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Leaving Google

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Re: Leaving Google

#151

Post by BrownBuffalo »

haberman wrote: post #26
psbp wrote: post #5

"Plus I find the Bay Area congested, racist, incestuous, and overpriced." I like this guy.

I'm a little sad he didn't say anything about Seattle, only a couple hours from Vancouver and with sizable and thriving Google offices. It is also has "greens and greys and unfussily variegated people" -- clearly it's not Canada, but in general it would be a much less drastic transition!

Yet, it's still _not_ Canada. I live in Buffalo, and the major reason why I stay here - is because its _not_ Canada. At least the greater GTA (Greater Toronto Area). But I _do_ enjoy visiting ... to the extent I have been known for stretches to be there 10-12 week(ends) in a row visiting friends, eating, exploring, etc. I really do get the SF point of view for sure. But that's a'typical of the tech industry on the whole - I mean its a male dominated industry, and its a rat race down there. I can see how easily jaded an outsider can become. But I do enjoy its Southern California culture, weather, and in particular asians - because of the food/design/culture they bring to the bay area.

Re: Leaving Google

#152

Post by BrownBuffalo »

eli wrote: post #111
VonGuard wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always gotten the impression that about 40% of the people you meet or see in Seattle are at that exact moment contemplating suicide. That's just the general tone of the city.

Jesus there are a lot of haters in this thread.

Haters gonna hate. Potatoes gonna potate.

Re: Leaving Google

#153

Post by ulfw »

potatolicious wrote: post #135
tptacek wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tech industry gets better the further south you go along the west coast To a point.

Fair point. Hard to argue San Diego has a superior tech scene than San Jose...

Yea but it does have much higher quality of life.

Re: Leaving Google

#154

Post by cpncrunch »

mahyarm wrote: post #116
tobyjsullivan wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Times are changing my friend. Who would I go work for in Seattle to "make money" (if that were actually my primary goal)? Amazon? In Vancouver now. Microsoft? In Vancouver now. Facebook? In Vancouver now. Startups? Vancouver has our share. Personally, if I were going to leave the country for a better tech industry, I'd fly right past Seattle and head further south. Sorry, but Seattle just doesn't make sense if you're…

I grew up in Victoria, and lived in Seattle for several months. Seattle was literally half the price and twice the wage in all aspects, you'd be stupid as a new grad not to go to Seattle if you grew up in Vancouver or Victoria. I also found the people of Seattle pretty much identical to people in Vancouver. If you switched out a few street signs you wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference between the places.

Victoria beats the pants off Vancouver, in terms of being a nice place to live (if you can afford it) or visit. I always find Vancouver to be pretentious, crowded, overdeveloped and generally lacking in any sort of charm.

Re: Leaving Google

#155

Post by enraged_camel »

eli wrote: post #111
VonGuard wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always gotten the impression that about 40% of the people you meet or see in Seattle are at that exact moment contemplating suicide. That's just the general tone of the city.

Jesus there are a lot of haters in this thread.

I lived in Seattle for six years and I totally agree with Vonguard. It doesn't have anything to do with being a "hater." You just need to be good at observing people, specifically their body language.

Re: Leaving Google

#156

Post by ulfw »

BrownBuffalo wrote: post #151
haberman wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a little sad he didn't say anything about Seattle, only a couple hours from Vancouver and with sizable and thriving Google offices. It is also has "greens and greys and unfussily variegated people" -- clearly it's not Canada, but in general it would be a much less drastic transition!

Yet, it's still _not_ Canada. I live in Buffalo, and the major reason why I stay here - is because its _not_ Canada. At least the greater GTA (Greater Toronto Area). But I _do_ enjoy visiting ... to the extent I have been known for stretches to be there 10-12 week(ends) in a row visiting friends, eating, exploring, etc. I really do get the SF point of view for sure. But that's a'typical of the tech industry on the wh…

How's SF 'Southern California'?

