Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC • Hacker News Board

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#21

Post by aditya » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:18 PM UTC

jcsalterego wrote: post #4

Why is this on HN's front page? :(

I upvoted because being an NYC native (well, after 5 years here) it is always interesting to see what I think I may be missing out on by not being in SF.

Honestly, I think he's spot on with SF being cheaper, cleaner and better tech scene than NY. Where NY wins out is that it is actually refreshing that not everyone is consumed by startup culture here, yet there are still people (buglabs, drop.io) building interesting companies. Also, NYC feels more vibrant compared to SF but my experience is highly limited to an 8 month stint in SF '05 and I wasn't working at a startup.

How about we cut the negativity and share other experiences of people that have relocated?

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#22

Post by andreyf » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:19 PM UTC

jcsalterego wrote: post #4

Why is this on HN's front page? :(

Same reason that your complaining about it is at the top of the discussion of the article - people thought it was worth voting up.

Personally, I thought this article was much more interesting than what Zed thinks about Django after using it for 2 hours (which was once also #1). As far as your comment, I don't think it adds much to the conversation at all. If I were a moderator, I'd delete this whole branch.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#23

Post by _giu » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:19 PM UTC

jcsalterego wrote: post #4

Why is this on HN's front page? :(

zed had the exact same thought:

"WTF. Why is my post about moving to SF #1 on HN? I need to write something that is worthy of that spot again."

(http://twitter.com/zedshaw/statuses/3363785875)

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#24

Post by look_lookatme » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:20 PM UTC

"I went down to the Mission to get some Mexican food, because there is absolutely no good Mexican food in New York. None."

Wrong. Sunset Park in Brooklyn has excellent Mexican food. I say this as a person who recognizes the insane subjectivism of "good" Mexican food. Books could be written on how Americans judge US made Mexican food and I really do think there is no deterministic way to understand what goes into each persons position on what is good and not good when it comes to a burrito or enchilada.

But I will say this; if you go to Sunset Park in Brooklyn NY, you will find quality tacos and tortas. Probably the burritos won't be as good, but I personally find the burrito to be an uninspired dish. I've had good enchiladas and excellent tamales in Sunset Park, too.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#25

Post by raganwald » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:28 PM UTC

old-gregg wrote: post #14

But isn't the end result the same? Joining an existing startup as an engineer is NOT financially beneficial. Just do the math: An average post-series A startup has 10% chance of success and an average acquisition price is around $50M. Now, when you're joining as an engineer how much do you get in equity? Much less than just 1%, yet you're losing a lot of potential earning power and, most importantly, you're investing…

> But isn't the end result the same?

Zed thinks so: Now obviously the SF companies are all really looking for an employee to make them rich. The difference is in their approach and how they don’t say it so blatantly or in such a gigantic douchebag way.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#26

Post by dca » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:28 PM UTC

aditya wrote: post #21

jcsalterego wrote: post #4

Why is this on HN's front page? :(

I upvoted because being an NYC native (well, after 5 years here) it is always interesting to see what I think I may be missing out on by not being in SF. Honestly, I think he's spot on with SF being cheaper, cleaner and better tech scene than NY. Where NY wins out is that it is actually refreshing that not everyone is consumed by startup culture here, yet there are still people (buglabs, drop.io) building interesting…

Along the same line, given that YC is based there, and you have to move there to participate in it, any story about someone's experience in moving there is definitely of interest to me. My guess is that's the primary reason its of interest to others as well.

Zed writes reasonably well and captured aspects of the experience that I find intriguing, so I found the entry worthwhile.

I hope he continues to write about his move, and personally don't mind at all if additional entries get posted here for discussion in the future.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#27

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:31 PM UTC

bcl wrote: post #6

Interesting to see a New Yorker's view of SF, but why do we care? Who is Zed Shaw and why is he important?

[deleted]

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#28

Post by run4yourlives » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:32 PM UTC

jcsalterego wrote: post #4

Why is this on HN's front page? :(

Because celebrity worship is endemic to modern western culture, of which we are all a part of.

It isn't the domain of stay-at-home-moms and teenagers exclusively, even if you thought we were too smart for that tripe. :)

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#29

Post by mikeryan » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:33 PM UTC

look_lookatme wrote: post #24

"I went down to the Mission to get some Mexican food, because there is absolutely no good Mexican food in New York. None." Wrong. Sunset Park in Brooklyn has excellent Mexican food. I say this as a person who recognizes the insane subjectivism of "good" Mexican food. Books could be written on how Americans judge US made Mexican food and I really do think there is no deterministic way to understand what goes into each…

To be fair as well, the burrito (as we know it in SF) is either a San Francisco or LA based creation. You're not going to find that in Mexico.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#30

Post by kls » Mon, Aug 17, 2009, 4:34 PM UTC

old-gregg wrote: post #14

But isn't the end result the same? Joining an existing startup as an engineer is NOT financially beneficial. Just do the math: An average post-series A startup has 10% chance of success and an average acquisition price is around $50M. Now, when you're joining as an engineer how much do you get in equity? Much less than just 1%, yet you're losing a lot of potential earning power and, most importantly, you're investing…

Crap dude you just summed my life up in a paragraph. 3 start ups, all sold and the most I ever pulled was 100k for my efforts. I did however make a comparable wage to developers in established businesses so it did not hit me so hard in the earning potential; but you are right about the intellectual capital spent. Once the risk of failure starts to subside the amount investors are willing to part with follows a similar curve. If you are going to get in, it has been my experience that, ground floor is the only place that you will see any significant chance of getting to anywhere better than well off or comfortable.