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San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

nytimes.com

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Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#51

Post by mhb_eng »

mapgrep wrote: post #31

I grew up in San Diego before spending 20 years in the Bay Area. While I totally understand why a fresh graduate would want to head north to the bay, I think as a place to CREATE a startup, San Diego has tremendous potential. The weather is beautiful and actually beats SF. It's close to 70 year round, nice and dry, with great beaches and mountain and desert hiking. As the article notes downtown has been evolving in a…

As an engineer who also grew up in San Diego and now works here full-time, I totally agree. I think there is tremendous potential for innovation in San Diego, the hardest part is finding investors. As you said, there are many great universities nearby, with plenty of young talent who might be disenfranchised with the high cost of living/lifestyle of SV(or maybe that's just me,the disenfranchised part, not the talent).

As a robotics/mechanical guy, it can be a little overwhelming to consider a startup, because prototyping hardware gadgets is pricey! But I have been looking at something like SBIR/STTR funding, because most of my widgets are navy/defense focused.

I would say some potential founders could use the same funding to build software, especially considering you don't have to give up any commercialization rights or ownership stake to get the funding.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#52

Post by roadnottaken »

RCortex wrote: post #37
mapgrep wrote: post #31

I grew up in San Diego before spending 20 years in the Bay Area. While I totally understand why a fresh graduate would want to head north to the bay, I think as a place to CREATE a startup, San Diego has tremendous potential. The weather is beautiful and actually beats SF. It's close to 70 year round, nice and dry, with great beaches and mountain and desert hiking. As the article notes downtown has been evolving in a…

> Meanwhile the housing is still affordable compared to the Bay Area, if not cheap on a national basis. And the Valley is an hourlong Southwest flight away. I see lots of >$1 million homes and >$1500/month rents for apartments, in the suburbs. Do you have any specific areas in mind? I'm thinking about moving.

In north county, places like Rancho Penasquitos (92129) have great schools and you can find decent single-family homes in the low $600's these days. It's about 15 minutes from the coast without traffic -- 25 mins from downtown. Nearby areas like Mira Mesa and Clairemont are cheaper but the public schools aren't as good.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#53

Post by gedy »

By stressing lack of downtown locations, this seems be a fluff piece ala "Millenials don't want to drive!".

While there's a lot of competition for talent to leave to Bay Area, lots of folks I know moved here to SD to actually have a life outside of work, since its housing prices are much lower, access to beaches, food, etc. The commuting is better than SF imho, unless you simply cannot or refuse to drive.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#54

Post by CalRobert »

I moved to San Diego to start a tech company with a partner about 18 months ago. SD was chosen because partner lived there and was established. We found it very difficult to get the attention of any VC's or potential customers. We did manage to get an interview with YC, but were declined.

Was this due to the location? Perhaps. I do know that the events we went to were lackluster, and the ecosystem was weak. You've got Evonexus (which wouldn't even talk to us), and Connect Springboard, who wanted less complex ideas. Meetups were ok but the ones we went to ended up with more hangers on ("hey I brought my class of 20 HS students to learn about startups at this meetup with 8 people!") than actual people doing stuff.

Also, to be honest I just really didn't like San Diego. My wife got hit by a car while riding to work on a scooter and was in a cast for a few months; the weather was too damn hot (and I lived only two miles from the beach); public transport is dreadful; the culture, while better than LA, is still very socal; drivers tried to kill me as I cycled everywhere; and the city is a model of horrific urban design. Even in places that COULD be great you've got organizations like the Hillcrest Business Association trying to kill a single. damn. bike lane on one of the most heavily-ridden (and dangeous) streets in San Diego - University Ave. The city spends years claiming it's doing something just to have SANDAG kill it. This is particularly egregious when you consider that Todd Gloria supports cycling - until it matters. A bike lane in the middle of nowhere doesn't take any political courage.

