The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt • Hacker News Board

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#21

Post by teamfrizz » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:22 PM UTC

douche wrote: post #18

lordCarbonFiber wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the difference is you're stuck living in a "nice middle class neighborhood" with a ton of space you probably don't need. For many people moving to cities the value of the area is worth many times the value of the space. I wouldn't trade my nyc studio for a McMansion back in bumfuck SC no matter how much you offered me; and I think there must be a large population that shares that sentiment.

That's really the tradeoff. Some people like trees and grass and a modicum of peace and quiet and privacy. Other people like to live in the caves of steel, with a seething mass of humanity flowing all around. I think you can guess where I stand on the matter. You couldn't pay me enough money to relocate to Manhattan or San Francisco.

"I wouldn't live there if you paid me to" - The Talking Heads on suburbia.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#22

Post by christophilus » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:23 PM UTC

lordCarbonFiber wrote: post #15

toomanythings4 wrote: post #10

In 1992, a friend got a job in the valley and I visited him when I was out there visiting the HQ for my company. He asked me to go with him to check out a condo he was thinking of buying. Remember that these are 1992 prices. The two-bedroom place we looked at was just like one of my first apartments. When the agent said it was $250K, I almost fell on the floor. My wife and I had just bought our first house, which was…

And the difference is you're stuck living in a "nice middle class neighborhood" with a ton of space you probably don't need. For many people moving to cities the value of the area is worth many times the value of the space. I wouldn't trade my nyc studio for a McMansion back in bumfuck SC no matter how much you offered me; and I think there must be a large population that shares that sentiment.

On the other hand, you can live in a beautiful small city like Greenville, SC in walking distance to most or all of your needs, a short drive from great Appalachian hiking, etc. for a very reasonable price. I don't think the choice is necessarily a boolean between big, expensive city life and bumfuck SC life. At least, I hope not, because I'm giving the Greenville, SC thing a try and liking it so far.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#23

Post by drabiega » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:27 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #20

marchenko wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commuting outside of areas well-served by public transportation is a huge detriment to quality-of-life. Those extra hours really add up, especially during the shorter days of winter. The advantage of moving to a second or third city is that you can still enjoy the amenities of an urban or semi-urban setting at a lower price point. It doesn't even have to be in the Rust Belt (although personally I like Pittsburgh, Col…

That assumes you like cities. I don't dislike cities in general but I also like my rural property. I honestly don't see a particular advantage to small towns. What I like about cities is things like theater, good restaurants, and related culture which typically take significant scale. Not sure what extra hours you're talking about. I have a modest (25 min or so) commute when I go into the (suburban/exurban) office an…

Not sure if it's what he was referring to, but when I was able to commute on public transit my commute was longer but I was free to do other things during that time, primarily reading. Now that I live somewhere without public transit my commute is just dead time.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#24

Post by ghaff » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:32 PM UTC

drabiega wrote: post #23

ghaff wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That assumes you like cities. I don't dislike cities in general but I also like my rural property. I honestly don't see a particular advantage to small towns. What I like about cities is things like theater, good restaurants, and related culture which typically take significant scale. Not sure what extra hours you're talking about. I have a modest (25 min or so) commute when I go into the (suburban/exurban) office an…

Not sure if it's what he was referring to, but when I was able to commute on public transit my commute was longer but I was free to do other things during that time, primarily reading. Now that I live somewhere without public transit my commute is just dead time.

I listen to podcasts and don't actually commute in that often anyway. To the degree that public transportation = subways/busses, I don't find it all that different as it's not that conducive to reading anyway in my experience.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#25

Post by hyperpape » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:33 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #20

marchenko wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commuting outside of areas well-served by public transportation is a huge detriment to quality-of-life. Those extra hours really add up, especially during the shorter days of winter. The advantage of moving to a second or third city is that you can still enjoy the amenities of an urban or semi-urban setting at a lower price point. It doesn't even have to be in the Rust Belt (although personally I like Pittsburgh, Col…

That assumes you like cities. I don't dislike cities in general but I also like my rural property. I honestly don't see a particular advantage to small towns. What I like about cities is things like theater, good restaurants, and related culture which typically take significant scale. Not sure what extra hours you're talking about. I have a modest (25 min or so) commute when I go into the (suburban/exurban) office an…

You don't have to go far from some of the mid-sized cities to get a relatively rural experience. I'm 7 miles (15 minutes) from Red Hat's building in Raleigh, and 1 mile from a corn field. My house is definitely suburban, not rural, and with the way growth in my town is going, that corn field will be gone in a few years, but there's plenty of rural land just a little further out.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#26

Post by whack » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:35 PM UTC

Be careful what you wish for. In a world where physical proximity no longer matters, American programmers earning 6 figures, will have to compete against programmers from South America/Europe/Asia, all of whom earn significantly less than 6 figures.

