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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

#131

Post by jennyjenjen »

socialist_coder wrote: post #100
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…

Yes and no on driving - my BF and I share a car, use car2go, and walk around our neighborhood. We live in North Park. He is a video engineer for conventions and tradeshows, so he's more in the tourism industry than anything. It's actually a very lucrative career - up there with tech, if you play your cards right and have the right work ethic/talent then it can pay and provide well.

I'm in tech. I work in robotics and VR. Granted, the robotics company is in SF, but the VR company is down here. I do have to drive to work with my own car. But my BF can use car2go to get downtown when I've got the car.

We rent in NP and pay around $1000 (we got lucky) for a 1bd. We're anticipating needing a 2bd within the next two years (he's got two kids) and that should run us up to $2000 by the time we need it. That'll work though, our incomes can support that. If either of the startups I work at do well, then we'll be looking to buy in the next 5-6 years.

Housing is nowhere near as expensive here as it is in SF or NYC, though. Even better if you're DINK (dual income, no kids). We probably have to pay more for his kids from a previous marriage than we would if they were ours (child support any whatnot), but it's possible to afford housing here.

Where are you now?

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#132

Post by jennyjenjen »

enraged_camel wrote: post #105
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…

San Diego is nice if you want a casual, laid-back lifestyle. The problem is that "casual" and "laid-back" are the last words you want to use to describe how startups need to behave in order to get off the ground. Places like SF and NY work very well for startups because, among other things, there's a sense of urgency and intensity. In San Diego however, the established business culture is pretty slow due to the domin…

I actually find that the laid back attitude helps weed out the people who aren't serious about what they're doing. It's possible to have a life, enjoy the sunshine, and work hard. But you're right on the long-term R&D cycles. I agree with that.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#133

Post by coderinsandiego »

ng12 wrote: post #16

I don't buy it. The northern part of San Diego is pretty comparable to, say, Mountain View. The real problem is lack of compelling opportunities. Your options are basically Qualcomm or Inuit -- neither of which have particular draw for young engineers.

It's not that bad, but generally I agree.

An example of this is the Who's Hiring threads here. San Diego is rarely visible on there.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#134

Post by cloudjacker »

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…

ah okay, so basically the same reasons that everywhere else struggles to keep its tech talent.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#135

Post by gregatragenet3 »

socialist_coder wrote: post #100
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…

Depends on where you live in SD as far as bike friendlyness. La Jolla, PB and mission Beach are very bikeable. I live in PB and hardly ever drive, but am fortunate that I can telecommute for a bay area company from my home office. If I had to drive to Qualcomm etc I'd have a different take on the ease of transportation.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#136

Post by FilterSweep »

ng12 wrote: post #19
willismichael wrote: post #15

Why does tech talent have to be young?

Because we've been in a talent shortage for 10 years. By the numbers the available applicant pool is young.

By "we" do you mean San Diego specifically, or by "we" do you mean the entire industry as a whole being frustrated in a lack of applicants for their CRUD application that can't have applicants that can traverse a BST on a whiteboard or pseudocode malloc/free?

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#137

Post by sedachv »

mountaineer22 wrote: post #108
cylinder wrote: post #23

Who cares? Where are the articles about San Antonio losing its "young oil and gas talent" to Houston? How about Philly losing its "young finance talent" to New York? Also, I'm pretty sure biotech counts as "tech." Hey, it even has it in the name. Too bad they don't have more on demand laundry startups, since apparently that's the key to success as a city.

"on demand laundry startups" Is that a real thing?

https://www.getwashio.com/ http://flycleaners.com/ https://cleanly.com/ http://www.fazioonthego.com/ https://www.sudzy.co/ http://www.getclothespin.com/ http://getlaundri.com/ https://washtrunk.com/ http://www.nextcleaners.com/

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#138

Post by gregatragenet3 »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #34
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.

Can you name one "big tech firm" that is 2 hour away from SF?

Most of them are near a 2 hour drive, if you are anywhere around commute hours and you live in a typical (not right off the freeway) area in SF. To name a couple, Intel and Cisco.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#139

Post by blackflame7000 »

runT1ME wrote: post #122
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…

I'm going to be the naysayer here and say that a year and a half back when I was looking for jobs I considered all options up and down the California coast. My conclusion from my search was that I will not be moving to San Diego. The salaries are far below Orange County, which are below Los Angeles, which are less than Bay Area salaries. Now, money isn't everything, but I'd say tech culture (in terms of technology, m…

If you think the place where you program determines whether or not you are a 'blub' I believe you are sorely misguided.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#140

Post by Eotterson »

Eotterson wrote: post #119

Notwithstanding the authors comments about location, I didn't want the engineers who want to stay in San Diego to miss the opportunity to do so because they were not aware of the great opportunities (companies) that are here. Many of these companies are hiring, and some of the most explosive are downtown: DOWNTOWN: MindTouch Classy Take Lessons GoFormz Underground Elephant Sweetlabs ChatMeter Tap Hunter Zesty.io Skys…

oops - while I know I forgot many...I have to add Verimatrix (because they hired a UCSD intern this past summer!)
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