Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

stackoverflow.blog

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 195 posts

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#101

Post by angarg12 »

zucked wrote: post #47
angarg12 wrote: post #4

This year we finally moved to the US after 2 years of Covid-induced delays. We moved to Seattle because it's where my team is based. I'm far from impressed. The housing market is so inaccessible that we had to rent a house about 1 hour commute from the office. I have hardly visited the offices a handful of times since we moved, and every time there is maybe 1 or 2 people there. Also this spring seems to be one of the…

Yes, the housing is, by-and-large, a lot cheaper, but the cities are not super walkable (if that's important to you) and the weather is often the opposite of cold and wet - it's hot and muggy. I don't do well with humidity, so a huge swath of the US is out for me. Plugging this tool again because it ate up an hour of my day last time it was posted: https://www.movemap.io/explore/us

Great website! thanks a lot for that.

This seems to confirm my intuition. Our parameters spit out southern california and a few places in Texas, including Austin.

SoCal is still incredibly expensive. I considered Austin before but I'm a bit concerned about politics. Although I know it's a bit of a progressive bubble, Texas is still overwhelmingly and overly conservative, so that might be a big drag.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#102

Post by bin_bash »

EB66 wrote: post #88
bin_bash wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived all over the west coast my entire life but moved to the Dallas area (a place I'd never been to) somewhat recently. We're incredibly happy. The schools are outstanding, I've never seen a single homeless person in our town, and the crime rate is nonexistent. We bought a 4000sqft palace for half of what our last house cost. Cost of living generally is far lower. There is virtually never any traffic. People we…

> There isn't a lot of outdoorsy things to do aside from hanging out by the pool anyways though. The nature is ugly and there are no hills. That's primarily why people tolerate Seattle's climate. 9 months out of the year it will often be grey and rainy, but the natural wilderness is phenomenal exactly because of that. If you're into the outdoors, backpacking, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, mountain biking, trail runnin…

One notable difference between Texas and PNW weather is that during the winter in the PNW you'll pretty much never get a nice day. There might be a single weekend in March where the weather hits 65 or so. In Texas our winters have a lot of variability, there isn't a 2 week period without a 75 or even 80 degree day. Perfect for hanging out in the park or going for a walk in the dead of "winter".

I wouldn't advocate for our weather generally but I do like these breaks from winter we seem to get.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#103

Post by havblue »

themanmaran wrote: post #16
angarg12 wrote: post #4

This year we finally moved to the US after 2 years of Covid-induced delays. We moved to Seattle because it's where my team is based. I'm far from impressed. The housing market is so inaccessible that we had to rent a house about 1 hour commute from the office. I have hardly visited the offices a handful of times since we moved, and every time there is maybe 1 or 2 people there. Also this spring seems to be one of the…

The southern states are pretty great. ATL (hometown) is getting more expensive but has a pretty decent tech scene. Also the best airport in the US (direct flights everywhere). I've also been interested in North Carolina for a little while. Much more affordable (compared to PNW), and has some really nice areas (Asheville, Raleigh/Durham). But transportation is a bit more limited.

While the job market and the airport is great about ATL, I have to say the traffic, public schools, crime, etc are not great.

Expensive housing as well, maybe not terrible compared to some places, though. Moving outside the perimeter doesn't help on the traffic front either.

The south in general seems like a stable job market and place to buy a house for the decades ahead. However, it seems like Atlanta shifted from being a fast growing area to moderate growth a while ago.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#104

Post by cscurmudgeon »

nopenopenopeno wrote: post #60
Swizec wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an immigrant I often wonder if America’s economy works so well in spite of or because of its policies. But one thing is clear: Last year I saved more money than I made in my last year in Europe. And that’s while paying rent in downtown SF To give a more surprising comparison - my country’s entire GDP fits into Apple's quarterly profits . The pie is large here.

America’s economy doesn’t work well at all for most people. It only works well for the rich, i.e. those who directly benefit from a higher GDP.

Yes, that's why America is #1 for immigrants.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#105

Post by ecshafer »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #50
ecshafer wrote: post #17

The top 10 metro areas list is interesting. Philadelphia, San Antonio, Houston, San Diego and Phoenix not on there despite all 5 being in the top 10 MSA and city population, while DC, Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston are on there. I am also shocked that Portland is growing. I went to Portland this year recently, it is the worst city in the country I have been to. 90% of downtown is boarded up, city is deserted, mas…

> I went to Portland this year recently, it is the worst city in the country I have been to. 90% of downtown is boarded up, city is deserted, massive homelessness crisis. I had the opposite response, but I guess I've been in San Francisco. All the locals were scared of downtown. Yes, it was boarded up. But it was safe. One homeless guy was being talked to by a cop because he was yelling. (They were all sitting cross…

In the week I was there I saw people be physically attacked twice, once at a tram stop and once at a restaurant. This is on top of maybe a dozen other "incidences". I spend a lot of time in Philly and New York both, and that's beyond the pale for either of those cities.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#106

