Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

161–170 of 226 posts

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#161

Post by raitom »

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…

Haha I totally recognize myself here. I'm a french 25 years old software engineer who had opportunities in SF, NYC and SD. I chose to come in SD 2 years ago and I never regretted my choice! It feels like being in paradise compared to my hometown in france.

Fantastic weather all year, good beer, great food, tons of things to do,.. Rent are pricey but I wanted an nice place to live in a not crowded/safe place (Spectrum in Kearny Mesa) so me and my roommate pay 2300$/month for a 2bd/2bath appartement with gym, pools, ...

I'm 15 minutes away from my workplace in downtown and i love to be able to drive top-down every day (I like to drive).

Sure, I don't work for Google or Apple and don't make $150k+/yr (just 85k) but I don't care! The lifestyle in SD is what I love and I don't think I'll move from here in the new few years.

Bonus point: I feel like i'm the only young french professinnal (software engineer or not) in the city so I enjoy how easy it is to pick up girl with my accent :D

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#162

Post by marter »

LukeG wrote: post #159
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 grew up in San Diego, have been working on tech in SF for almost a decade, and love the idea of moving back. The quality of life in (western) San Diego is so hard to beat. A couple dozen (or hundred) of us moving back with some meaningful experience and success could go a long way towards making San Diego a viable place to more easily build and sustain real companies.

Have you been back recently? I visited SD last month after being gone for 4 years... It was not the same to me. Very dry and dirty. Maybe living in Colorado has made me spoiled but it just seems different.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#163

Post by the_watcher »

I live in SF. I have all the complaints and compliments for the city that all of us do. But if someone in SD decides not to move because Sorrento Valley is too far from downtown, they're going to be wildly disappointed. SF is small, but is such a pain to move around in that you end up spending 90% of your time within walking distance of home and work.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#164

Post by bsder »

Really? My experience is that quite a few of the students I know who graduated in CS are underemployed in San Diego and you couldn't blast them out with a nuclear bomb. Most of them would benefit from a couple of year stint somewhere else and then coming back.

And, why would they want to live in downtown San Diego? It's a terribly boring place. SD is not NYC or Chicago. A lot of young people are into the beach, and there are mixed ethnic areas that are far more interesting than downtown. Although, to be fair, the real problem is that there is nowhere cheap for the artists who make an area interesting to live. Furthermore, my personal assessment is that the downtown areas in most tech cities aren't really that "interesting" unless you have a remarkable amount of money to spend--which young people don't.

On top of all that, San Diego salaries ALWAYS lag. I call it the Sun Tax, but you can generally go to the Bay Area for a 50+% (or more) bump. San Diego isn't THAT much cheaper than the Bay Area.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#165

Post by raitom »

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…

What's the point of making more if you have to pay more to rent/buy a place and to live?

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#166

Post by Johnnybe »

antognini wrote: post #93
roadnottaken wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

40 minutes? Maybe using FasTrak.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#167

Post by Johnnybe »

uptownfunk wrote: post #81
roadnottaken wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I love PQ. Guys PLEASE don't come to San Diego. I like it the way it is and would hate to see it turn into another Bay Area. On a more serious note I still have no idea why people haven't figured this out and all flooded the place... You could have some killer startups here..

I guess it's good if you have a family and don't go out. Other than that, it's BORING!

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#168

Post by brotherjerky »

gkop wrote: post #117
niels_olson wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, our brewery scene is way better! Wait, you mean biochemists, geneticists, and molecular biologists might know something about yeast? No.....

Indeed, I haven't found a Bay Area IPA that's in the same league as Alpine.

Blind Pig by Russian River?

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#169

Post by sfbrian »

gkop wrote: post #117
niels_olson wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, our brewery scene is way better! Wait, you mean biochemists, geneticists, and molecular biologists might know something about yeast? No.....

Indeed, I haven't found a Bay Area IPA that's in the same league as Alpine.

You haven't had Cellarmaker then.

Re: San Diego Struggles to Keep Its Young Tech Talent

#170

Post by Johnnybe »

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…

Todd Gloria is a little bitch and always caves to businesses and developers. Case in point: Jack in the Box debacle in North Park.
Post reply on HN