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Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

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Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#291

Post by hkmurakami »

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #154
henrikschroder wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Oh, and there were 6 of us, in a 3 bedroom apartment. This is such a weird American phenomenon, the whole roommate thing. What on earth can make adults choose to share their home with a stranger? Why isn't there intense pressure for building many small apartments, rather than building larger apartments that are meant for roommates? Is it connected to the equally weird college dorm roommate system? Why are people ac…

Why do you assume it is a western thing. Have you ever been to Asia? It's extremely common in China/Korea/Japan

Japanese people almost never have roommates. They instead live in apartments that are very small.

The flat sharing / house sharing movement is very young there and only applies to a very small number of young people.

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#292

Post by [deleted] »

NikolaeVarius wrote: post #154
henrikschroder wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Oh, and there were 6 of us, in a 3 bedroom apartment. This is such a weird American phenomenon, the whole roommate thing. What on earth can make adults choose to share their home with a stranger? Why isn't there intense pressure for building many small apartments, rather than building larger apartments that are meant for roommates? Is it connected to the equally weird college dorm roommate system? Why are people ac…

Why do you assume it is a western thing. Have you ever been to Asia? It's extremely common in China/Korea/Japan

[deleted]

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#293

Post by pm90 »

iplaw wrote: post #217

Just because developers can feasibly work from anywhere, especially remotely for already-established companies, do not immediately presume that it is best for developers to work from anywhere. Working remotely is not for everyone. Some people have problems with efficiency and procrastination when working from home or when working without immediate oversight. Some people have poor communication skills which are furthe…

> countless millionaires being made,

I think its more accurate to say that countless millionaires that moved in.

Austin still hasn't had its Google/Intel/Facebook yet.

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#294

Post by zephyrfalcon »

In spite of what the article claims, the vast majority of employers do NOT let you work remotely 100% of the time. They are mostly located in the big/expensive cities, so that's where developers will go. There's really no mystery there.

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#295

Post by vostok »

TACIXAT wrote: post #274
vostok wrote: post #32

I make good money. Why would you expect me to live in the middle of nowhere when I can live in the greatest cities of the world?

>Why would you expect me to live in the middle of nowhere when I can live in the greatest cities of the world? I mean, I don't expect you to do it, but personally, I like to save aggressively so that I can reach financial independence sooner.

Why do you think I'm not saving aggressively? I have saved at least a six figure quantity every year since my early 20s, which seems sufficiently aggressive to me. Being able to save is part of being able to afford living here.

You're right that I could take a higher paying job in the suburbs or in a rural area and save even more, but money isn't everything to me.

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#296

Post by pm90 »

conductr wrote: post #276
John23832 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SoCal/Bay Area expats are driving up costs in Austin.

Agree. Similar thing in all Texas metros. Although expats in Austin are certainly of the CA tech majority. I feel like all of TX is turning into CA.

Well, they do have many things in common:

* Warm weather year round

* Lots of great universities

* Large hispanic population (and immigrants in general)

* 2 largest states in the contiguous US

The most glaring difference is probably the conservative politics. But that's mostly the rural areas. And the hispanic population may actually help change that.

Note: not implying that all hispanic people automatically vote democrat, just that they do in general.

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#297

Post by ryandrake »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #14
hasenj wrote: post #3

In my personal experience remote work does not work so well. At least I haven't been able to make it work for me. For the second point, well I think expensive cities are expensive because people want to be there. If you can choose to live anywhere, why not go to the best place, specially when you can afford it?

I've worked remote for almost three years for a profitable startup. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but not having a commute is incredibly liberating. I've also found my careeer options to not be limited by being remote. Also, I live in Florida 20 minutes from one of the best beaches in the country. Not as "culturally fulfilling" as say the Mission or Castro districts (have been to SF more times than I can count,…

That sounds great! I'd move back to Florida in a heartbeat if I could. I used to live on the beach for chrissakes. But it sounds like a tremendous risk. You're betting that you're always going to get to stay with that company that allows remote work, or that you'll be able to find another one.

I've done a tech job search while living in Florida--not pretty. It goes like this: Company's hiring manager: "Move to the Bay Area or GTFO." I eventually had to do it so here I am.

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#298

Post by eyko »

danmaz74 wrote: post #104
ivanvanderbyl wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's worth pointing out that the "big four" tech companies aren't the only tech companies worth working at. You could very well have a higher upside working at a small, remotely friendly company, from Chiang Mai or Bali where the cost of living is 1/15th of SF, and still have a relative mass of expats doing similar things. Speaking from experience, I'm much more relaxed working from Bali, and I get paid only 20% less…

> and I get paid only 20% less than I did in SF Out of curiosity, did you start your current job while in SF and then moved? Or did you find the job while you were already overseas? If the latter, was the hiring process remote too?

In my case (and a couple of friends) the remote salary was slightly less than your typical SF salary but I had no "fixed location". Right now I'm in London working for a different company but the job is also remote. The point of working remotely should never be "find very cheap talent" but rather "find talent globally and remove geographical bottlenecks". Or something like that.

When negotiating a salary, don't let your current location define your salary because in a couple of months you could be in London, SF, NYC or Tokyo.

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#299

Post by Anderkent »

rmc wrote: post #253
Anderkent wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is such a weird American phenomenon, the whole roommate thing I think you're just sheltered; in every country in Europe that I lived in or had friends live in (Poland, UK, Portugal), students and young professionals flatshare. Or live with their parents, but it comes out to the same thing. If you're not already independently rich, you can't afford a single bedroom flat on your own. The simple fact is that a tw…

Yes, but when Americans (e.g. college students) talk about "roommates" they mean they share a bedroom ! Literal room mates

Nah, that's pretty exclusively a college dorm thing, where it has a pretty direct relation to the price of the dorm.

(my uni had both twin and single rooms, and the twin was maybe 60% of the price)

Re: Why do developers who could work anywhere flock to the most expensive cities?

#300

Post by ryandrake »

vostok wrote: post #32

I make good money. Why would you expect me to live in the middle of nowhere when I can live in the greatest cities of the world?

"I make good money. Why should I have to live in a cramped city when I can live in a 3000 sq.ft house on 10 acres of land and send my kid to an elementary school that doesn't need metal detectors and armed security guards?"
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