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Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

economist.com

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Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#21

Post by l8again »

sergefaguet wrote: post #13

another major part of the problem is the entitled, defocused employee culture in silicon valley. generated by the fact that crazy talent competition ensures employees have a huge safety net in the form of big tech. i raise capital in silicon valley. but i do not want to hire people there. i hire amazing engineers in russia at a fraction of the cost and they: - are loyal instead of jumping to new shiny stuff at every…

So, paying competitive is now being "entitled". Engineers have been played for far too long, and this post shows that it isn't over yet. I, for one, am glad that silicon valley is going the right direction in terms of the total comp for engineers, which has been kept artificially low until facebook came to the scene.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#22

Post by malchow »

I think this is fairly mistaken. As a share of the tech economy, SV is almost certainly declining. That's to be expected and embraced as labor economics evolve.

That doesn't for a moment mean that northern California isn't still the place with the maximum idea flow.

Three major things in SV that aren't declining:

a) Intelligent risk capital being deployed by scientists and engineers, not MBAs

b) Stanford

c) Ambitious unmarried 20- and 30-somethings for whom quality of home life is very unimportant

I'm not bullish on California politics. Single-party psuedo-progressive rule can, eventually, ruin the state by driving people away.

But for density and quality of ideas, it seems to me that the gap between SV and elsewhere is as wide as it has ever been.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#23

Post by linguae »

chosenbreed wrote: post #16
sergefaguet wrote: post #13

another major part of the problem is the entitled, defocused employee culture in silicon valley. generated by the fact that crazy talent competition ensures employees have a huge safety net in the form of big tech. i raise capital in silicon valley. but i do not want to hire people there. i hire amazing engineers in russia at a fraction of the cost and they: - are loyal instead of jumping to new shiny stuff at every…

> and lifestyle-wise the bay area is just unpleasant. aggressive homeless people. abysmal dating environment. awful traffic. Mmm...could you elaborate on the abysmal dating environment? :-)

I'm not the original poster, but I'll respond (disclaimer: I'm a single male, about to turn 30 in a few months, who lives near Silicon Valley):

1. Single men vastly outnumber single women in Silicon Valley due to the unfortunate gender demographics of the tech industry, making for a very competitive dating environment for single men.

2. Due to the Bay Area's high housing prices, single people living in the Bay Area who are not Bay Area natives tend to be highly-paid young professionals. These people tend to be driven, ambitious, and have very high dating standards. There's nothing wrong with having high standards, but it makes the dating scene more difficult since you have to work on meeting those standards in order to be successful with the dating scene. It seems like a man has to be in excellent physical shape, make a ton of money, and have the right pedigree in terms of degrees and credentials in order to be attractive in Silicon Valley since there are so many young professional single men in this area.

3. There's a big problem with "flaking" in the Bay Area, where some people have a bad habit of standing people up on dates and other social outings. This has happened to me, and it is very rude and inconsiderate, especially with the busy schedules that many people in Silicon Valley have, as well as the traffic.

4. This is probably my most controversial point, but despite the Bay Area's reputation as a politically progressive place, ethnic minorities seem to have a harder time dating than non-minorities. This matters to me since I'm black, a rarity in Silicon Valley. While the statistics on this page from OkCupid (https://theblog.okcupid.com/race-and-attraction-2009-2014-10...) are not confined to the Bay Area, based on my personal experience and on empirical research I've done by reading other sites regarding the dating scene in the Bay Area, it is a problem here.

To be frank, while I enjoy Silicon Valley's career opportunities, the high cost of living and the difficulties I've experienced dating here make me want to research some alternatives, although as a lifelong Californian (but not a Bay Area native), I'm a bit apprehensive about leaving the state since I enjoy California's diversity and weather. I've thought about Tokyo, which I've lived before as an intern and absolutely loved, but it would be a massive cut in salary.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#24

Post by GuiA »

linguae wrote: post #23
chosenbreed wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and lifestyle-wise the bay area is just unpleasant. aggressive homeless people. abysmal dating environment. awful traffic. Mmm...could you elaborate on the abysmal dating environment? :-)

I'm not the original poster, but I'll respond (disclaimer: I'm a single male, about to turn 30 in a few months, who lives near Silicon Valley): 1. Single men vastly outnumber single women in Silicon Valley due to the unfortunate gender demographics of the tech industry, making for a very competitive dating environment for single men. 2. Due to the Bay Area's high housing prices, single people living in the Bay Area w…

Your point #4 will be magnified to the extreme in Tokyo.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#25

