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Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

nytimes.com

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Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#201

Post by voltagex_ »

smithkl42 wrote: post #113
sakopov wrote: post #93

I'm a software engineer with a great job in midwest but I have never been happy here and have been contemplating about just packing my stuff and moving to Seattle for the past 3 years. I don't have any job leads but I have enough in savings to get a place for 6 months. Does anyone think it's sane to just move without job offers?

Probably so, if you've got good technical skills. At the very least, you ought to be able to land a couple of contracting gigs to tide you over until you find the right long-term position. There's a lot more demand here in the Puget Sound area for good technical skills than there is supply, so unless you're just not a very good developer, you ought to be able to find something reasonable.

A week of rejected job applications has me wondering if I'm not a good developer at all...

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#202

Post by sgustard »

pm90 wrote: post #12

> John Criscitello placed posters in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood proclaiming “Welcome! Rich Kids,” and “Wish you weren’t here.” Its hard not to feel angry at people like this. "Rich Kids" really? These "Kids" spent years developing their engineering skills to get to the point where they are now. Are engineers paid a lot? Of course. But we're certainly not in the same category as those who inherit wealth. Most…

He's not targeting engineers. He's targeting yuppies, fraternity punks, late-night bar hoppers, Yelp-adoring foodies, crowds of drunk people in baseball caps with money to burn standing in line for hipster restaurants and nightclubs, shouting and pissing in the streets at 2am. That's the crowd that invades your city like a plague when it becomes a trendy destination.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#203

Post by vectorpush »

devindotcom wrote: post #155
vectorpush wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quintessential hipster bullshit. His community doesn't have any special rights to dictate the culture of the region and if he doesn't like the newcomers he can leave. It's also absurd to presume that just because someone has a high paying job they cannot qualify as a legitimate part of the community. Your petty and insular mindset is gross.

We might have to fuck off because the rent is too high, but it doesn't mean we have to do it quietly. The people coming in should know how much they are resented by the people they are displacing. The mechanics terraformed capitol hill, the current community colonized it, and now the next wave is buying it. No one here is dictating culture - they are asserting their preference to a community that was built over decad…

II reject the idea that you can judge someone as a cultural reject based on the salary they take home.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#204

Post by dwaxe »

rhino369 wrote: post #192
ForHackernews wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may not have inherited great wealth directly, but it's a fair guess that you "inherited" some or all of the following: * Parents who pushed you to focus on your schoolwork. * Parents who owned a computer, or bought a computer specifically for their kids' education. * Parents who lived in a house with consistent water, electricity and internet service. * Parents who made sure you got glasses if you needed them, so…

Sure. People who are born into the middle class are certainly better off than people born into poverty. That still doesn't make them rich kids. Three of your factors are true for virtually everyone in America. One is pure luck unrelated from wealth. And the other two are just good parenting. Tech is a very middle class profession. Much more middle class than most high paying professions like Medicine, Law, Executives…

Did any of us choose our parents? Parents are the purest luck anyone has.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#207

Post by [deleted] »

JPKab wrote: post #116
thieving_magpie wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I'm not all that concerned with making friends with people that are hostile about my profession. That's so petty. >partly because the countless new techbros with no respect for Seattle culture who spend 11hrs/day at work and don't have time to develop a personality romping around town give it a real bad reputation What does that even mean? I hear this all the time and I honestly have no idea how to "respect Sea…

As someone who has lived in a few cities filled with counter-culture types, they can be incredibly insular, superficial, and tribal. Ironically, they end up being a different looking, but similar acting version of the wealthy elite they claim to hate. It seems like everyone in these places is just trying to re-invent a "cooler than thou" image, looking down on others who don't prize their typically temporary life-sty…

[deleted]

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#208

Post by eonw »

hosh wrote: post #174
city41 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having a giant lake dividing Seattle from the rest of the area has a really negative impact on traffic. I lived in Seattle for 4 years and I generally found people cold and distant, my wife did too.

That might be part of it too. I worked from home. I lived in Capitol Hill, parked my car in the garage, and I think I drove it maybe once the entire year I lived there. I walked everywhere. Folks were pretty friendly.

would you say your experience with seattleites was limited due to your staying in a small pocket of the city?

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#209

Post by mahyarm »

Zach_the_Lizard wrote: post #182
marssaxman wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never understood the problem with that question. It's been a normal thing to talk about everywhere I've ever been. Work is a defining feature of one's life, the single activity people spend more time on than any other; what's wrong with asking about it when you want to get to know someone?

Your job can imply your socioeconomic status. When it's the first thing you ask, it can come across as deciding whether you're worthwhile or not. Maybe you're not worth the connection because you're a fry cook at McDonalds, but the doctor over there in the corner is. Learning what someone does for a living is, to me anyways, far less important than learning what they like to do, what interests they have, etc. I can b…

I think the difference is if you like your job or not. If you don't, then you don't like talking about work and you act like it's rude. If work is your passion, then you do like talking about it.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#210

Post by mahyarm »

peatmoss wrote: post #14

I've only lived in Seattle for about 6 years, but have seen / felt a rise in rents over that time. When we moved here, lots of rentals were offering one or two months free rent as a move in special. Now, not so much. Because he was sick of friends moving away, a friend of mine made his rookie run for the city council this past year. He didn't survive the primary, but he had some good ideas about housing that have in…

The fact there are height limits in the first place are part of the problem. Height limits should be removed, and height minimums should be put in place.

SF is giving pathetic 2 floor height limit increases in exchange for a larger amount of BMR units when new development should be multifamily only development with a minimum of 10 floors.

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