. I am at $6,000 a year. 3. It is cheap. 4. Hot plates? I don't follow this :-)
Hot plates (also called 'garbage plates', or just 'plates') are a Rochester thing.
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's pretty harsh. We wanted to move into S. Minneapolis but couldn't justify the high cost. Instead we ended up in the (far) suburbs.
It is pretty harsh, but I do think the suburbs around minneapolis are really really crappy. All the food gets delivered off the back off US food trucks, most people are openly racist and/or hickish, all the houses look like crap, etc etc. Which part of south minneapolis are you talking about? There is a big difference between southeast and southwest. I once played a hockey team from the suburbs when I was younger and…
Do me a favor, don't move anywhere else. We don't need that attitude spreading.
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#357Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only caveat about the freelancer/entrepreneur route is that you have to prove that you have a bunch of money in the bank at all times. For example, over 10K euros or something like this. Because as a freelancer, they want to ensure that you are not going to become unemployed and have to live off the system, presumably. You also have the option to work in Germany at a real job, and thereafter apply for a freelance…
When I was applying for the freelancer visa in Austria the requirement was 100k, not 10k. Not sure if a typo or if stuff changed.
Just a FYI, but before I recently got a blue card for working at a startup in Berlin, I'd applied for my second free-lancers Visa. I sheepishly showed the officer that I had like 3k in the bank at the time, and she give me a bit of a scolding and told me that it wasn't enough, and then proceeded to give me a 2 year visa.
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I was applying for the freelancer visa in Austria the requirement was 100k, not 10k. Not sure if a typo or if stuff changed.
nah. it's 10k for germany. austria seems way more xenophobic and way more hostile
Worked in all 3, Austria, Germany, US. Germany is indeed the best, but only if you can work remote for a US company.
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#359I'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…
Atlanta has a lot of good stuff going for it, midtown area and the tech village up in Buckhead have some promising startups. Few other south eastern cities to add to OPs list: Charlotte isn't bad either and has a similar if less developed vibe, lot of financial business around there. People seem split on whether they like it or Raleigh more, seems like a toss up. For a smaller city Chatanooga has a lot going for it.
If Chattanooga is on the radar, I'd consider Huntsville. With Redstone Arsenal and the long association with the US Space Program, it has a very strong technical and engineering culture. It's not a small town, but not trying to be a big city, and it's very welcoming to new comers and diversity [for a southern city] owing to the flux of space industry.
Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?
#360Here's an HBR article talking about New Orleans push to become a relevant hub and the difficulties of stealing mindshare from "the big three": https://hbr.org/2016/03/what-makes-new-orleans-a-startup-cit...
They're not trying very hard to steal mindshare with only a half dozen jobs (three of which are actually dev jobs) listed on Craigslist. Seattle has page after page of software jobs on CL. I'd totally consider a move to NOLA, but I'm not packing my bags just yet. I mean, seriously, is the article just BS? Even my old stomping grounds of Indianapolis (a.k.a., "Naptown", a.k.a, "you'll be writing code for an insurance…
Two issues at play here:
1) NOLA companies don't list on CL
2) NOLA companies haven't learned to all post their jobs
Honestly, if the interest is really there, the jobs are here.