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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

#111

Post by exogeny »

Rabois is a clown, an arrogant jerk who isn't worth taking seriously. Even if you ignore his multiple sexual harassment scandals, it's very clear that he's a hypocrite on this issue and therefore should not be taken seriously on this or any issue. After all, he claims to want to solve big problems, and ostensibly there is no bigger problem in his world than this. And yet, he wants to cut and run; why?

Well, it starts with the fact that he's only got one hammer, and that hammer is to give the white kid from Stanford $10 million, and then backup that investment by subsidizing losses in a race to monopoly. If and when it works, Rabois then takes the credit. But this is a problem that he can't solve, certainly not in the way he solves things, and even if he did, it would run up against the libertarian fantasies that infuse every tweet he writes. As opposed to admitting failure and admitting that his narrow-range expertise doesn't apply to everything, he runs to Miami instead, proving that he's simply a rent-seeker fraud there to sap the area of its resources until the resources are dry, complaining the entire time about how unfairly he's been treated in that he hasn't been getting his ass kissed in the manner in which he's become familiar.

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

#112

Post by camjohnson26 »

scottlocklin wrote: post #92
kilbuz wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Always have to ask, where are you moving and why did you pick it?

I always answer: fuck off; we're full. California, particularly Bay Area California is so ridiculously dysfunctional, the last thing any region needs is their refugees, who will bring with them the problems they're fleeing. Austin for example. Used to be a great place.

That’s a ridiculous take. There’s a lot of technical talent trapped in the Bay Area and I welcome it in my region. Treating every resident as if they agree with the repressive SF politics is over generalizing.

And who’s full? The main thing the flyover states need is more people.

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

#113

Post by xapata »

dekhn wrote: post #67
ylhert wrote: post #33

Tech in SFBA reminds me of the Resource curse ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse ). SFBA did nothing special to attract the wealth of technology companies, they effectively got lucky with Shockley/Fairchild/Traitorous 8 and the boom in technology that followed. It seems the local gov't have squandered an opportunity to truly capitalize on the gift they were given, and perhaps even done their best to jeopa…

This is ridiculous. The Bay Area, specifically Stanford and Berkeley, contributed to the WWII tech research initiative and then afterwards, Terman made Stanford Research Park which led to Silicon Valley.

I think there's some truth in the synthesis of this dialectic.

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

#114

Post by Cd00d »

dekhn wrote: post #67
ylhert wrote: post #33

Tech in SFBA reminds me of the Resource curse ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse ). SFBA did nothing special to attract the wealth of technology companies, they effectively got lucky with Shockley/Fairchild/Traitorous 8 and the boom in technology that followed. It seems the local gov't have squandered an opportunity to truly capitalize on the gift they were given, and perhaps even done their best to jeopa…

This is ridiculous. The Bay Area, specifically Stanford and Berkeley, contributed to the WWII tech research initiative and then afterwards, Terman made Stanford Research Park which led to Silicon Valley.

Yeah, I thought it was somewhat due to Stanford's handling of IP. The argument I heard was that if you're researching at Stanford and make a productizable discovery you can spin off a company no strings. I was at Cornell when I heard this, where any company built off on-campus research had to sign over 20% of the company up front. Makes those initial pitches to VC that much harder.

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

#115

Post by javajosh »

javajosh wrote: post #55
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 t…

The money isn't as good, but the benefits are quite a lot better, especially for families. Universal healthcare is an enormous simplification of life (I really wish Americans who get mad about "socialized medicine = evil!" could experience it first hand; its clear there is no such thing as a free market in healthcare anyway). Universal education, even pre-K, is an enormous benefit if you have kids.

But yeah, total comp for devs seem to top out at around 100k, no matter where you are, and usually is more like 50k. (Evidence is anecdotal). Also, since the epicenter of the internet is still the SFBA they wonder why you are in Europe, when all of them want to move to the SFBA! I suspect this last one will start changing.

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

#116

Post by munaf »

TuringNYC wrote: post #86
gonehome wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've had some friends leave (to CO and DC), but I'm skeptical of companies and VCs leaving. For a kind of funny example, there was an episode of the all-in podcast (mostly a podcast of successful VCs) where they talked about SV politics and leaving. The irony was while they talked about CA politics to an absurd degree ("worst run state in US", etc.) when they asked each other if they were planning on leaving al…

>> Yeah, I've had some friends leave (to CO and DC), but I'm skeptical of companies and VCs leaving. >> I have had older friends leave to have a family. They went to Santa Cruz, Seattle, Denver, DC, and Austin. It's a shame. The ones that stayed either are very rich where a $5M house is not an issue, or they still live with three roommates and rent without kids. Just wait until they look for interesting jobs and get…

Exactly.

An anecdote: I got an offer to leave my mid-level FAANG job to return to the Midwest for a VP role at a 200+ person company. The compensation was about 35% of my total comp, and it was maybe one of 3 companies in the area I would consider working for. Not to mention going back to cold winters, McMansions, and chain restaurants.

I don't think people fully appreciate the value of unenforceable non-competes + many companies congregated in one area. No where else in the world does the labor have this level of negotiating power and flexibility. Even if it can be replicated (and I hope it is!), it won't be overnight.

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

#117

Post by obmelvin »

bgorman wrote: post #80
dekhn wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is ridiculous. The Bay Area, specifically Stanford and Berkeley, contributed to the WWII tech research initiative and then afterwards, Terman made Stanford Research Park which led to Silicon Valley.

Without William Shockley moving to the west coast, the "Silicon" part of Silicon Valley would likely be elsewhere in the world.

As you point out he could've chosen elsewhere to move. Seems likely the aforementioned developments helped him pick where he did.

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

#118

Post by birdyrooster »

godot wrote: post #63
ghaff wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot to like about many areas of California. Which ones may depend on your weather, cultural, etc. preferences. But Silicon Valley proper I find not particularly appealing; housing costs are only part of the reason. (SF itself has well-documented pluses and minuses.) I don't live or work in CA/SV. But if I were in SV but no longer needed to commute, I might well stay in CA but I'd probably move somewhere out…

I did this and completely agree. I lived in the bay area since high school, more than two decades ago. Last year I finally moved away from it for good. Not far, just to the Greater Sacramento area. (I've been working remotely for a couple years, well before COVID) Qualify of life improvement is huge. Weather and cultural are important reasons for me to stay in California (plus family and friends), and I still get tha…

If by real summers you mean multiple days over 100F then count me out. Enjoy your heat stroke. It gets hot enough in South Bay even near the water.

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

#119

Post by cultofmetatron »

rmk wrote: post #74

The major obstacle to living in SV is the insane cost of homeownership that puts the (pretty commonplace) aspiration of living in one's own home with a nice yard out of reach of all but the richest (even being in the top 5% of incomes in the nation is no guarantee of being able to own a house in Palo Alto, for example.) With the recent passing of Prop 19, things get even worse: people who are looking to inherit homes…

> there is too much competition for women, and opportunities to date do not come by easily at all.

I can't agree more. Spent 5 years in SF single. I went down to Colombia to explore a different culture. I was unsingle in less than a month.

The average "unlovable tech bro" in SF is considered a catch almost anywhere else.

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

#120

Post by residentfoam »

biesnecker wrote: post #8
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…

Hard agree. I've told many people that the only thing that's not overrated about the Bay Area is the weather.

The weather is also overrated. SF weather in particular is boring and sucks!
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