e) Am I fucking crazy?
Maybe yes, but taking a leap into the unknown is the kind of crazy thing that more people should do. Progress, unreasonable man, and all that. Go for it!
Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
51–60 of 84 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#52(Background: I came from grad school in Seattle to SF for my job.) (a) Freelance work is heavily dependent on contacts. If you don't have contacts then it's a crapshoot. Maybe you'll luck into something, maybe you won't. (b) For housing, scan http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/sub/ ; $700 is not impossible, but you'll be living in a spare room of someone's house, and even then that's the low end & you should expect comp…
In response to b, c and e, I have one word. Oakland.
I really like some parts of Oakland (Rockridge in particular) but the good parts are nearly as expensive as SF. The inexpensive parts are inconvenient to anywhere a hacker wants to be unless you have a car.
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Being somewhere in person helps a lot. I think it is worth moving just for the better network. Networking is exactly how you can maintain a steady stream of projects.
Sure, but this guy is 18... I'd say, go to university and enjoy life first. You can also build an excellent network of both friends and professional acquaintances there, and it's a lot of fun, and you learn a lot of cool things that you'd never learn as an entrepreneur. And it'll probably make you a more interesting person too ("I left school at 18 and have been working in start-ups ever since" is pretty one-dimensio…
There is nothing exclusive with working on a startup and sex / drugs / reading philosophy, etc.
It is wrong to say "go to uni to do X" if there is nothing stopping you from doing X outside of university. Also, avoiding the infantilizing effects of university would do lots of people good.
It certainly requires dedicated to learn as an autodidact, but I'd bet many people could get a better applied computer science education in 4 years by trying to become an active developer.
The exception is stuff like math (and math needed for CS like machine learning and graphics).
For personal context, I want to undergrad & grad school, and learned a lot of math required for the CS areas I specialized in.
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#54live in the east bay (oakland, berkeley, alameda), not the city. look for roommates, not a studio. move near a BART station. whenever someone starts the sentence with "hey want to go..." involuntarily say no.
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#55you can get pretty cheap rent if you don't mind living in sketchy areas. I lived on treasure island for a few months, and besides feeling like the set of a zombie film, it was alright living for ~600pm I lived in the mission for a little more. Definitely try the east bay for cheap rent- if you don't mind getting the bus/bart into the city the rent is a lot cheaper.
The catch of treasure island is that in an earthquake, it is at very high risk of liquefaction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_liquefaction
that, and the high density of crack/meth heads on the island. i checked a few places there that made me feel like i was living the american version of trainspotting (down to the baby scene).
i'd recommend avoiding treasure island.
somewhat related, scratch the north bay off your list. i never was able to find a cheap way to commute from there.
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#56Check out the Hacker House v2 http://tinyurl.com/cvtgyu. Pretty reasonable rent.
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but this guy is 18... I'd say, go to university and enjoy life first. You can also build an excellent network of both friends and professional acquaintances there, and it's a lot of fun, and you learn a lot of cool things that you'd never learn as an entrepreneur. And it'll probably make you a more interesting person too ("I left school at 18 and have been working in start-ups ever since" is pretty one-dimensio…
There is nothing exclusive with working on a startup and sex / drugs / reading philosophy, etc. It is wrong to say "go to uni to do X" if there is nothing stopping you from doing X outside of university. Also, avoiding the infantilizing effects of university would do lots of people good. It certainly requires dedicated to learn as an autodidact, but I'd bet many people could get a better applied computer science educ…
There is nothing exclusive with working on a startup and sex / drugs / reading philosophy, etc.
Well, there is, because you won't have all the free time that you have as a student (which, btw, can also be used to start your start-up and acquire all that experience).
It is wrong to say "go to uni to do X" if there is nothing stopping you from doing X outside of university. Also, avoiding the infantilizing effects of university would do lots of people good.
There is also nothing to stop you from doing Y while you're also doing X at uni... So why not do both?
It certainly requires dedicated to learn as an autodidact, but I'd bet many people could get a better applied computer science education in 4 years by trying to become an active developer.
I'll agree with you on CS - I did physics, however, and I certainly wouldn't have learned all that outside of uni. I personally don't advise studying a computing-related subject if you want that to be your career - as you say, you'll self-teach all the useful computing stuff when you need it.
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#58I’d do it if I were you. I won’t lie. In my opinion the chances of success are slim to none. But this is the best time of your life to take a chance. The more adult you get the less able you are to take huge chances. So as long as you hang on to enough money to get yourself home should things go bad I don’t see a down side (where as if you don't you could end up regretting it for the rest of your life) That said, two…
I highly recommend the Hostelling International hostel at 312 Mason St. It's like $25/night, super-clean, and they feed you breakfast, too! I've stayed there a few times while going to WWDC.
I just saw some pictures of that place. Looks great! Great tip thanks!
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#59Sure you can do it. From 2002-2004, I lived on about that much per month, but it wasn't easy. -Rent was under $500 - you can still get these prices. Sublet a room in a house with some other young people. - Electricity/internet bill - $35. - Cell phone - $50. - Bring down your bicycle and bike for transport - Free - If you cook every day, and eat mostly vegetarian and rice - not just MSG-infused ramen - you can live o…
Prices have gone up a bit since 2004. The cheapest shared living situations I've heard about here are in the $700/month range, and those tend to be dicey and hard to find.
Sometimes you can find a shared room for less, especially in the Haight. Those old houses have huge attics often with 3-4 hipsters in them. Would make it hard to work from home though.
Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?
#60I have never lived in SF, nor have any plans to — but what are your reasons to be there? Surely it'd be easier (or should I say cheaper) to work out of Seattle?
I compared living costs using Craigslist. Turns out apartment prices all almost the same. The only cheaper thing is 200 bucks for gasoline to go there/back. EDIT: I think that the advantage that moving down there will give me will outweigh the $200.
I really wouldn't bring your car. There are no places to park, and you'll get parking tickets unless you're really good at getting up at 7:45 am to go drive your car until the street cleaners have passed. There's cheap airfare, amtrak, and craigslist rideshare to get down there.
Also, I generally found while looking for a place on craigslist, that while there are a lot of cheap places listed, they're heavily competed due to rent control. Places with a room for 500-600 will get hundreds and hundreds of responses, and you'll have to do an awkward interview for the room, which is like a combination date/job interview. It will take time to find a room. Nearly everyone I know that has moved to the bay area has crashed on a friend's couch for 2-3 months, or take an expensive, short term sublet.