Post by jamesblonde »

linguae wrote: post #23
chosenbreed wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and lifestyle-wise the bay area is just unpleasant. aggressive homeless people. abysmal dating environment. awful traffic. Mmm...could you elaborate on the abysmal dating environment? :-)

I'm not the original poster, but I'll respond (disclaimer: I'm a single male, about to turn 30 in a few months, who lives near Silicon Valley): 1. Single men vastly outnumber single women in Silicon Valley due to the unfortunate gender demographics of the tech industry, making for a very competitive dating environment for single men. 2. Due to the Bay Area's high housing prices, single people living in the Bay Area w…

Stockholm might be the city for you. Work at Spotify. When Swedish girls marry foreign, they prefer english-speaking partners. Swedish men marry Thai and Russian girls. https://www.population-europe.eu/pop-digest/cross-border-mar...

I am also speaking from experience here.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#26

Post by linguae »

GuiA wrote: post #24
linguae wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the original poster, but I'll respond (disclaimer: I'm a single male, about to turn 30 in a few months, who lives near Silicon Valley): 1. Single men vastly outnumber single women in Silicon Valley due to the unfortunate gender demographics of the tech industry, making for a very competitive dating environment for single men. 2. Due to the Bay Area's high housing prices, single people living in the Bay Area w…

Your point #4 will be magnified to the extreme in Tokyo.

Interestingly enough, back when I lived in Tokyo, I seemed to get more attention from women there than I ever did in California, whether it was the Central Valley, the Bay Area, or the Central Coast. But I was pining for someone back at home while I was on my internship (spoiler alert: I was rejected as soon as I returned home), and so I ignored the attention I received.

This has nothing to do with the dating scene, and I risk deviating from the topic, but I felt this indescribable, overwhelming sense of freedom as an African-American in Japan that I never felt in America. I felt the difference in treatment, where I was treated better in Japan than in America. Women in Japan wouldn't walk on the opposite side of an alley whenever I walked by, nor would they act scared whenever I was alone in an elevator with them (I had an incident in Sacramento as a teenager when a white woman refused to enter an elevator with me and another black guy.) I felt like I was in a place where I could finally be myself. To me, being a "gaijin" in Japan was an upgrade from being an African-American in America.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#27

Post by spaceman_2020 »

imrelaxed wrote: post #5
arcticbull wrote: post #2

And crazy immigration laws and policies aren’t helping much either. IMO it makes sense people are staying home and building their businesses instead of uprooting to a place they perceive doesn’t want them, both from an immigration and a housing cost perspective. This is the real cost of current rhetoric and discourse, and it takes time to manifest, but the change is happening. Many of my friends recently moved out of…

I’m confused. There is almost no rhetoric against legal and/or qualified immigration, just the illegal kind.

As a potential legal immigrant, I just don't want to take my labor to a country whose President doesn't respect or welcome me. Sure, the rhetoric might be against illegal immigration, but I'd rather just move to a country where Nazis aren't "fine people".

The America brand has essentially been tainted.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#29

Post by joelbluminator »

jamesblonde wrote: post #25
linguae wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not the original poster, but I'll respond (disclaimer: I'm a single male, about to turn 30 in a few months, who lives near Silicon Valley): 1. Single men vastly outnumber single women in Silicon Valley due to the unfortunate gender demographics of the tech industry, making for a very competitive dating environment for single men. 2. Due to the Bay Area's high housing prices, single people living in the Bay Area w…

Stockholm might be the city for you. Work at Spotify. When Swedish girls marry foreign, they prefer english-speaking partners. Swedish men marry Thai and Russian girls. https://www.population-europe.eu/pop-digest/cross-border-mar... I am also speaking from experience here.

WHEN they marry foreign. You're making it sound as if he'll have a huge advantage in Sweden just because he's foreign, which I highly doubt he will.

Re: Silicon Valley is changing, and its lead over other tech hubs narrowing

#30

Post by kellengreen »

linguae wrote: post #23
chosenbreed wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and lifestyle-wise the bay area is just unpleasant. aggressive homeless people. abysmal dating environment. awful traffic. Mmm...could you elaborate on the abysmal dating environment? :-)

I'm not the original poster, but I'll respond (disclaimer: I'm a single male, about to turn 30 in a few months, who lives near Silicon Valley): 1. Single men vastly outnumber single women in Silicon Valley due to the unfortunate gender demographics of the tech industry, making for a very competitive dating environment for single men. 2. Due to the Bay Area's high housing prices, single people living in the Bay Area w…

I'm with you on these points. After 6 years in San Francisco (Engineer), my wife and I both took new opportunities and moved to London. It's been 3 years, and we're still enjoying it.
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