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One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

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Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#121
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the grass is always greener on the other side.

Except for TX, where it is always brown unless you water it excessively ala Los Angeles.

Austin is green. Like, very green. I was genuinely surprised when I moved here last year.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#122
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and BA is the only place where a programmer can work. Yes, in exactly none of the big cities in the USA there is programming being done, let alone medium cities. Nothing in NYC, nothing in Chicago, Seattle, Boston, Austin, DFW, Minneapolis, Portland, etc Only on SFBA Sure

Haven't tried myself, yet huge crowds of incoming people can't be that wrong :) In particular i think only CA has non-recognition of non-competes (and moonlighting protection too if i remember right) while the rest of US - doesn't.

Yeah because the herd mentality has shown to be correct so often.

C'mon you know what you are saying is wrong. I worked in SV/SF and now live in NYC and I much prefer the tech scene here. In fact there's a massive shortage of programmers so you could actually make more money in NYC.

But you don't even need to live there. You can work remote. Programming is one of the only jobs you can do literally from anywhere.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#123
I moved to the area a few months ago for my career, and while I wouldn't say I hope to leave soon, I don't plan on putting down roots. My hope is to save up some money and buy a cheap house in cash where the cost of real estate and living is cheap, then move there. I suspect that there are a lot of other people that are looking to do the same.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#124
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the grass is always greener on the other side.

Except for TX, where it is always brown unless you water it excessively ala Los Angeles.

Only if you insist on having lawns of non-native grasses like Los Angeles. Texas from the Ft.Worth/Austin line east is naturally green and grassy, as is the Hill Country just west of Austin.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "I'm sure the fact that there's an increasing trend of empty Chinese investment properties isn't helping." This. This. This. A couple of years ago, I found myself utterly shocked by the price of homes in San Francisco. In a fit of frustration, I fired off a few emails a few random real estate firms in SF, asking one simple question: "Who the BLEEP can afford these homes?" You see, I was frustrated. I have a great j…

We made a pact with the devil when as a society we decided to believe that our primary homes would also double as investment vehicles that will appreciate in value and help us fund our retirement.

Except no one decided that - it falls naturally out of the facts that homes are expensive (and therefore represent a large chunk of the wealth of most people) and that homes do not depreciate very much as a result of people living in them.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#126
post #70

Please don't come to Austin. I moved from SF to Austin a little over two years ago, and I want to make it clear that it's terrible. The food is bad, the people are lame, and all the musicians are out of tune. I hear Chicago is where it's at, so please go there. Or New York. Or anywhere else, really. Just don't come to Austin.

Also: Cleveland as well. (... jokes on me, you were all going to keep away anyway)

Even after factoring in for cost of living adjustments Cleveland isn't worth it for me. It's still a huge pay cut and while there are a few interesting start-ups, big businesses still dominate (Progressive, GE, Philips, Key Bank, The Fed, IBM, etc) and don't have the standard developer-friendly attitude of a lot of west coast tech companies do.

I say this as someone that graduated from CWRU. Cleveland doesn't want developers badly enough to increase wages and benefits. This is all super unfortunate since I still fly out to Ohio several times a year to visit family and it would have been nice to stay in the region.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#127
post #93
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "...but not both." What about Chicago. Way cheaper than New York, and has the second best train system in the country.

You can have affordable housing, good mass transit, and jobs. Pick two.

Chicago has all three. It just has a really shitty climate and is surrounded by...corn fields

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#128

Please don't come to Austin. I moved from SF to Austin a little over two years ago, and I want to make it clear that it's terrible. The food is bad, the people are lame, and all the musicians are out of tune. I hear Chicago is where it's at, so please go there. Or New York. Or anywhere else, really. Just don't come to Austin.

Are you joking or is this a do as I say not as I do suggestion?

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#129

Is the Bay Area no longer a good place to start a career? I'm close to finishing up my PhD, and my original plan was to apply to work at the tech companies that I find most interesting. For the most part, these are located in the Bay Area — although some are in New York, Austin, Boston, Seattle, Raleigh, and Atlanta. I figured I would stay there 2-4 years tops though, since my family and girlfriend live in the southe…

I'm slightly older than you (my college friends finished their PhDs 2 years ago), grew up in SV and still work here.

With respect to cost of living, I think it is fine to start a career here. A PhD starting salary at most (big) places will cover a 1 bed room in a good area with decent transit options like San Mateo just fine. You won't live like a king but you won't like like a miser either. That being said looking for places while still being Tennessee will be hard, so you might get a sublet for 2 months and look for a more permanent place after you arrive.

Where it gets really hard is when you start looking for homes to buy when you start a family, and care about school districts. If you're open to moving out to the South East after getting established in your field (not sure if you want to stay in chemistry/pharma or head towards purely data oriented roles), you would be able to mitigate this [1] One thing I'd consider is how feasible moving across the country will actually be.

Anyways, happy to answer questions over email. Contact is in profile.

[1] you should definitely look at Cambridge/Boston if you want to stay in pharma/chem.

Re: One-third of SF Bay Area residents hope to leave soon, poll finds

#130
post #82

Please don't come to Austin. I moved from SF to Austin a little over two years ago, and I want to make it clear that it's terrible. The food is bad, the people are lame, and all the musicians are out of tune. I hear Chicago is where it's at, so please go there. Or New York. Or anywhere else, really. Just don't come to Austin.

I'm going to clarify that I'm not picking on you, but I loathe this attitude. I see it in Denver constantly. I moved here, but now we're full up. Ironically, it mostly comes from people that are transplants themselves. It's rather elitist to tell people where they can and can't live especially with the "forget you, I got mine" dynamic going on from the transplants themselves.

Everyone who have moved from something they loathed to something they love wants to preserve their place just like it was when they arrived.
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