The case against living in the Bay Area, for ambitious tech people

Post by cma » Sun, Nov 24, 2024, 6:24 PM UTC

spondylosaurus wrote: post #7

itake wrote: post #3

There are obvious exceptions to everything. But I’ve lived in Atlanta, Orlando, SF and Seattle. Moving to SF was a career multiplier. I instantly doubled my salary. Now, I’m earning 2-5x more than my peers (that were more senior than me) that chose to live in those cities. Walmart was started in Arkansas. Warren Buffet famously lives in Nebraska. But the Tier 1 cities create more wealth for more people than Tier 2 or…

How much more are you spending (on non-avoidable cost of living stuff) now that you live in SF, though? If I hypothetically doubled my salary _and_ my expenses, that hardly seems worth it. Although NorCal is gorgeous.

Post by trzy » Sun, Nov 24, 2024, 6:27 PM UTC

itake wrote: post #3

There are obvious exceptions to everything. But I’ve lived in Atlanta, Orlando, SF and Seattle. Moving to SF was a career multiplier. I instantly doubled my salary. Now, I’m earning 2-5x more than my peers (that were more senior than me) that chose to live in those cities. Walmart was started in Arkansas. Warren Buffet famously lives in Nebraska. But the Tier 1 cities create more wealth for more people than Tier 2 or…

Post by jnwatson » Sun, Nov 24, 2024, 6:28 PM UTC

hot_gril wrote: post #9

jnwatson wrote: post #5

At Google, HR has dictated to our team "no Bay-area hiring" for over a year now. It seems at least one company agrees with "There’s no surplus value in hiring in the Bay Area".

But are they hiring in other parts of the US instead, or other countries?

Post by hot_gril » Sun, Nov 24, 2024, 6:32 PM UTC

trzy wrote: post #13

itake wrote: post #3

There are obvious exceptions to everything. But I’ve lived in Atlanta, Orlando, SF and Seattle. Moving to SF was a career multiplier. I instantly doubled my salary. Now, I’m earning 2-5x more than my peers (that were more senior than me) that chose to live in those cities. Walmart was started in Arkansas. Warren Buffet famously lives in Nebraska. But the Tier 1 cities create more wealth for more people than Tier 2 or…

Take-home pay is indeed higher in the bay but unless already had a family, that take-home pay is worthless in what is without a doubt the most socially dull major metro in the US.

Post by SoftTalker » Sun, Nov 24, 2024, 6:43 PM UTC

hot_gril wrote: post #17

trzy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take-home pay is indeed higher in the bay but unless already had a family, that take-home pay is worthless in what is without a doubt the most socially dull major metro in the US.

Sounds like an exaggeration, cause there must be plenty of worse places. But yeah Silicon Valley rubbed me the wrong way.