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Move to the Big City (2018)

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Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#61

Post by magduf »

codq wrote: post #60
tootie wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting. I never really wanted to live in NYC until I ended up here and now after 20 years I am absolutely never going for leave. I'm raising my kids here. Especially since it means I never have to drive.

I moved NYC recently from the Bay Area after my wife received a job offer she, and we, couldn’t refuse. Living in the city is great, but I’ve had a hard time making connections, and have had more trouble finding work than I ever expected. What are the secrets to building connections out here?

>Living in the city is great, but I’ve had a hard time making connections, and have had more trouble finding work than I ever expected.

I used to live outside NYC, and finding work there is indeed difficult, depending on your specialty. If you already work in "fintech", you're set: there's tons of jobs there doing that. If you don't have any experience in finance, then it's not so easy, and there really isn't much programming work there outside of finance and full-stack web stuff.

I live in the DC area now, and have also had a terrible time making connections. I'm planning to leave within a year because of this. I'm not going to NYC though; the job situation there is terrible for my specialty, as I learned before.

>What are the secrets to building connections out here?

I'm not sure about NYC, but here in DC I think it has to do with going to a lot of rooftop bars and drinking a lot of alcohol. If you're not into that scene, you won't do well here. I suspect NYC is similar.

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#62

Post by carrozo »

sjroot wrote: post #7
jborichevskiy wrote: post #6

This stood out: > So why do I hate to admit this? > Because I love how the internet has made it possible for anyone to get successful, anywhere. I love the idea of living in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature, yet being connected to the world. > But still, when I look at the facts, it’s impossible to deny. Living in the big city, and being where everything is happening, will help your career the most. Being…

Are you me? Also in NYC and also dream of a quiet place in Montana. My team has actually had discussions about Montana specifically. What is it about Montana?

Anyone else thinking of Sam Neil’s last words in the Hunt for Red October?

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#63

Post by magduf »

danenania wrote: post #45
coldtea wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I work 90% remote at the moment, and the only thing stopping me from moving to a smaller town is the fear of not having a community or friends nearby. OTOH, you can have more community and more friends nearby in a smaller town -- and actually get to see them and do things with them. But you need to take the time to make friends with those people. Still I know several people who moved to a small town, small island e…

Right, I think you just need to be more willing to make friends with people who don't necessarily share many of your interests. The great thing about a big city, at least in theory, is that whatever sort of weirdo you are, you can probably find a group of people that sees it as a positive rather than a negative. On the flip side, many people in cities are very busy and don't have much room for new relationships, so i…

In small-town America, you need to be part of their church to fit in. If you're not religious, you won't fit in at all.

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#64

Post by ipnon »

aserafini wrote: post #48

My take on this is that the network effects of living in a big city vs. small town actually increased post-internet. Ie. the value proposition of the physical city network is even greater with internet. One obvious example is on demand food delivery. In a small town you still just get one or two places delivering food, the internet cannot solve that. But in a city you’re immediately connected to every provider in you…

A model of the net increase in network size pre- and post-internet would be interesting but I don't know of any.

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#65

Post by thimkerbell »

magduf wrote: post #61
codq wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved NYC recently from the Bay Area after my wife received a job offer she, and we, couldn’t refuse. Living in the city is great, but I’ve had a hard time making connections, and have had more trouble finding work than I ever expected. What are the secrets to building connections out here?

>Living in the city is great, but I’ve had a hard time making connections, and have had more trouble finding work than I ever expected. I used to live outside NYC, and finding work there is indeed difficult, depending on your specialty. If you already work in "fintech", you're set: there's tons of jobs there doing that. If you don't have any experience in finance, then it's not so easy, and there really isn't much pr…

What's the thing or event that you'd like to go to and meet 'connect-able' people at, if it existed?

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#66

Post by camgunz »

codq wrote: post #60
tootie wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting. I never really wanted to live in NYC until I ended up here and now after 20 years I am absolutely never going for leave. I'm raising my kids here. Especially since it means I never have to drive.

I moved NYC recently from the Bay Area after my wife received a job offer she, and we, couldn’t refuse. Living in the city is great, but I’ve had a hard time making connections, and have had more trouble finding work than I ever expected. What are the secrets to building connections out here?

Socializing in NYC is much more intentional than most other places. Basically you go do stuff you're interested in and socialize that way. The casual "oh you're also into that" or meet cutes almost never happen.

My advice is to look for meetups, look in your neighborhood for ways to volunteer, get on Reddit and Facebook, and don't be shy about asking people to hang out.

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#67

Post by slimed »

remarkEon wrote: post #43
slimed wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm willing to bet you wouldn't refer to other groups as "flooding" NYC. Why do New Yorkers find it acceptable to say such things about Midwesterners?

The Midwest is pretty culturally distant from NYC, or at least it can be. There’s a long list of things that are different, and a shorter one of things that are similar. Source: Am Midwestern, lived in NYC once upon a time

More so than Aleppo or Mogadishu? I think not. Sounds like a cop out to me.

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#68

Post by slimed »

thrower123 wrote: post #46
slimed wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm willing to bet you wouldn't refer to other groups as "flooding" NYC. Why do New Yorkers find it acceptable to say such things about Midwesterners?

Because you can make fun of mostly-white yokels without the PC police coming for your scalp the way they would if you were to criticize the influx of any other demographic.

Au contraire, you'll be celebrated for it!

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#69

Post by cryptica »

rmah wrote: post #55
cryptica wrote: post #35

I think in terms of learning it's true up to a point. I don't think it makes sense to move to a big city for financial reasons though. You'd think it creates a competitive environment where the best talent rises to the top but this is not the case. What I've found instead is that the environment is competitive to the point that everyone is focused on politics and social manipulation; for example trying to claim credi…

Sorry, but nepotism, politics and connections are even more important in the cryptocurrency/blockchain industry than in traditional tech or even finance. In crypto/blockchain it's ALL about who you know. And the lack of good regulation means that good contacts can get your firm advantages that would literally be illegal in the traditional finance world. I guess the only real distinction is that the industry is spread…

>> it's ALL about who you know

If you want a hyped up ICO, yes it has been like this and that's why there are so many crappy projects with a high market cap right now but this is changing.

Ultimately, cryptocurrencies which are backed by real value are the ones which are going to stick around. Right now the ecosystem is mostly still founded on hype but all that hyped up money needs somewhere to go so there are a lot of opportunities even if you have very limited connections.

Re: Move to the Big City (2018)

#70

Post by cvhashim04 »

mgarfias wrote: post #15
jborichevskiy wrote: post #6

This stood out: > So why do I hate to admit this? > Because I love how the internet has made it possible for anyone to get successful, anywhere. I love the idea of living in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by nature, yet being connected to the world. > But still, when I look at the facts, it’s impossible to deny. Living in the big city, and being where everything is happening, will help your career the most. Being…

I’m in western rural oregon, live on acreage in the woods. Also have 1gbps symmetric unmetered static ip’d internet. What has me wanting to move away is the insane politics in salem, caused by too many people in Portland outnumbering the rest of the state.

Eastern Oregon seems full of rednecks and racists. Completely different from Portland. I was driving through it this weekend on my way to Idaho.
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