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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

#91

Post by mullen »

lisowski wrote: post #78

As a 23 year old software engineer that recently chose to live in SD over SF I find this article kind of funny. It didn't make sense to me to choose a place where i might make more money, but have to spend it all to live. Life can be pretty cheap in SD. I live 20 minutes/15 miles from work, a commute that would take an hour in the bay. I also pay <$700 for the master bedroom in my house. I'm also a 10 min uber to any…

San Diego Native here.

I don't think people realize that you move to San Diego for the lifestyle, not the great working opportunities. The weather and activities are pretty amazing here.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#92

Post by roadnottaken »

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…

I love cycling in SD -- seems very bike-friendly to me. But I live and cycle in north county, not Hillcrest/NP/SP.

It does get hot in the summer at mid-day, but mornings and evenings are pleasant year-round.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#93

Post by antognini »

roadnottaken wrote: post #52
RCortex wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Escondido is another reasonably priced suburb. My wife and I bought a nice house there in the mid $500s. The only downside of Escondido is that the school system is not great and it's a good 40 minutes from downtown SD.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#94

Post by pcsanwald »

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 someone who lived in NYC for 17 years and moved to SF 6 months ago, my anecdotal experience so far is that SF is nowhere near as intense as NYC, at least as far as workplace environment goes. Everything feels considerably more laid back to me.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#95

Post by falkenb0t »

roadnottaken wrote: post #52
RCortex wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Can confirm: currently live in Rancho Penasquitos and it's great if not a little suburban. That said, if I were a little older and had a family it would be perfect.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#96

Post by jasode »

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…

Venture capitalist Mark Suster makes an interesting case for why Los Angeles would have the greatest chance at being #2 behind Silicon Valley. This comment is not meant to dampen anyone's thunder in playing up San Diego. Instead, the intention is for others to listen to how Mark sells Los Angeles. Take notes on how he describes the successes of LA that can lead to greater things. Plagiarize his persuasive narrative style as a template for selling San Diego's business potential. (E.g. mentally do search&replace of LA companies to SD companies). That way, people hear more than just SD's great weather and more affordable housing.

The entire 2hr20min interview has amazing insights across a wide range of topics but here are some deep links specifically about the LA scene:

- Los Angeles tech successes: 1:01:11 - 1:15:07 -- deep link: https://youtu.be/u0s-vqF-2K0?t=1h1m11s

- How University of California's commercialization philosophy (2% royalties) is different from Stanford University (equity) (fyi the "Anderson" he's referring to is UCLA's Anderson School of Management) 1:43:50 - 1:47:26 -- deep link: https://youtu.be/u0s-vqF-2K0?t=1h43m50s

- Snapchat's potential ripple effects in Los Angeles' ecosystem 2:10:50 - 2:12:24 -- deep link: https://youtu.be/u0s-vqF-2K0?t=2h10m50s

(If anyone likes those excerpts, put the Youtube player on 3x playback acceleration and watch the entire 2hr20mn talk. It's extremely educational.)

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#97

Post by khuey »

monkmartinez wrote: post #88
niels_olson wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shhhhh! Just shhhhhusshh!

I don't think you have to worry... there is a NET outflow of people living in California[1]. Why? My mother always said if you don't have anything nice to say about a group of people, don't say anything at all. [1] https://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/great-california-ex...

There's a net outflow when considering purely domestic migration, maybe. California's population is still growing, driven by immigration and births.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#98

Post by arkitectual »

roadnottaken wrote: post #92
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…

I love cycling in SD -- seems very bike-friendly to me. But I live and cycle in north county, not Hillcrest/NP/SP. It does get hot in the summer at mid-day, but mornings and evenings are pleasant year-round.

North of La Jolla is very cycle friendly. Riding up the coast or in the inland hills is very enjoyable and relaxing.

I refuse to cycle south of La Jolla though. Hardly any bike lanes and way more traffic.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#99

Post by fredliu »

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…

IMO, Capital and Talents are the two major factors in determining whether or not a location has a potential to have a good and sustainable tech scene. You'd have to have good supply and demand for both to sustain a healthy tech scene, and the driving factor between the two is capital, not talents. The exodus of talents in SD is a symptom of weak local demand (not because of, say, not enough restaurant options); which in itself is a symptom of weak supply of capital. Any place's scale of tech scene reaches to a local equilibrium when the supply and demand for both factors levels up. Following that logic, San Diego seems to be going where that local equilibrium is, given the current scale of capital available in the region. But the fact that more VCs are looking at places outside of the bay may bring some hope to SD, depending on whether or not SD will be "the chosen city".

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#100

Post by socialist_coder »

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…

If you want to be happy in SD, you have to be content with driving everywhere. Cycling sucks in 99% of the city and mass transit is terrible. If you try to live in SD like you live in SF or NYC, you will not be happy.

I'm not sure about your complaint with SD being too hot. 2 miles from the beach should be great weather. I lived in San Diego for 20 of my 35 years of life (moved away in 2011) and the weather is one of the best things about that place. Some people prefer a cooler climate though.

It sounds like you would much rather live in SF. Cooler weather, better cycling, and better public transit. For me, I prefer SD. I hated the SF weather and the public transit still wasn't really that good (BART is too limited).

I would love to move back to SD but housing costs are just too damn high and I don't want to live in the cheap parts where its hotter and boring. I'm going to be looking at rural Oregon or Washington when I hopefully move back to the US in a couple years.

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