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Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

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Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#41

Post by far33d »

KB wrote: post #26
dfranke wrote: post #3

Somerville, MA fits the bill pretty well, for sufficiently small values of "decent climate".

I lived in Cambridge, MA (Harvard Square in particular) for two years and would say that Somerville, Arlington, and Cambridge are all good places to check out. Boston and the surrounding area has become one of the leading centers for BioTech research, so that would be a big plus for your wife. I currently live in Providence, RI which is about an hour south of Boston. Smaller hacker community, but at least there is on…

Seconding Providence, RI. Though I live in the bay area now, I loved Providence. Lots of smart people for such a small town, and if you really wanted to, you could commute to the biotechs and tech companies on the 128, but as KB says, there's just enough going on in PVD too.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#42

Post by bilbo0s »

jotto wrote: post #9

milwaukee, wisconsin, GE medical

Only having read his description, I would say Milwaukee is definitely NOT for him. Madison would be more his speed.

It is full of startups and a big university. Bio tech, medical and video gaming are the big things in Madison startup-wise. Milwaukee is good for financial, corporate and real estate type things.

Fun fact: Over the last decade, GE Medical has outsourced a LOT of tech people. Many were made offers in Madison. GE Medical, and the Milwaukee area in general, typically buy these people back essentially at a significant markup when they acquire the startups. Think Lunar.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#44

Post by wallflower »

bilbo0s wrote: post #42
jotto wrote: post #9

milwaukee, wisconsin, GE medical

Only having read his description, I would say Milwaukee is definitely NOT for him. Madison would be more his speed. It is full of startups and a big university. Bio tech, medical and video gaming are the big things in Madison startup-wise. Milwaukee is good for financial, corporate and real estate type things. Fun fact: Over the last decade, GE Medical has outsourced a LOT of tech people. Many were made offers in Mad…

My high school friend went there and always talked about how many bars per square mile there were in Madison. A ridiculous number. Not that that matters but...

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#46

Post by olefoo »

davidw wrote: post #11
hisham wrote: post #8

Seattle is pretty good too.

I'm from Eugene, and don't think I could handle the weather there again, let alone further north, although if other people reading this are curious, I'd have to put a word in for Portland, if the climate isn't a problem for you.

And you aren't even thinking about Corvallis?

I mean Eugene and Corvallis both have most of the features you listed, plus you're an hour away from the coast and from the mountains...

For those looking to plug in to the Willamette Valley Tech social networks http://barcamp.org/BeaverBarCamp is coming up on March 1st in Corvallis.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#47

Post by wallflower »

olefoo wrote: post #46
davidw wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm from Eugene, and don't think I could handle the weather there again, let alone further north, although if other people reading this are curious, I'd have to put a word in for Portland, if the climate isn't a problem for you.

And you aren't even thinking about Corvallis? I mean Eugene and Corvallis both have most of the features you listed, plus you're an hour away from the coast and from the mountains... For those looking to plug in to the Willamette Valley Tech social networks http://barcamp.org/BeaverBarCamp is coming up on March 1st in Corvallis.

I've been armchair-surfing the Portland tech scene. This blog about the PDX tech scene is interesting..

http://siliconflorist.com/

"Calagator, the community project designed to give Portland one tech calendar to rule them all, has quickly begun to show signs of progress. In fact, events have begun populating the calendar already." http://calagator.org/

I didn't know Oregon (Corvallis) had such a vibrant technology culture/market.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#48

Post by wallflower »

falsestprophet wrote: post #33
green wrote: post #25

Chicago, IL - or Evanston, Skokie which are around. Great place. No need to have car, unless you want to have it :-)

This is strange. The only place in America I would leave Chicago for is San Fransisco.

Chicago has the best waterfront in my option and the best summers. The restaurant and art scene are top-notch. The winters though...

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#49

Post by fortes »

Coimbra in Portugal would be the nearest Portuguese city that fits the bill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coimbra

However, the economy in Portugal is so-so ... it's gotten better, but at times seems like a 3rd world country in Western Europe. Surprisingly high prices given the low salaries there.

Re: Ask YC: Mid-sized, livable, hacker-friendly towns?

#50

Post by timr »

semigeek wrote: post #14

Boulder's great - good community of hackers. Startups work together to throw fun events (private hack-a-thons, discussions around new technologies, etc). They've got some great New Tech Meetups, The Boulder Open Coffee Club, etc. Good group of VCs in the area as well.

I love Boulder, but it's not a good place for his wife's career neerds. Other than UC Boulder, there's not much biotech in the area.
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