SD is vastly overrated. I will admit, though, that the beer and Mexican food are good. Within SD I _did_ quite like South Park. It was when I needed to leave South Park that things were bad.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#55

Post by tmalsburg2 »

CalRobert wrote: post #43
tmalsburg2 wrote: post #39

I lived in San Diego for the last two years and this article doesn't make much sense to me. They say the problem is that Sorento valley is to far from San Diego downtown but downtown is dull and there are plenty of good places to live not far away from Sorento valley (Del Mar, La Jolla, Pacific Beach). I commuted from North Park to the UCSD campus which is close to Sorrento valley and it was no problem at all.

That's funny, I remember getting from North Park to Sorrento Valley being sheer, utter hell on earth, most of it spent crawling up 805 at a snail's pace. Also, downtown (well, the gaslamp at least) is kinda meh but North Park, South Park, and Golden Hill are probably the best neighborhoods in the city, and about 2 miles from DT. DT does have one advantage though in that you can take the Coaster to Sorrento Valley.

I used the 5 but I suppose it also depends on when you have to show up at work. I had some flexibility and could usually avoid the worst traffic.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#56

Post by CalRobert »

Grishnakh wrote: post #13
eugenekolo2 wrote: post #7

Little do they know that SV is just as desolate? Most of the big tech firms are 1-2 hours away from SF in suburbia.

Not only that, but isn't there a massive shortage of single women there? I guess the Millennials aren't interested in dating....

You're getting downvoted but this is a practical concern. The large military presence also skews things.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#57

Post by nniroclax »

I guess it really depends on which you value – being close to work or living somewhere cool. I am one of the few that actually reside in Sorrento Valley in the middle of Qualcomm land. People don't want to live here because the neighborhood isn't "cool" or "hip". However, I never have to put up with traffic, the Del Mar beach is about fifteen-twenty minutes away, and I can walk to Karl Strauss Brewery, Starbucks, and my co-working place. When I want a better "scene", downtown is just a twenty minute uber ride away. It actually works out pretty darn well if ya ask me, even if it's not a cool place like North Park or Little Italy.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#58

Post by roadnottaken »

I can see the appeal of places like SF and NYC for 20-somethings, but I'm in my mid-30s with 2 kids and in San Diego I can afford a nice single-family house in the suburbs with good public schools and (relatively) affordable daycare. When I hear about the crowding and cost of living in places like SF/Boston/NYC it makes me shudder. I love it here, but I work in La Jolla not Sorrento Valley (I'm in biotech, not IT). But I think for more-middle aged folks, the restaurant scene near work is less of a factor? I don't need excitement, I need affordable housing and schools -- and the weather and outdoor activities are worth A LOT to me.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#59

Post by logfromblammo »

Grishnakh wrote: post #22
ikeyany wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem in San Diego is that although traffic blows, there's no strong public transit like you have in DC.

There's no strong public transit in DC either. There's the Metro, which occasionally kills people due to terrible maintenance, but it's only really useful for DC proper. There's not many tech jobs in DC, they're all outside in northern VA or southern MD, quite some distance from downtown DC. And those places are not well-served by Metro at all; basically there's some giant park-and-ride centers where commuters can dr…

Seeing firsthand what adjacency to a large military base does, I wouldn't want to be young tech talent near Coronado or Camp Pendleton, either.

Defense jobs are terrible, soul-crushing nightmares that nevertheless pay you enough that it isn't really worth running back through the tech hiring gauntlet, which somehow manages to be worse. My soul is already nearly squashed flat, but it's not too late for you to save yourselves, if you can learn from my mistakes. Leave the defense jobs for the folks who have aged out of the military.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#60

Post by kyled »

CalRobert wrote: post #54

I moved to San Diego to start a tech company with a partner about 18 months ago. SD was chosen because partner lived there and was established. We found it very difficult to get the attention of any VC's or potential customers. We did manage to get an interview with YC, but were declined. Was this due to the location? Perhaps. I do know that the events we went to were lackluster, and the ecosystem was weak. You've go…

Sorry to hear about your wife, I hope she is okay.

I actually miss SD and think SF is a bit overrated haha.

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