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Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

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Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#31

Post by robbrit »

nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

A fourth category: people who have lived here for a long time, and were able to buy property back before it became unaffordable. These are typically the managers or senior employees.

It makes me wonder that as the young rockstars and H1B recipients age, where will they go? They certainly can't afford to buy a house. I imagine as time goes on, companies in the Bay Area will be awash with young junior talent but will struggle to attract more senior folks.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#32

Post by JshWright »

client4 wrote: post #14

Montana, a land of National parks, natural beauty, fast internet, and a low cost of living has a number of high tech jobs open. Full disclosure, I own an internet company here and want more tech savvy people in the area ;) Social Finanace (SoFi) | Helena, MT Oracle | Bozeman, MT OnXMaps | Missoula, MT Zaneray Group | Whitefish, MT Submittable | Missoula, MT Applied Materials | Kalispell, MT

One of the biggest YouTube production companies is also in Missoula.

https://complexly.com/

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#33

Post by toomuchtodo »

robbrit wrote: post #31
nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

A fourth category: people who have lived here for a long time, and were able to buy property back before it became unaffordable. These are typically the managers or senior employees. It makes me wonder that as the young rockstars and H1B recipients age, where will they go? They certainly can't afford to buy a house. I imagine as time goes on, companies in the Bay Area will be awash with young junior talent but will s…

> It makes me wonder that as the young rockstars and H1B recipients age, where will they go? They certainly can't afford to buy a house. I imagine as time goes on, companies in the Bay Area will be awash with young junior talent but will struggle to attract more senior folks.

They leave for more affordable cities or head back home to be close to family when they decide to have kids.

EDIT: May I offer up Tampa as a yet-to-get-expensive locale? I'm making SFBA wages in security, but bought a 4 bed 2.5 bath house with a pool on a quarter acre lot twenty minutes from my company's office for ~$200k (and I have fiber to the home for $45/month).

The highest rated beach in the country is in Clearwater, ~30-45 minutes away, we have an amazing craft beer scene, lots of parks, beach/water recreation, very nice international airport (30 min away, $5/day (!!!) for parking), etc.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#34

Post by maxxxxx »

chis wrote: post #21
nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

Is it worthwhile to work there for a few years as a 20-year old though? I'm thinking it's a unique experience even if monetarily it's a poor choice.

It's definitely good for your resume.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#35

Post by rainboiboi »

prostoalex wrote: post #22
microcolonel wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking it might be worthwhile to engineer a scalable, high-traffic city(maybe city's the wrong word, it could be sprawling and fast, instead of dense and slow) from the ground up, somewhere there isn't one already. You don't need to build the transit immediately, you just need to have the restraint to reserve the space for a time when you will want it. Other useful constraints aside from transit reservations, m…

Or just copy Singapore.

I'm from Singapore, what about it?

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#36

Post by ghaff »

chis wrote: post #21
nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

Is it worthwhile to work there for a few years as a 20-year old though? I'm thinking it's a unique experience even if monetarily it's a poor choice.

Maybe? A lot of people convince themselves that pretty much every place else is a backwater not worthy of their skills. There are certainly more options in the Bay Area for a certain subset of tech. And maybe certain big companies that offer Unique opportunities (although for a smaller subset of hires than used to be the case). But there are plenty of good opportunities in other areas as well.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#37

Post by TaylorAlexander »

chis wrote: post #21
nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

Is it worthwhile to work there for a few years as a 20-year old though? I'm thinking it's a unique experience even if monetarily it's a poor choice.

Yes, I think it’s a great place to be for a while at least. I’m 33, have been here over ten years (grew up nearby) and am still chugging along. The mindless commute through unending traffic to get to the same office day in and day out is slowly driving me a little mad (not really... I think) but I’m beginning to question if I want to stay here long term.

Still, I’ve had amazing experiences here and this is a place of magic in many ways. It’s defi worth experiencing in my opinion.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#38

Post by nnbosko »

client4 wrote: post #17
client4 wrote: post #14

Montana, a land of National parks, natural beauty, fast internet, and a low cost of living has a number of high tech jobs open. Full disclosure, I own an internet company here and want more tech savvy people in the area ;) Social Finanace (SoFi) | Helena, MT Oracle | Bozeman, MT OnXMaps | Missoula, MT Zaneray Group | Whitefish, MT Submittable | Missoula, MT Applied Materials | Kalispell, MT

Oh, and if the outdoors aren't your thing, we have a different kind of trail map as well: http://montanabrewers.org/trail-map/

How can we get in touch?

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#39

Post by jorblumesea »

nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

There's also a fair amount of people "grandfathered" into the region. Bought back in the 90s/early 2000s in closer in cities or neighborhoods. They have it pretty good, but at the expense of everyone else.

Re: Bay Area hammered by loss of jobs: Lack of affordable housing strangles hiring

#40

Post by shawnee_ »

chis wrote: post #21
nimbius wrote: post #16

Most of the bay area employees are divided into 3 categories from anecdotal experience: young rockstars that are willing to live in relative squalor for a chance to prove themselves, vested and moneyed elites (CEO's, presidents, VC funded overlords) who are so out of touch with the average employee its best they not show up to the office that frequently, and H1B visa recipients that endure the soul-crushing San Jose…

Is it worthwhile to work there for a few years as a 20-year old though? I'm thinking it's a unique experience even if monetarily it's a poor choice.

Not anymore it isn't; this goes 100X for women.

Women being paid less means they are forced to live in the crappier parts of towns: the squalor, the commute and the danger are significantly more.

When that movie "the Social Network" came out is about when I noticed it changed. It became literally overrun with sleazy easy-money landlords, big corporate entities buying up the apartments, jacking the rents, etc.

There are thousands of better cities than any one in SF bay area. Technology works anywhere, you can work anywhere. My quality of life improved 1000 percent when I left California.

[edit]

I'm not quite sure why it's so hard for readers to fathom that women being paid significantly less than their male peers would be a key factor affecting what is "affordable" to them, and thus their ability to live safely in the Bay area.

The question I was responding to was: "Is it worth it?" and my advice is that it is not. It is especially not worth it for women. Why would it be worth putting yourself in danger where all you can afford is the worst apartment in the worst neighborhood, 70-125 minutes away (each direction) from your workplace?

The golden era of opportunity in Silicon Valley has passed. The real estate factor is now baked too deeply into every facet of life there. And as long as the AirBnb model ensures that only the landlords thrive, the problem will always be bigger than the solution.

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