Enjoy the taxes, costs and restrictions! Plus, the movie talkers and the stench of public transit!
I did the reverse (East coast -> Austin) and could not possibly be happier.
Why I Chose New York
111–120 of 147 posts
Re: Why I Chose New York
#112It's only Bay vs NYC? Why not stay in Austin? Every startup here is hiring. Why not Boston, Boulder, Seattle, or Portland? Not mentioning other cities seems shortsighted. Online startups can exist anywhere. If you're not interested in groupthink considering other cities seems very reasonable. I also don't buy your SF commute argument. There are tons of startups in downtown SF. You don't have to live in the bay area a…
I second that the OP should look more into staying in Austin. Austin has plenty of women, and you don't need to have a car here if you don't want too. I have been living here a year without a car and do fine, plus your money goes farther here in Austin. I have lived in the Bay and LA, and while the weather is the best in SoCal (best in the US?) I love everything Austin has to offer and will be here a while.
It is hot as hell in Austin in the Summer. The humidity sometimes kicks in too.
Re: Why I Chose New York
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
You say it's cheaper, then use the example of a $2000 apartment which is an insane amount to pay for housing. Then you (correctly) note that the cheap places are actually really far (and annoying) commutes. BART stations are much cleaner than NYC subway stations, I find the trips much more pleasant. Your startup could also be in SF (not MV) saving you the commute, have you thought about that? Eating fast food Good, h…
Disclaimer: I live in SF, not NYC, but I disagree with your post. > "$2000 apartment which is an insane amount to pay for housing." SF is at the same level now. A solid 1BR in the city proper (as opposed to say, out in Outer Richmond) will easily hit $2000. And beyond. New construction (SOMA) would be closer to $3-4K. This is in the same range as what both dev_jim and cletus claim. > "BART stations are much cleaner t…
I lived in a studio on Market St in the Tenderloin for $825/mo. With a huge window. There are other units for even cheaper. http://sfofficelofts.com
Re: Why I Chose New York
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since I am moving out of the city (and the country) at the end of this month, I have no qualms sharing a little secret for anyone looking for a place in Manhattan... There's an area of about 6 city blocks bordered by Columbia University on the south, 125th St. on the north, Broadway to the east, and Grant's Tomb on the west...and rent is ridiculously cheap! 2BR for $2700 or less (we're paying much less) are not unusu…
One of the one bedroom units here in Stuyvesant Town is listed as $2820 ( http://www.stuytown.com/view-availability.aspx ). And if you've been to Stuyvesant Town you know the units are HUGE. And most people convert one bedroom to a two bedroom, two to a three, etc. Stuyvesant Town may be the biggest real-estate default in American history but it is really really nice. We have our own reading rooms, movie shows, ice-s…
Another Stuy Town dweller here. It's also a pretty good options for those of us with families. We have a nice park with play area outside our door. It's fairly quiet. And don't forget free heat, water, and electricity!
Re: Why I Chose New York
#115Also on the plus side, a much lower chance of dying in a horrible earthquake.
Re: Why I Chose New York
#116Try Vegas. You can get a luxury 1 bedroom high rise condo on the strip for $1,500/month. Off strip a great 1 bedroom is $800-900 and it comes with an attached garage. The entire Vegas valley is only about 20 miles in diameter so you are never far from anywhere. Commute times are short and off strip, traffic is not bad at all. $65,000 in Vegas buys you the same quality of life as $100,000 in SF.
" buys you the same quality of life"
I guess you don't factor weather into quality of life.
Re: Why I Chose New York
#117Sorry to offer the most trite comment possible, but how does a 22-year-old trying to pick up chicks constitute "hacker news"?
Re: Why I Chose New York
#118One of the best places to live in New York is New Jersey. Large areas of Hoboken and Jersey City are just as easy for a Manhattan commute via the PATH subway or bus or even a ferry. Rent goes roughly 25% cheaper for similar digs, everything from basement studios to ultramodern luxury towers. Bonus: you don't pay NYC income tax, and NJ sales tax is less too.
I've lived in NJ and commuted to Manhattan for essentially my entire professional life, and quite satisfied with it. I currently commute by ferry which is insanely pleasant compared to a subway.
Re: Why I Chose New York
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my experience most companies aren't interested in "initiative and aptitude". They are generally unwilling to look at people without a few years of experience already. I moved to NYC and started job-hunting in early 2011. I didn't have a background in software development but I had programmed in VBA for 18 months (pricing insurance), used R for my statistics masters degree project and had been dabbling in Python fo…
Yeah. I think the answer there is: fuck those companies. The sooner we start new ones that get this right, the fewer their days are numbered. But you may have missed my point by a couple degrees. It wasn't that companies should look at initiative and aptitude directly. It's that those are the things that drive you to acquire the skills that make you good. Then you can prove that you're good. How exactly to prove you'…
Thanks for the reply. I get your point that the initiative and aptitude are the starting point, but as you mentioned, looking for "proof" of ability is very tricky, particularly for people without much experience. Of course had I known I would be unemployed for 6+ months at the offset I could have planned a project that ticked lots of boxes (Django frontend, NumpPy, SQLAlchemy, PyMongo etc. etc.). I love the idea of Hacker School and wish I'd known about it at the time, I'm sure it would have helped me build a portfolio of work. While I did have some side projects I'd spend a lot of time learning to match a job spec or recruiters recommendations only to find the interviewer fixating on something else, other times I'd be strung along ("we'll be looking to hire in a month or so, why not brush up on X in the meantime?") and then the job would disappear (cash-flow issues, change in priorities, new CTO decides to scrap Python and rewrite in node.js ;)
Ultimately I'd rather be programming. My current job is OK and I'll stick at it for now, I owe my boss for taking a chance on me and they'd struggle if I left before the end of the year (we are a small team and in the middle of switching accounting systems and finalizing an acquisition). I do like the fact that I get exposed to a range of business issues, as my previous job in the insurance industry was a little more technical but very narrow in scope. Long-term it probably doesn't suit me (though it might be different at another company), I've automated some tasks in Access/VBA but there is a line between finance and IT (partially outsourced or contractors) and I'm expected to use systems rather than improve them. At least I can at least work on some longer-term programing projects in my free time, but it's frustrating to be left thinking "maybe next year", rather than living in the moment!
Re: Why I Chose New York
#120My previous team was split between Mountain View and New York. We'd travel back and forth. Don't get me wrong: I love the Bay Area. The weather for one thing is simply heaven. We'd often get into debates about this. My argument is that it is cheaper to live in New York than the Bay Area. The main reason for this is that almost anywhere you live in the Bay Area you will have a car. Between car payment, insurance, gas…
It's a real shame how many Americans are against public transit and think "infrastructure is communism."
Sorry, but I think you're out of touch with Americans. Most of us want great transit. It's difficult to do in a country as large as the USA. It's a problem of scale, something difficult to appreciate for people living in smaller countries.