31–40 of 56 posts
Grew up in KC (Shawnee, specifically). If you are from a large coastal city and want to get acquainted with life in the Midwest, KC is a good start. Certainly less of a shock than, say, Omaha or Wichita.
And the Nelson-Atkins Museum is better than anything in the Bay Area, in my opinion.
1. Climate. There is no mild weather in KC. Summers are excruciatingly hot. Winters can sometimes be very cold and snowy. Tornadoes can get pretty scary at times, but 90% of the time there is nothing to worry about. I've seen a couple of touchdowns in 15 years. Most of the time i just hear about them.
2. Cost of Living. Rent is fairly cheap. If you're single and want to be in the middle of all the action a single bedroom place on the Plaza will probably run you around $800. Power & Light district will likely be around the same price. Westport area is going to be cheaper around $600. If you don't mind the drive, you can probably find a decent place in North Kansas City for around $500-$600. Want to buy a house? ~$250K in the burbs for a nice 4 bedroom house 20 minutes away from the center. 2-3 bedroom homes are around $160K-$200K.
3. Traffic. KC is backed up all over the place between 8-9am and 5-6pm. When the rush-hour is over, it is a pleasure to drive here.
4. Nightlife. You have the new Power & Light district with tons of bars and clubs open 24/7. You have the old Westport area with it's own vibe. If you're from the Bay Area, you'll likely fit right in here. It's a very hip place. Plaza, Zona Rosa and The Legends are great place to shop and get a bite to eat around day time and up until midnight. KC occupies pretty massive territory, but it actually isn't a big city and it can get old pretty quick. So keep that mind, especially if you're single or a young couple. You'll be running into the same people over and over again before you know it. :)
5. Recreation. KC has beautiful lakes, nature and wildlife. 30 minutes away from the center and you're pretty much on camping grounds. Getting around on foot is pretty tough and even impossible in some places. You really need to have a car here. Sidewalks are non-existent in many neighborhoods. There is always something going on in the city. Lots of concerts and outside events in the summer. Not so much in the winter.
6. Tech Scene & Job market. KC doesn't really have a good techy/entrepreneurial scene. It has strong corporate IT sector, which is booming. Good developers are still very hard to come by. Most companies are more than willing to dish out 100K+ if you know what you're doing. The interesting thing about Kansas City businesses is that most of them aren't looking for rockstars or ninjas. They're looking for someone who can fit in with the rest of the team. This is not a bad thing, but more often than not you wind up working with really incompetent people who fit in but don't know squat. It's also very hard to find interesting work. The hottest thing is IT jobs supporting internal development in financial and medical sectors. There are some prominent tech companies in the area like Sprint, Garmin, Honeywell & Cerner, but most are just not very appealing in terms of life/work balance, innovation and quality of work.
7. Want to run a start-up from KC? Hmm... I don't know. Finding good developers is a pretty hard task here. Finding talented developers is inexplicably difficult. Most folks who know their craft are no longer in KC. You basically have to know people who know people. Tech conferences are usually full of talented folks. The great thing about KC is the lower cost of living. You can make a comfortable living on 60K/year, but as a developer you can easily make 100K here and have plenty of time & money to invest in your own start-up while working full-time elsewhere. So in that respect, it is a pretty good place to build a start-up.
I lived in the KC area (Overland Park) for a short while and loved it. The people are friendly, there is loads to do, and it's cheap to live there. The downsides for me were the lack of startup software jobs and the weather, tornados specifically. Now I'm here in SF and paying double the rent for a place half the size of my place in KC, seeing something like this is very intriguing. Especially since I'm trying to boo…
Also forces salaries lower, competitors can't hire you away. If you are skilled, you're better off in a state like California. Paid more money, and you aren't handcuffed to your job. Look what facebook did to Google's talent pool or Zynga did to EA's.
