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Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

zedshaw.com

41–50 of 98 posts

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#41
I lived in Bayview, north of Candlestick, for a couple months. My sense was that it was the worst neighborhood in San Francisco. It didn't even come close to the worst of Chicago. How does someone from NYC manage to get intimidated by SF? I kind of don't believe this happened.

San Francisco is too small for genuinely dangeous neighborhoods, and the whole area is so expensive that even Oakland is viable for family housing.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#43
post #21

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…

If you care about comparing SF and NYC, I wouldn't trust somebody's account of a weekend visit. I almost laughed out loud at some of it. "Awesome summer weather" and SF are fundamentally incompatible.

And Zed apparently doesn't actually like Mexican food, he just likes burritos, as that's the only thing you can only find in SF.

Now he is spot on regarding Muni. Actually, probably lucky he found a bus at all. Muni vs MTA alone probably makes it worth moving to NYC.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As with the last post of Zed, it is in the front page because most people here know Zed and are probably interested in what he does. I suggest you to flag the link if you find it inappropriate, it is more effective.

I don't know Zed, and I'm not interested in the minutiae of his life. Ah, I see from Wikipedia, that he wrote a web server in Ruby. Wow.

Lol: ("This is not a post about Zed Shaw...")

Such a self-negating post would not prove Tarsky's Theorem but it would demonstrate the impossibility of halting Zed Shaw posts...

I've been reading lots of symbolic logic lately...

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#45

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…

The math is right but misses the point: to learn how to do your own startup. To learn from what the founders are doing right and wrong, and to start building up your own network of contacts, in preparation for striking out on your own.

Plus if you're not really into the premise of the startup you're working for, you should probably quit right away. And if you are really into it, well, then, that's worth something right there.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#48

"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…

Agreed. I'm 20 blocks south of Sunset Park--that's the go-to place for Mexican in Brooklyn.

Re: Zed Shaw on SF vs NYC

#50
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

If you care about comparing SF and NYC, I wouldn't trust somebody's account of a weekend visit. I almost laughed out loud at some of it. "Awesome summer weather" and SF are fundamentally incompatible. And Zed apparently doesn't actually like Mexican food, he just likes burritos, as that's the only thing you can only find in SF. Now he is spot on regarding Muni. Actually, probably lucky he found a bus at all. Muni vs…

"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

- Commonly attributed to Mark Twain, but he never said it. Who knows who did.

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