What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco • Hacker News Board

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#411

Post by flexxaeon » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:21 PM UTC

toastedzergling wrote: post #47

Does anyone have the time to do a similar writeup for the tech scene in and around LA? I'm probably going to be doing the move from Boston-LA myself in just a few months.

Perhaps you should write that after you make the move. :) And even then it would be difficult.

As you likely already know, one thing sure to be on that list is "have a car". Which stems from the reason making such a list would be difficult. LA is so spread apart, what's true for someone on the westside isn't gonna ring as true for someone downtown, to south bay, to OC/irvine (if we're even counting OC/irvine).

lots of tech companies here in LA but due to the lay of the land and 30 mile commutes, they don't mingle as much.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#412

Post by georgeorwell » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:23 PM UTC

fokov wrote: post #406

georgeorwell wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just don't put in zero for annual savings or the savings rate, because what I'm guessing is a divide by zero somewhere can hang your browser.

Divide by zero should just cause an exception. My guess is it causes an infinite loop.

Yeah, you're right, if you put 10 dollars down as the annual savings, it just takes a very long time to finish.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#413

Post by ww520 » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:24 PM UTC

HockeyPlayer wrote: post #164

noname123 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just curious, in your opinion, what should be the net worth target for people making regular tech income in their 30's, 40's and 50's if they want to eek out comfortable living in retirement, inflation-adjusted?

You can conservatively spend 3% of a lump sum each year and the earnings will keep up with inflation. So if you had $1m in savings, you could spend $30k/year in today's dollars forever (and still have $1m at the end). If you want to spend down the principal, the calculation becomes more complex and you need to use software rather than a rule of thumb.

I thought the typical withdraw rate is 4% to maintain a portfolio indefinitely.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#414

Post by caniszczyk » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:27 PM UTC

droz wrote: post #113

I was amused by point "SF is a super fit city." As someone who lives in Boulder, CO and frequently visits SF, I feel like SF has a lot of out of shape people compared to Boulder. Guess it's all relative.

Same here... coming from Austin... it's hilarious what people call "fit" over here... all I see is facial hair and moobs

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#415

Post by Cl4rity » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:29 PM UTC

muzzamike wrote: post #229

Cl4rity wrote: post #224

Well, of course it's going to come as a big shock coming from Boston, because I don't consider Boston to be a "big city." I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I lived in San Francisco for a while, and now I live in New York City--Brooklyn, specifically. Much of what you said applies to New York, too. I don't agree with the weather thing. I've been to Boston where it was 60 during the day and in the low 30s at night,…

I find it interesting that Boston often gets the rub of being a "small city". It certainly is when compared to New York or LA, but when looking at the metro area it's on par with San Francisco: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistica... Not that there's anything wrong with being a small city!

For the record, I love Boston. It's so peaceful and quiet there on non-game days! Ha! And it is a thousand times cleaner than New York City.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#416

Post by yummies » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:32 PM UTC

afterburner wrote: post #352

tsotha wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the state with the surplus. The weather in Texas isn't anything to write home about, but in every way that matters it's a more competently run state.

They probably have a surplus because they underfund health care system, among other things... (I remember being surprised at the full-time firefighting budget cuts not long before the huge fires two years ago) EDIT: Oh and apparently there is no surplus http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/04/us-usa-deficits-st...

the article cited was from last year.

from last week: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/us/texas-budget-surplus-pr...

"A boom in revenues from sales taxes as well as taxes from oil and natural gas production have given Texas a budget surplus that the state comptroller has estimated at $8.8 billion."

Of course this will start a new debate about how it's only a surplus because of previous budget cuts, but that's for another time and place. Still others will crunch the numbers differently and say there was actually a deficit. Politics is fun.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#417

Post by cperry » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:33 PM UTC

stephencanon wrote: post #265

erohead wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Palo Alto is the answer to the weather. Consistently awesome compared to the city.

Yup. South of Palo Alto it gets too hot in the summer. Farther north it gets foggy and cold too often. Palo Alto and Menlo Park have it just right.

Don't forget Redwood City! Climate best by government test. (http://www.redwoodcity.org/about/local_history/exhibits/clim...)

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#418

Post by theorique » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:37 PM UTC

__--__ wrote: post #294

nugget wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who lives around and deals with these people every day, let's call a spade a spade and not cover it up. Have you seen a zombie movie lately? These people basically ARE zombies - they hobble around, mutter to themselves, smell like shit, randomly attack people, and will infect you with disease if you touch them. Whether they scream at/spit on/push around my sister or female employees because they are on cra…

The powers that be leave them alone because if they don't, they are met with complete civil unrest in SF. Any attempt to even address the homeless issue is met with outrage and organized protest. This goes along with the outcry against gentrification and the lament of the city losing its "character." Make no mistake, some of the people here actually want to live in a post-apocalyptic zombie film. :)

outcry against gentrification and the lament of the city losing its "character."

People sniffing glue, blazing crack pipes, and defecating on the street is 'character'?

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#419

Post by georgeorwell » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:38 PM UTC

jquery wrote: post #382

georgeorwell wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calling people crack-heads and shambling zombies is pejorative. You don't casually use words like fag, dyke, tranny, bitch, ho, nigger, Indian (for native / aboriginal), and kyke, right? If you want a name, say "drug-addicted homeless person". We're talking about the most badly abused people in our society and you and the author are simply abusing them more with these words. Surprise, they aren't there to say anythin…

This comment does not belong on HN. It's angry, self-righteous, and unproductive. Comparing people who defecate, urinate, shoot-up, stink, and leave needles on your front porch to other minorities is really offensive. Especially when these people have all the resources in the world to get out of their situation. Often they have better apartments than the people they are begging money from.

> This comment does not belong on HN.

Just as you petitioned SF to get rid of the homeless people from your precious neighborhood, you can downvote my post, flag it, and petition PG to ban my account if you don't want me to post comments like this. If it fails, just as your real life petition failed, you can always find another web forum.

What's becoming clear is that I don't belong on HN. There's just no real sense of belonging that I have. Despite understanding all of the technical stuff, I just don't seem to fit in with you guys, and I don't really share a lot of your views, including PG's. It's almost like I come here just to differentiate myself from what I am not, and to show off technical knowledge once in a while.

Re: What I wish I knew before moving to San Francisco

#420

Post by starpilot » Thu, Jan 17, 2013, 11:41 PM UTC

jseliger wrote: post #275

bluekite2000 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same goes w/ NYC. I have been here for a while now and have met so many young girls following Sex in the City dream, which invariably turned out badly.

Agreed. I just moved here from Tucson, and there's virtually no way I'd be here if not for the fact that I'm living with a medical resident in an apartment subsidized by her hospital. Given a choice among SF, NYC, and Seattle, and I'd choose Seattle: It has much of what makes the first two desirable, but at 60% of the cost. BTW, to the extent that you want to make cities like SF and NYC more affordable, favor the rem…

Everyone forgets Chicago. In the US, it's the most important financial center outside of Manhattan and is the third place city in number of Michelin starred restaurants (fewer than SF; Seattle has none). Boeing moved their corporate HQ there from Seattle because of its financial prominence. It has a world class university in U. Chicago and excellent bus/rail transit across the metro area. But the Chicago area is seriously undervalued as "flyover country" for most people from the coasts.