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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

#251

Post by cageface »

brobinson wrote: post #148
cageface wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't lived in the US for almost five years now but if I did come back I'd pick a second-tier city. There's enough remote work now that you can pick any city you want in a US timezone and still make a decent living. I don't see why everyone feels obliged to squeeze into one of three or four insanely overpriced coastal cities in 2015.

Have you written any blog posts/comments about your remote working situation and what led up to it? I'd be interested in hearing your perspective as I've recently faced a lot of difficulty getting companies to even reply to my applications. I'm curious if there's any tips or advice you have. I really, really do not want to move back to SF to get a good job.

I think it's like a normal job search really. Be persistent, network, build up your portfolio, and don't be too picky about the gigs you take in the beginning. It took me a few years to get going but now I have more incoming work than I can handle.

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

#252

Post by [deleted] »

alttab wrote: post #239
wfo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle has never been particularly welcoming to newcomers; people there tend to be insular and it can be hard to make friends if you don't already know people (even before the amazon/tech stuff -- plenty of articles about 'the seattle freeze' that predate it). Being from there helps. Not being in tech helps -- there are so many new software engineers meeting one just isn't very interesting. You can hardly blame peop…

I'm a Seattle transplant from the east coast and I work for a big scary tech company and I haven't had any of these problems. The main difference between east and west coast culture is on the east coast the biggest opener is "so what do you do?" which in west coast culture translates to "i don't care who you are." Which is why getting and talking about hobbies is a better choice. Who is most likely to screw this up?…

[deleted]

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

#253

Post by cageface »

geebee wrote: post #55
cageface wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't lived in the US for almost five years now but if I did come back I'd pick a second-tier city. There's enough remote work now that you can pick any city you want in a US timezone and still make a decent living. I don't see why everyone feels obliged to squeeze into one of three or four insanely overpriced coastal cities in 2015.

It's hard to believe this given the current state of the tech industry, but until fairly recently, San Francisco was a second tier city. What I mean by this is that San Francisco wasn't the "alpha" city for any particular career path. If you wanted to pursue law, finance, publishing, entertainment, and so forth, the alpha cities were New York, Los Angeles, and maybe Chicago. Even tech was mainly a south bay thing, an…

I lived in SF for most of the years between 1992 and 2010, so I saw that a lot of that change first hand. When I first moved there it was a funky, artsy town with a lot of interesting people doing creative things. I was there earlier this year and it now feels like a yuppie playground.

I don't see this trend reversing any time soon though so instead of lamenting this change I'll just live somewhere else if I decide to live in the States again.

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

#255

Post by gozo »

paulsutter wrote: post #238

People in Seattle very friendly. They are unhappy about rising rents. There is an eerie consensus that Amazon is to blame, but I haven't heard negative remarks or attitudes towards individuals, just towards Amazon the company and the tech boom in general. I'm really impressed by the city government. Seattle is much more pro growth than San Francisco. There's much more construction. Like SF, people also blame construc…

I don't think it's that simple, especially when talking about things like "luxury" development that changes the city's housing standard.

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

#256

Post by nugget »

blakeyrat wrote: post #223
amyjess wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I was a rich kid. I only got to go to college on a scholarship, and I spent the first five years of my career making under $50k. I'm disappointed that some people think working in tech means that you're made of money.

My mom was a school teacher, and I think she approached $50k maybe her last one or two years before retirement. I'm not saying that the assumption that all tech workers are rich is correct, but you might want to rethinking how much money $50k after 5 years really is.

Public school teachers don't seem terribly underpaid to me. In Seattle the 2015 starting salary is $44,372[1], which is about $60k when adjusted for a 12 month calendar. That's a solid middle class job that favorably compares with other similar career options. There is another 30% in benefits/hidden comp (health care and pension) on top of that[2]. And there is significant upside for ambitious teachers who want to focus on increasing their earnings.

[1] http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/pay-varie...

[2] http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014240529702036875045766553...

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

#257

Post by JesperRavn »

wfo wrote: post #53
mattress wrote: post #9

Took a job in Bellevue in April and moved from Philadelphia to Seattle. So far it's a been an interesting experience. I've encountered many people hostile to software engineers in general. A bunch of people immediately ask if I work for Amazon with a hint of disdain after I state my occupation. So it hasn't felt super welcoming so far. I get it, even in some neighborhoods in Philadelphia the same thing is happening.…

Seattle has never been particularly welcoming to newcomers; people there tend to be insular and it can be hard to make friends if you don't already know people (even before the amazon/tech stuff -- plenty of articles about 'the seattle freeze' that predate it). Being from there helps. Not being in tech helps -- there are so many new software engineers meeting one just isn't very interesting. You can hardly blame peop…

>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.

I think you do a great job summarizing the hypocrisy of the left on this issue. According to the left, if a person is financially disadvantaged, they deserve sympathy and support. However if a person is socially disadvantaged[0], they not only deserve it, but also should be shamed for taking up space that more interesting people could be occupying.

[0] I don't believe for a second that there are many people working 11 hours a day. The people you describe are simply more introverted/shy people who work in tech, and you're looking for some explanation that makes their social situation their own fault.

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

#258

Post by [deleted] »

eropple wrote: post #126
codyb wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I understand the idea that someone might want to live in a building filled entirely with people in their own industry... but I never liked the idea. They asked me in college "Do you want to live in a building that's composed only of engineers?" No, no I don't. How am I suppose to expand my mind talking only to people who do the same things I do? I'm suppose to sacrifice the expansion of my mind because Englis…

You've nailed the weirdest thing about tech to me. The insularity is horrible. I had the same question posed to me in college and even then I was like "but...tech people are mostly boring ." English majors party? Good. Means I'll get out of the house. I'm lucky in that a lot of my social circle is non-tech right now, but a lot of the keep-to-yourself aspects of Boston's culture don't sit really well with me. I've tho…

[deleted]

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

#259

Post by roflchoppa »

JesperRavn wrote: post #246
eastbayjake wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The #1 dating horror story among women I've dated in SF is the introverted engineer who could only talk about work, engineering, or video games and otherwise required Charlie Rose levels of questioning to engage on other topics. I'm wondering if I can get funding for a Personality-as-a-Service startup in SF.

Yet another way that privileged White males from the tech industry oppress women.

i was going to say unimpress

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

#260

Post by eli_gottlieb »

c22 wrote: post #104
sushisource wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These signs piss me off every time I see them. Always make me think "Oh, I know, it's so horrible that we're helping to bring fresh life into your local economy, with new amenities and attractions". Sure, high paying tech jobs certainly contribute to housing crunches, but they also help solve them by making high-density buildings with affordable housing in them possible. The street goes both ways.

So I've lived in Seattle my whole life. In the last 5 years the locally operated grocery store near my house was torn down and replaced with a Whole Foods while my favorite movie theater (the only theater I've ever known to provide a sound-proofed room for small children) has become a 21+ reserve-your-seats $80 movie night ordeal. I don't really have a problem with new people moving in and some of my best friends wor…

Hi, I work in tech.

Whole Foods is shit - it's literally just a CostCo with fancier packaging that charges more - and that movie theater sounds like pretentious pap. This all sounds like overpriced crap even though I'm the target demographic.

Are you sure there's a magical market force whereby tech workers volunteer to be surrounded by overpriced crap?

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