There currently exists a massive salary gap between equally qualified programmers, living in different regions of the world. Eliminating the physical-proximity perks, will produce a massive regression to the mean.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#27

Post by Spooky23 » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:35 PM UTC

lordCarbonFiber wrote: post #15

toomanythings4 wrote: post #10

In 1992, a friend got a job in the valley and I visited him when I was out there visiting the HQ for my company. He asked me to go with him to check out a condo he was thinking of buying. Remember that these are 1992 prices. The two-bedroom place we looked at was just like one of my first apartments. When the agent said it was $250K, I almost fell on the floor. My wife and I had just bought our first house, which was…

And the difference is you're stuck living in a "nice middle class neighborhood" with a ton of space you probably don't need. For many people moving to cities the value of the area is worth many times the value of the space. I wouldn't trade my nyc studio for a McMansion back in bumfuck SC no matter how much you offered me; and I think there must be a large population that shares that sentiment.

I haven't spent lots of time in SV, but it pretty much felt like a newer, nicer northern NJ with great weather to when I've visited. Big sea of strip malls and suburbia.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#28

Post by simmons » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:38 PM UTC

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #8

Personally I wouldn't be comfortable if I had to persuade them to let me work remotely to take a mortgage when the company has access to so much local talent. Maybe I'm reading that wrong, but if it wasn't an issue for them, there wouldn't be any persuasion: "Hey, can I work remote from now on?", "Sure!"

I seem to be one of these "work for the valley from outside the valley" types, and I, too, would be nervous taking out a mortgage in an area where I might be relying on that one job. I resisted the temptation to move to some remote mountain hamlet, and instead sought some insurance by buying a home in my favorite non-SV tech area. (Although its been 13 years since I've done any work for a local company.)

Yet, I know people who do invest in the only-remote lifestyle, despite the stress when they are in between jobs. They must have nerves of steel.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#29

Post by mpbm » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:42 PM UTC

christophilus wrote: post #22

lordCarbonFiber wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the difference is you're stuck living in a "nice middle class neighborhood" with a ton of space you probably don't need. For many people moving to cities the value of the area is worth many times the value of the space. I wouldn't trade my nyc studio for a McMansion back in bumfuck SC no matter how much you offered me; and I think there must be a large population that shares that sentiment.

On the other hand, you can live in a beautiful small city like Greenville, SC in walking distance to most or all of your needs, a short drive from great Appalachian hiking, etc. for a very reasonable price. I don't think the choice is necessarily a boolean between big, expensive city life and bumfuck SC life. At least, I hope not, because I'm giving the Greenville, SC thing a try and liking it so far.

I think it's more about the culture you're surrounded with. From visiting that area several time I personally know that I don't want to be immersed in that culture. There isn't necessarily anything wrong with it that couldn't be avoided, I'd just rather live around different defaults.

Re: The Case for Working in Silicon Valley and Living in the Rust Belt

#30

Post by randallsquared » Thu, Jul 21, 2016, 1:50 PM UTC

christophilus wrote: post #22

lordCarbonFiber wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the difference is you're stuck living in a "nice middle class neighborhood" with a ton of space you probably don't need. For many people moving to cities the value of the area is worth many times the value of the space. I wouldn't trade my nyc studio for a McMansion back in bumfuck SC no matter how much you offered me; and I think there must be a large population that shares that sentiment.

On the other hand, you can live in a beautiful small city like Greenville, SC in walking distance to most or all of your needs, a short drive from great Appalachian hiking, etc. for a very reasonable price. I don't think the choice is necessarily a boolean between big, expensive city life and bumfuck SC life. At least, I hope not, because I'm giving the Greenville, SC thing a try and liking it so far.

I work for remotely for a company in NYC and live in BFSC (Gaffney). I'm also liking it so far. And, as a bonus, my coworkers were excited to find that I live a short drive from REST Fest US, so there's that. :)