Nope! Nothing matters anymore! Certainly not the Bay Area.
Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
11–20 of 87 posts
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#12Possibly 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…
> there was always plenty of room for individuals to have a fulfilling tech career outside of the Bay Area
So plainly true it feels weird to read.
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#13Did it ever really matter?
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#14Just 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…
Came here to say this. It's definitely not the advantage it used to be for an employee given how commonplace remote is now. Most of the advantages of being there are for founders and investors.
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#15Possibly 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…
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Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#16If you work on the tech side of finance (banking or hedge funds) then you would be much better off in being:
- NYC (still the hub) - Chicago (although that's declining in my opinion) - South Carolina (lots of banking tech jobs there) - Austin, TX (similar to SC above) - Miami (crypto friendly and a large hedge fund just moved its HQ there)
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#17Nope! Nothing matters anymore! Certainly not the Bay Area.
Carl from ATHF when asked by a job search site where he wants to work:
"Listen, just put Kansas City or Nashville or somepin'. It don't mattah. None a' this mattahs."
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#18I would continue living in the Bay Area even if I changed my career. I love the vibe and culture. Oakland First Friday is a fun street fair. The multiple rode gardens in about every city are fantastic. I lived an eight minute walk from the Oakland garden during the pan and I was there every day. SF is one of a small number of cities that almost every musical act will play when they tour. And there are lots of art galleries. If the tech scene is the only draw for you, there are still a lot of reasons it’s a great area. And there are so many beautiful trails to hike that are just a short drive away.
If you wanna buy a house with a yard and the above doesn’t draw you, it’s probably not for you.
Edit: and fresh produce at the farmers markets!
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#19I've been in tech for almost 15 years and never lived in the bay. My pay puts me in the top ~1% of U.S. compensation. My city is around 1.5 million metro population.
I've worked for prestigious, recognizable, tech companies and local no-name companies.
As long as you're in a metro area with at least a million or two people, there'll be enough software engineering and data center business to go around.
Most of my teams over the last few years have all been geo-distributed, anyways, so its much less common for everyone to even be in the same place, anyways, even if you live in the bay area.
Re: Ask HN: Does it still matter to be in the Bay Area?
#20I’m here and grew up here but I don’t really have friends or belong to a startup ecosystem. I just do my job and then go home. Idk how to take advantage of the area.