A while ago lots of people moved out. Due to the current AI fad people came back (?). Does it still matter to be there and in what circumstances?
Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
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Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#2Just my random opinion... It probably matters more if you're looking for venture capital, or if you want to work for one of the top (and Bay Area-based) companies in the field. Although a lot of major AI companies (including OpenAI) are in the Bay Area.
In general I think it's limiting if you confine your job search to one area. (After all, your odds double if you try two different locations.) And there are other large tech cities -- Seattle, New York, etc.
There is also the possibility of a telecommuting position -- though more of those tend to be "hydrid" than 100% remote. Still, more of those than there were five years ago.
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#3It can matter for future job prospects. You being at least somewhat physically available to make in-person appearances at least sometimes without it being a big deal is appealing to many employers.
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#4[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#5It can matter for future job prospects. You being at least somewhat physically available to make in-person appearances at least sometimes without it being a big deal is appealing to many employers.
I think this is exactly right.
If you have a job, it less important. If you want to change jobs it still valuable. More and more employers want folks near by.
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#6Just my random opinion... It probably matters more if you're looking for venture capital, or if you want to work for one of the top (and Bay Area-based) companies in the field. Although a lot of major AI companies (including OpenAI) are in the Bay Area. In general I think it's limiting if you confine your job search to one area. (After all, your odds double if you try two different locations.) And there are other lar…
> And there are other large tech cities
At least from my experience job searching, Seattle does not have the startup ecosystem that the Bay has. Not even close. I'm sure if you want to work in aerospace or military contracting then Seattle's a great option for startup jobs. But otherwise you're locked into Big Tech (something I'll never go back to).
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#7I moved here ~2 years ago to join an early stage startup and while its "not what is used to be"[1] I have personally benefited a lot from being exposed to the business and engineering culture here. I'm starting my own company now and have access to much more networking events and people who "get it" than I think I could have access to if I lived anywhere else. I haven't though so its hard to say.
There is an incredible amount of tacit knowledge in this city that is hard to really internalize until you are actually here and living through it. I think programs like https://www.siltahouse.com/home take a great advantage of these things.
There's a lot of counter intuitive things about early stage that you can't really convey in a blog post, or you may not even believe until you see it yourself up close from people. The open minded attitudes and culture around risk is something that you can really internalize when you are around other people who give you the correct social proof.
Is this all things you can get other places? Sure! It may not matter as much as it did 10 years ago, but you will have a hard time not getting a positive experience out of living, working, or building in the Bay Area.
[1] people have said this since the beginning of time about everything anyways
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#8Possibly unpopular opinion: there was always plenty of room for individuals to have a fulfilling tech career outside of the Bay Area, and those opportunities have if anything grown in recent years. Bay Area folks always talk like all the opportunities are concentrated there but that's never really been true and will just be less and less true as VC money dries up.
I'm sure some of it depends on what you're trying to accomplish in life, but since you didn't specify I'll answer for myself (someone who just wants to do work I enjoy for a really solid upper-middle-class paycheck and retire early)—no, you don't need to be in the Bay Area.
EDIT: To give some concrete numbers, San Jose and San Francisco represented ~180k of the nation's ~1650k software developers in 2023 [0]. That's ~10% of all US-based software developers and ~0.6% of all software developers in the world [1].
[0] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151252.htm
[1] https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-many-software-developers-...
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#9It can matter for future job prospects. You being at least somewhat physically available to make in-person appearances at least sometimes without it being a big deal is appealing to many employers.
This comment reads as if the only tech jobs that exist are in the Bay Area which is obviously not the case. Most tech jobs in the US are somewhere else.
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#10It can matter for future job prospects. You being at least somewhat physically available to make in-person appearances at least sometimes without it being a big deal is appealing to many employers.
This comment reads as if the only tech jobs that exist are in the Bay Area which is obviously not the case. Most tech jobs in the US are somewhere else.
You are absolutely right. Although it does depend on who you want to work for, the biggest tech companies are all in The Bay, with some in alternative US tech hubs like Seattle, NYC, or Austin (haha, Texas isn't for everyone).