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Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

stu.mp

11–20 of 154 posts

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#11

Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…

Probably should put snowy winters under cons too. I'm from Chicago and quite frankly don't think that I could live somewhere without a real winter but I'm fairly certain the rest of the country thinks we're nuts.

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#12

Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…

Was recently in Minneapolis and can't say enough nice things about it. You could certainly live a nice life there if you had a small shop or are solo/remote (my situation, can't speak to a larger startup). It could even be a great place to live and work in temporarily.

However, I did make visit before the winter. Not sure how I'd feel about that aspect.

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#13
SF streets are pretty disgusting. It's true that there's fecal matter everywhere you find homeless people, which is nearly everywhere in SF. It is not at all uncommon to find a big brownie right in the middle of the sidewalk. The streets and sidewalks in my tiny, obscure East coast village, OTOH, are as clean as they are in Singapore. I don't quite understand why SF doesn't do something about this, as it's a health hazard. Why don't the yuppies, hipsters, scenesters and other trendy rich people care? Do they not walk or bike in SF?

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#14
post #13

SF streets are pretty disgusting. It's true that there's fecal matter everywhere you find homeless people, which is nearly everywhere in SF. It is not at all uncommon to find a big brownie right in the middle of the sidewalk. The streets and sidewalks in my tiny, obscure East coast village, OTOH, are as clean as they are in Singapore. I don't quite understand why SF doesn't do something about this, as it's a health h…

They don't want their taxes raised to pay for the clean up :)

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#15

Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…

I concur. I loved living in Minneapolis, and I go back at least yearly. But the winters are awfully long, which has to at least rate a mention as a con. Overall, though, I much preferred Minneapolis to San Francisco from a livability standard. It's also an excellent bike town, much safer and less idiotic than San Francisco.

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#16

What are your guys' opinions about LA? Coming from Singapore it's a huge step up, but I'm sure SF is far crazier.

LA is okay. Probably is between 3rd-10th position of tech hubs. If you really like the culture, weather, nightlife, or have ties to the city, then you'll do fine staying. You could probably start a decent company. USC, UCLA, and CalTech have fine CS depts. The entertainment and aerospace industries are strong here. That's why MySpace (originally social for musicians) and SpaceX (a new space-vehicle startup) work well here.

I have worked at two companies here (one big, one startup) for four years. Job scene isn't as dense as SF/SV. See for yourself on careers.stackoverflow.com. Do a 40-mile radius search on San Francisco. Then do one for LA. You'll notice that SF has 84 jobs and LA only 9. (For completeness, NYC has 98 jobs, Boston 40, Seattle 20, Chicago 11, Boulder 10, Portland 9, Minneapolis 1, San Diego 1).

But I'm having an itch to go hit a home run in SF/SV. Maybe you do, too. If you want to maximize your chance of success, then move to SF/Silicon Valley when you graduate. And do summer internships (or work on your own projects and network) there in the meantime.

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#17

Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…

...and incredible, painful winters.

Minneapolis is really really nice... from May to September =).

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#18

Meanwhile, here in Minneapolis (really could apply to any upper Midwest city like Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, etc.): Pros: - If you like seasons, you get them. - Excellent beer. Many bars. Great nitelife. - Clean. No poop on the streets, even in the worse parts of the city. - Great public transportation (except Milwaukee). - Cheap rent (2BR for $1500 along the river with a view of the skyline) - Many excellent CS de…

+1 for Minneapolis i live here and love this city, lived in other cities with better tech scenes, but imo this town has alot to offer.

yellowblkpk i'm assuming you live in the twin cities too, do we have good meetups tailored to an HN like community here? i haven't found anything good yet.

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#19

what about vancouver (canada)?

vancouver WA (US) or vancouver BC (Canada).

Anyway, forget about them both, there's nothing in those cities. Vancouver BC has lots of small (but weird) "social media" startups that probably died within 2-3 years.

Lots of "online gaming" (I mean gambling) companies.

All talents either move south of the border or to the East.

We have 3 good schools: UBC, SFU, and UVic.

Lots of people who want to enjoy life.

I don't mean to be negative but it is what it is.

Re: Joe Stump: Your city sucks (And so does mine)

#20
Pittsburgh is beautiful. It has a decent startup scene and lots of tech talent (pitt, cmu). Rent is extremely cheap here, so you can't get more ramen profetable than here. We also have our own startup incubator, alphalab. Seriously. Pgh has all the qualities needed to become the next major startup community.
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