Re: Leaving Google

#157

Post by toomim »

overgryphon wrote: post #141
benched wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle 8 years. Sadly I have to agree wholeheartedly with this, because I've been unable to find much contrary evidence. The 'Freeze', which is deservedly famous, is very, very real, no matter how many people try to minimize its reality. Go ahead, come here - it's on display every second of every day in every cubic meter of the city. The only people who will make eye contact or speak a word to you are the homeless -…

Perhaps if all of your friendships are shallow and aloof, a change of city wouldn't solve your problem? I love Seattle, and do not find people here passive or unfriendly.

Some people (like you) don't see it, but that doesn't mean the phenomena doesn't exist. Why would you think it has a common name -- the seattle freeze -- if it was a problem isolated to these two individuals?

Re: Leaving Google

#158

Post by seanmcdirmid »

zem wrote: post #84
eevilspock wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver is a real city. Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Californians who've moved there almost unanimously agree with my first sentence, and crack up at the latter. (Sadly, I lived in Seattle for 17 years. The Bay Area before that, and New York now.)

anecdata: my sister lives in los angeles, and her company once posted her to their seattle office for a few months. her impression was that it was an extremely white city; that might not be the sort of thing that strikes you if you're white yourself, but coming from california it would definitely reinforce the provincial impression.

Seattle is 16+% Asian and 70-% white, 8.4% black and 1% native. How is that very white? In contrast, LA is 50% white, 10% asian, 10% black, with a 50% Hispanic (many co-identifying as white or black).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Seattle

Re: Leaving Google

#159

Post by yawz »

"Plus I find the Bay Area congested, racist, incestuous, and overpriced."

Now... I've never lived in the Bay Area. I travel there once or twice a year but visiting is nothing like living in a place. So, I can relate to the adjectives above except the "racist" part. Is the Bay Area really more racist than any other large metropolitan area?

Re: Leaving Google

#160

Post by eevilspock »

sharkweek wrote: post #88
eevilspock wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver is a real city. Seattle is provincial, passive-aggressive, unfriendly to outsiders, and segregated. A hick town with skyscrapers as I've often called it. Californians who've moved there almost unanimously agree with my first sentence, and crack up at the latter. (Sadly, I lived in Seattle for 17 years. The Bay Area before that, and New York now.)

Seattle is my favorite place in the entire world. People always complain about the "freeze" but I call bullshit. Seattle is the perfect place for people who enjoy a small social circle (Larry David style - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG_M73MoxJE ) The one thing I always tell outsiders when they ask about finding friends when they move here is to pick an interest and go from there. For example, I love hiking/climbi…

> People always complain about the "freeze" but I call bullshit.

First, some humor: http://lifeexplained.thecomicseries.com/comics/62/

Now, some serious (as it was while I lived there, but funny now that I've escaped), all from Seattle newspapers:

But the dichotomy most fundamental to our collective civic character is this: Polite but distant. Have a nice day. Somewhere else. [1]

Your city is a lovely one, and people here are nice enough when you come into contact with them in such circumstances as a retail transaction or participation in a mutually held-interest group. However, there is an unmistakable coolness exuded by many inhabitants of this city toward people they don't know; it exceeds what I would consider "normal." [2]

Seattle public radio: while people here are “open” to new ideas, we’re just near the bottom of the states for being extroverted. Sociologist Jodi O’Brien at Seattle University added that this group relies heavily on digital devices to communicate which means they are losing the ability to simply hang out and talk. “If you email something I don’t like, I can scream at the computer, but I don’t have to interact with you. The more we can do that, the less inclined we are to engage in the messy social world.” [3]

Seattle Freeze: Can we blame it on the Norwegians? ...and there is even a meet-up group working to defeat it, the Seattle Anti-Freeze. [4]

Turns out that while Seattle has lots of romantic settings and events – the people themselves aren’t thought to be very romantic.[5] In a poll on that same Seattle newspaper blog, 80% of the readers say that the Seattle Freeze is very real and/or awesome. A slideshow of ways of dealing with the freeze agrees more or less with your advice to pick an interest and go from there.

[1] http://seattletimes.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cover.html

[2] http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/northwestvoices/2009/0...

[3] http://www.kpluwonders.org/content/why-seattle-freeze-so-har...

[4] http://blogs.seattletimes.com/fyi-guy/2012/12/04/seattle-fre...

[5] http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2013/02/12/‘seattle-fre...

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