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Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

businessinsider.com

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Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#51

Post by nomeddie »

briga wrote: post #12
chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

I think California has created this myth that constant sunshine = perfect weather. I personally like things like summer thunderstorms, snowy winters, mild cloudy days, and rain. It's definitely not bad weather, but the lack of variety and endless dry smoggy summer months can get pretty old.

Snowy winters is a nice idea when you can sip a warm drink cozied up inside and play winter sports.

When you have to shovel the drive way twice a day and five minutes later the city snow plow throws half frozen slush on your drive way, you start to crave a warmer climate.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#52

Post by pianoben »

briga wrote: post #12
chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

I think California has created this myth that constant sunshine = perfect weather. I personally like things like summer thunderstorms, snowy winters, mild cloudy days, and rain. It's definitely not bad weather, but the lack of variety and endless dry smoggy summer months can get pretty old.

What surprised me the most about SV's weather is how it affected my perception of time. Without the slow rhythm of the changing seasons, ten years passed in an uncertain blur. I find it very hard to place memories in any given time.

Maybe that's just an effect of getting older. I just moved away to a place with four seasons again, so we'll see!

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#53

Post by zarkov99 »

ijidak wrote: post #4

There is a supremacy, but the idea that it is threatened is hyperbolic, designed to get readers. This is a small shift in the grand scheme. It might help create new centers. But the gravity is going to be around the universities and infrastructure that is unique to the area. Shifts like that rarely happen overnight. Especially not because of something as temporary as a pandemic.

The university situation is not particularly unique in SV. What other infrastructure do you mean?

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#54

Post by irrational »

chrismckleroy wrote: post #3
coldtea wrote: post #2

> threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy There was no inherent "supremacy", just one created by a bunch of companies being together. Did SV municipalities do anything else to deserve it? There are better places, with more rental space, more resources, better weather, and so on, plus WFH is here to stay...

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

Isn't this very subjective? One person's "hard to beat weather" is another person's hell on earth. I personally hate heat and sun so I want to live somewhere where it is cool and cloudy the majority of the year. That is my idea of hard to beat weather. For other people that probably sounds terrible.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#55

Post by javajosh »

jamesmehaffey wrote: post #43

Weather aside, I really enjoyed living in Amsterdam. It is a crowded and rather small city, but it is a big center for banking and tech. Europe doesn’t really do the sprawling mega cities like the US does, though everything is very well connected. Still though, that headline is a bit overblown.

The walkability of older European cities cannot be overstated as a huge quality-of-life improvement! Bikability too, which is a big feature of many European cities.

The language issue is real, though. It's probably better, I think, to accept that you can't speak the language, and to give yourself a break learning it. If you like it, and want to learn, and want to be able to deal with banks and mobile providers over the phone (extremely difficult without fluency, and computer translation tools won't help you!), then take a class, and take it slowly.

It's stressful enough to move overseas. My advice is not to add language on top of everything else you have to learn - you are lucky to speak English, so lean into that. (Many people will appreciate practicing their English with a native speaker, too - although some small minority will hate you for it.)

But yeah, don't do what I did and try to do everything at once. It's stressful, exhausting, and you never give yourself a chance to recover, mentally or emotionally, from the stress of learning. Be kind to yourself!

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#56

Post by hangonhn »

briga wrote: post #12
chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

I think California has created this myth that constant sunshine = perfect weather. I personally like things like summer thunderstorms, snowy winters, mild cloudy days, and rain. It's definitely not bad weather, but the lack of variety and endless dry smoggy summer months can get pretty old.

I guess that may depend a lot on where you started from. I've lived in Hong Kong and then grew up in Florida, went to school in New England, and then lived in Texas for a while before moving to the Bay Area. The Bay Area weather is insanely good by comparison. The general trends are so stable and predictable. It's nice temperate and dry most of the year. I used to be a pretty avid runner. I went to visit my buddy in Houston and we went running. I had to stop after 3 miles (I normally run 5 to 10 miles in the morning) because it was so hot and humid. It made me really respect people who exercise in areas where the weather isn't so amendable to outdoor activities.

(Updated: I just read all the sibling comments. We are nearly all from other states and have now all become huge weather weaklings from living in CA!)

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#57

Post by corytheboyd »

It sucks to be locked up in the apartment watching my favorite places die. I grew up with San Francisco in my life, and have lived here myself for 10 years. Just trying to give out some positive energy for this place, but also it deserves all of the negative comments lol. Anyway, I too am moving on, San Francisco (in February), thanks for helping make me who I am today :)

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#58

Post by jjeaff »

eznzt wrote: post #36
rs999gti wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> before the arrival of whites. Jesus, bro, why'd you throw this in?

Imagine if someone openly blamed something on blacks. Just imagine.

Ya, imagine if someone like, accused the American voting system of being totally corrupt, without evidence and then specifically called out 3-4 of the largest majority Black population cities as being the root of corruption. And specifically called out all the poll workers (most of which are Black) in those cities as being corrupt cheaters.

Just imagine the uproar. No one in their right mind would stand behind someone like that, right?

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#59

Post by auganov »

solumos wrote: post #15
chrismckleroy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Better weather” I can’t help but laugh. One of five Mediterranean climates worldwide, built on apricot orchards, formerly home to one of the most diverse animal and again ecosystems before the arrival of whites. It’s really hard to beat the weather in Silicon Valley. It’s almost non seasonal, anything grows. The diversity currently of this area is very high, it’s the home of top universities, between the two cross p…

"Better"'s subjective - some people prefer extreme seasons (Midwest), 4 distinct seasons (East coast), 50s year-round (Northwest/SF), or sunny/70s most of the year (Miami? LA? Texas? Not a lot of experience personally).

Not sure about Texas[0], but LA is definitely way less humid than South Florida. Don't know too many people who actively like humidity at high temps. Some may not mind it. But those who hate it, like myself, just can't stand it.

I generally hate most warm climates because they tend to be humid. LA was very nice. The nicest climate I've experienced so far. Haven't been to Northern California though (I imagine it's roughly the same but cooler, so may like it more).

[0] seems like the problem there is it gets much cooler at night, more intraday variation.

Re: Tech elites leaving San Francisco threaten Silicon Valley's supremacy

#60

Post by ghaff »

tharne wrote: post #47
ijidak wrote: post #4

There is a supremacy, but the idea that it is threatened is hyperbolic, designed to get readers. This is a small shift in the grand scheme. It might help create new centers. But the gravity is going to be around the universities and infrastructure that is unique to the area. Shifts like that rarely happen overnight. Especially not because of something as temporary as a pandemic.

New England has a ton of world-class universities and yet nothing even close to Silicon Valley. The gravity you mention, is the people, and once they start leaving that "gravity" goes with them.

In fairness, I think that's partly comes from defining "tech" as the stuff that's done in Silicon Valley. SV doesn't have the pharma and biotech that Cambridge has for example. That said, there was something of a shift westward for VC funding and new company formation post the minicomputer era and a lot of the new tech-related employment in the city proper are outposts of west coast companies. (There was basically not a single tech company in Boston proper after Teradyne moved out until the past 20 years or so. The computer companies were all outside; hence "Route 128" companies.)
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