Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#21

Post by adrianN » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 5:59 AM UTC

xfour wrote: post #13

adrianN wrote: post #4

Come to Berlin

Had a friend that recently washed out of SoundCloud and returned to the U.S. I spent some time there and went to the disrupt Europe when it was in Berlin. I might be able to swing it long term as my wife has an Italian passport but would be a longer process with that. Seemed like when I was there it was something about a rocket and cloning US tech and SoundCloud were the two big games in town. Has there gotten to be…

Amazon is here, Twitch is here, Google is in the process of opening an office here. Microsoft has an office too, but I don't know whether it's engineering or not. Pivotal Labs has an office here. There is also Siemens who is desperately looking to adapt to the "digital transformation". There is a pretty healthy startup scene of smaller companies, check e.g. https://www.startupnight.net/startups or https://www.adlershof.de/en/companies-institutes/directory/. There are also a number of smaller companies that aren't startups.

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#22

Post by xfour » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:00 AM UTC

lwhalen wrote: post #16

Seattle? You can also land a job working remotely, and live whereever you please.

I hear Seattle has gotten just as expensive as SF not true?

Remote is interesting for sure. The rise of companies like Buffer and I believe the Wordpress company is 100% remote.

Definitely solves half my issue also looking for somewhere actually nice to live.

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#23

Post by adrianN » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:00 AM UTC

corv wrote: post #18

The idea that home ownership guarantees growth is a fallacy. In most cities prices only keep up with inflation. Ergo you are financially better off renting, and investing the money you would have spent on a house.

Only if the returns of your investments minus the rent still beat inflation.

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#24

Post by mpolichette » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:01 AM UTC

xfour wrote: post #10

mpolichette wrote: post #8

SLC, Utah is pretty great, I almost don’t want to mention it because the tech jobs are great and the state provides a lot to do.. its like a hidden gem no one thinks about because they consider it Mormon land... There are a lot of companies opening offices out here though!

Sounds pretty interesting. On a more micro (neighborhood level) of suburb level what areas are worth checking out. On the job front, what companies do you think are innovative or majors opening branches are worth looking at?

For living? There’s a lot of choice, I love sugarhouse which is where I am. It’s close enough to hit downtown without being in the “heart of it”. Which, in slc is still not that much... you can easily choose to be further or closer to downtown life depending on what you want. A lot of the tech scene is actually down south by Lehi. I commute that direction about 25-30 min and it’s not too bad.

There are some established big players here, Adobe, and EBay and I think Walmart labs has an office here. I work for Ubiquiti, which is growing out their office here pretty quickly also.

A lot of small/medium sized startups too... Google around for “Silicon Slopes” which is the sort of name the local VCs give the area.

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#25

Post by spotmessage1 » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:03 AM UTC

Bay Area is still first, but these are not far behind:

1. Oxford-Cambridge-London in the UK

2. Shenzhen-Guangzhou-Hong Kong in China

3. Israel

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#26

Post by xfour » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:05 AM UTC

meritt wrote: post #17

Portland has a thriving tech scene with 4,782 open jobs [1] at the moment. Home prices are about a third of the median in SF/SV. [1] http://portlandtech.org/

Portland is definitely somewhere I’ve been thinking. Schools seem to be an issue in a lot of neighborhoods except Lake Oswego. Anywhere closer to the city know for good schools?

Also what’s your favorite companies of those 4K openings I should look into?

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#27

Post by GiorgioG » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:06 AM UTC

xfour wrote: post #14

anonytrary wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was gonna say Raleigh, NC. After looking up what RTP refers to, I am pleasantly surprised to see this as the first answer!

Yea I googled it, Research Park Triangle it seems. It seemed really interesting. Housing seemed to be pretty reasonable by California standards. What neighborhoods are worth checking out and what companies are interesting. Saw a lot of NetApp and IBM. Nothing wrong with those just seems like not a lot of companies just a few of ones from first glance.

Red Hat, Citrix, Cisco, Epic (Fortnite), SAS, Microsoft, Glaxo-Smith-Kline, a bunch of smaller startups/companies, etc.

I moved down here 5 years ago (from Buffalo, NY) but I work remotely for a non-local company.

As far as neighborhoods good, we're happy in Holly Springs, Apex is north of us, and Fuquay-Varina is just to the south. Cary is by far the most desirable area due to it's proximity to RTP. We decided we wanted more house/backyard than we could afford in Cary and so we settled in Holly Springs. If I had to work in RTP I'd hop on the 540 (toll road) and be there in 30 minutes.

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#28

Post by xfour » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:11 AM UTC

wbl wrote: post #12

xfour wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech Scene for me personally provides a type of insurance. Here in the Bay Area you just have 1000s of companies bit and small contributing to this insane ecosystem that feels so that you could get a new job if necessary relatively easily. In other cities it seems like you have a single or a few employers and if it didn’t work out with them you’d need to uproot your life and move areas again. Having an ecosystem like…

You don't need to be at a tech company to work as a programmer.

True, never really thought about that software tech really is in every industry. Do you do that and is it fulfilling?

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#29

Post by plessthanpt05 » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:13 AM UTC

I've seen Los Angeles being called 'silicon beach' (around Venice and Santa Monica) and I've read that the Midwest (Omaha I think) is being referred to as 'silicon prairie'.

Re: Ask HN: Where are other tech scenes outside Bay Area

#30

Post by xfour » Tue, Sep 04, 2018, 6:16 AM UTC

plessthanpt05 wrote: post #29

I've seen Los Angeles being called 'silicon beach' (around Venice and Santa Monica) and I've read that the Midwest (Omaha I think) is being referred to as 'silicon prairie'.

I’ve heard people complaining that LA is just as bad as the Bay now housing costs vs Salaries.

Anyone live in the Midwest and can chime in on their experiences?