I lived in the KC area (Overland Park) for a short while and loved it. The people are friendly, there is loads to do, and it's cheap to live there. The downsides for me were the lack of startup software jobs and the weather, tornados specifically. Now I'm here in SF and paying double the rent for a place half the size of my place in KC, seeing something like this is very intriguing. Especially since I'm trying to boo…
Biggest downside for Kansas and Missouri is that both states enforce non compete clauses. Working at a company, and think you can can build a better product, tough luck you can't for the duration of specified in the clause. Also forces salaries lower, competitors can't hire you away. If you are skilled, you're better off in a state like California. Paid more money, and you aren't handcuffed to your job. Look what fac…
I am not from the US, but where I come from noncompetes are enforced, but are very expensive (by law) for the companies so they are not used that often.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, in the largest cities of Brazil you can get 100mb internet for US$150, rent a good house for US$1000 (or an apartment for $500), and hire great talent for ~$2-3k/month; they all have active startup and developer scenes. As a bonus you get access to a booming mobile market :)
Serious question: what would it take for a US citizen to move to Brazil and work there? I don't have any idea about the visa intricacies.
1. A $50k investment
2. A job or research position
3. Marry a brazilian :)
4. Be over 60 and with +$2000/month income
A foreign developer will probably find a job very easily, but be prepared to live on 50% less.
Kudos to the locals for trying to pull young entrepreneurs to KC. The town needs a jolt of options outside the typical corporate-IT-office-park-in-the-burbs.
One thing about KC is culture. The people are really nice, but the midwest is so substantively different from the coasts. In Seattle and the bay area, technology is king -- it's dominant from an industry perspective. Not the case in KC, and it's not going to be anytime soon. Whether you, as a possible startup entrepreneur, care about that is personal, but make no mistake -- the local culture is not around tech.
A second knock on KC -- the good local talent doesn't hang around. Historically, competence in technology has not been rewarded; thus, the good companies tend to see young up-and-comers depart for greener pastures.
Want to start your technology company in KC? I would say it's a bad bet. Cost of living is cheaper than many other places, but you get what you pay for; expect access to technical talent to be challenging.
I lived in the KC area (Overland Park) for a short while and loved it. The people are friendly, there is loads to do, and it's cheap to live there. The downsides for me were the lack of startup software jobs and the weather, tornados specifically. Now I'm here in SF and paying double the rent for a place half the size of my place in KC, seeing something like this is very intriguing. Especially since I'm trying to boo…
> The downsides for me were the lack of startup software jobs and the weather, tornados specifically. I lived in KS & MO for a total of 20 years. I'd say that worrying about tornadoes in KC is a bit like worrying about earthquakes in the Bay Area. Outsiders think, "Oh, my goodness!" but people who live there just do what little (very little) they need to, to deal with it, and mostly don't worry about it. Nonetheless,…
Weather events in KC don't just make the news; they take lives. Flooding, ice/snow, wind, lightning, tornados, heat waves, cold spells. You name it, KC deals with it.
It can seem like there's always something to deal with everywhere, but the midwest gets the crap knocked out of it from the weather. It is not mild in the least.
I lived in Kansas City most of my life. Here is my take on living in Kansas City and building a start-up here. 1. Climate. There is no mild weather in KC. Summers are excruciatingly hot. Winters can sometimes be very cold and snowy. Tornadoes can get pretty scary at times, but 90% of the time there is nothing to worry about. I've seen a couple of touchdowns in 15 years. Most of the time i just hear about them. 2. Cos…
"What you'll get: Free Room & board [...]" "What is expected of you: [...] You pay for your own food" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_and_board
What you'll get: and potentially Google Fiber!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Biggest downside for Kansas and Missouri is that both states enforce non compete clauses. Working at a company, and think you can can build a better product, tough luck you can't for the duration of specified in the clause. Also forces salaries lower, competitors can't hire you away. If you are skilled, you're better off in a state like California. Paid more money, and you aren't handcuffed to your job. Look what fac…
You dont get any compensation for noncompetes? I am not from the US, but where I come from noncompetes are enforced, but are very expensive (by law) for the companies so they are not used that often.