Post by ryandrake »

jmyeet wrote: post #66

I'm glad they looked at climate because for a lot of people it's a huge factor. Some people seem to like but for me the Pacific Northwest is the most depressing place on Earth (outside summer). The Northeast? Less depressing but the winters are harsh. I expect family is a big factor in wwhere people move, as in people are moving to have some proximity with their extended families. It's just that remote work has allow…

That software engineer is unlikely to make $500K in Nevada, even if working remotely for a CA or NY company. If remote tech work really does mainstream, companies will surely begin adjusting compensations to match the local cost of labor where their employee lives.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#107

Post by gringoDan »

bin_bash wrote: post #76
angarg12 wrote: post #4

This year we finally moved to the US after 2 years of Covid-induced delays. We moved to Seattle because it's where my team is based. I'm far from impressed. The housing market is so inaccessible that we had to rent a house about 1 hour commute from the office. I have hardly visited the offices a handful of times since we moved, and every time there is maybe 1 or 2 people there. Also this spring seems to be one of the…

I've lived all over the west coast my entire life but moved to the Dallas area (a place I'd never been to) somewhat recently. We're incredibly happy. The schools are outstanding, I've never seen a single homeless person in our town, and the crime rate is nonexistent. We bought a 4000sqft palace for half of what our last house cost. Cost of living generally is far lower. There is virtually never any traffic. People we…

> I would never recommend visiting Dallas, it's a dull city, but as far as places to live it's far surpassed my expectations.

I think this point is key. When your day-to-day is spent staring at a laptop, it doesn't really matter where you live.

I used to live in NYC. I loved it; great city to be in your 20s. But I left due to COVID. Since then, I've returned to visit a handful of times and realized that visiting NYC is probably better than living there. In a long weekend, I'm able to visit great restaurants, see a show, and catch up with friends. Essentially, I pack the social activities that I would have spread out over a month into 3 days. Then in my day-to-day, I don't have to pay Manhattan rent, fight the crowds on the subway, or deal with all of the friction the city has.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#108

Post by bin_bash »

kurthr wrote: post #95
bin_bash wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived all over the west coast my entire life but moved to the Dallas area (a place I'd never been to) somewhat recently. We're incredibly happy. The schools are outstanding, I've never seen a single homeless person in our town, and the crime rate is nonexistent. We bought a 4000sqft palace for half of what our last house cost. Cost of living generally is far lower. There is virtually never any traffic. People we…

Dallas (and Fort Worth) is a huge metropolis (especially in area because it's not dense). There is definitely easily visible homelessness and crime in the downtown (got to DeepEllum) and actually surrounding many nicer neighborhoods (Turtle Creek, or even NorthBranch ). That you say there is no traffic implies to me that you are outside the Loop12 (and the Interstate ring) and don't ever take Central or I35 through D…

I'm in the northern suburbs, and you're right that I don't live in Dallas proper but I said "Dallas area". There are certainly homeless people once you get to Downtown—and they can be a lot more "forthcoming" than they are even in SF or LA. Downtown Dallas isn't like any of the west coast city downtowns though, it's small and there isn't much of a need to go there.

However up here I haven't seen a single one in over a year.

As far as traffic, yeah some areas have a bit of congestion but I'm comparing to Seattle, Portland, SF, and LA. Compared to those cities the traffic in DFW is nothing even in the worst parts of the city center at rush hour.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#109

Post by cscurmudgeon »

redisman wrote: post #84
Frost1x wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say that and and the global propoganda machine is strong. There's many from outside the country who have a picture of what it's like to live here that doesn't align with reality. I think much of it is due to entertainment: movies, TV shows, etc. that give this false impression that everything is rosey all the time. The lower classes are abused here as well and classes do exist but it's probably better being poor…

Immigrants aren’t dumb. The problem is that westerners have no idea what a median persons life in Africa or South America is like

Or even EU. There is a reason there is still brain drain from Europe to the US.

Re: The Great Decentralization? Geographic shifts and where tech talent is moving

#110

Post by davidw »

EB66 wrote: post #88
bin_bash wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've lived all over the west coast my entire life but moved to the Dallas area (a place I'd never been to) somewhat recently. We're incredibly happy. The schools are outstanding, I've never seen a single homeless person in our town, and the crime rate is nonexistent. We bought a 4000sqft palace for half of what our last house cost. Cost of living generally is far lower. There is virtually never any traffic. People we…

> There isn't a lot of outdoorsy things to do aside from hanging out by the pool anyways though. The nature is ugly and there are no hills. That's primarily why people tolerate Seattle's climate. 9 months out of the year it will often be grey and rainy, but the natural wilderness is phenomenal exactly because of that. If you're into the outdoors, backpacking, fishing, kayaking, canoeing, mountain biking, trail runnin…

But with remote work, you can, say, go east of the Cascades where the weather is better and you have all that outdoor stuff too.

I grew up in Eugene and I am just done with that much rain and, like others have mentioned, endless gray.

Post reply on HN