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Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

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Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#81

Post by pavel_lishin »

jerf wrote: post #46
pavel_lishin wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I sometimes wonder, do people think that the rule is that you have to post an Ask HN, then you're not allowed to interact? Go ahead, interact! It's only been an hour; OP could just be taking a lunch break.

Indeed. It just seems to be the pattern, both here and on Reddit... I'm actually surprised when the poster engages, because it's that rare.

It's also possible that there wasn't much to respond to. People are just listing recommendations; I think yours was the only comment I'd read so far that really warranted a follow-up.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#82

Post by kat »

kevan_ wrote: post #74

Hijacking this a bit: for you folks who've relocated, how did you handle getting connected to the tech community in your new city, and eventually finding a job there? Did you find something beforehand (if so, how), or just start interviewing once you're on the ground and established? I've contemplated this before, and make a point to check out jobs in other cities when I'm job hunting, but it's hard to ignore the loc…

I found a job before I moved. I simply searched for jobs in Bend and was lucky enough to find an advertised job on indeed.com that matched my skills. The benefit of finding a job beforehand is you may receive a relocation package to help with the move. I think your current living situation is only a hindrance if you're unable to travel for an interview.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#83

Post by Apocryphon »

atomic77 wrote: post #40

In Canada, Montreal is a great city with reasonable living costs and a decent tech scene (esp game development). Climate will probably scare away anyone not originally from the east coast or midwest though. Toronto and Vancouver, despite having some pluses, unfortunately can't be recommended to anyone that cares about cost of housing.

It's interesting you brought up Montreal, since I've been hearing a little amount of buzz about it, at least from this link: https://www.busbud.com/blog/benefits-of-being-a-montreal-sta...

Vancouver is more expensive, and Toronto has more traffic, from what I've heard, but the low salaries in MTL sound like a downer.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#84

Post by tclmeelmo »

HelloMcFly wrote: post #67
sf_rob wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a fellow former Atlantan, I'm going to disagree. Atlanta has a lot of cool stuff going on, but I find the food, drink, scenery, and to a lesser extent the people better in Seattle/Portland/SF. Now Atlanta is a good city and the pay/cost of living is very good. There's a pretty solid tech scene, but not a great startup environment IMO.

It's definitely not a startup environment, and I should have clarified that given the crowd. The west coast has more variety of beer, and that will be a big loss. However, for my taste buds I'll take many of the restaurants in Atlanta over SF or Seattle most days (though I'll miss the Sushi and Korean food greatly). Maybe that means I'm not a super healthy person. And I definitely disagree on the people. We found peo…

> (though I'll miss the Sushi and Korean food greatly)

Are you not taking advantage of the Buford corridor?

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#85

Post by HelloMcFly »

tclmeelmo wrote: post #84
HelloMcFly wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's definitely not a startup environment, and I should have clarified that given the crowd. The west coast has more variety of beer, and that will be a big loss. However, for my taste buds I'll take many of the restaurants in Atlanta over SF or Seattle most days (though I'll miss the Sushi and Korean food greatly). Maybe that means I'm not a super healthy person. And I definitely disagree on the people. We found peo…

> (though I'll miss the Sushi and Korean food greatly) Are you not taking advantage of the Buford corridor?

Oh I absolutely am. But the sushi isn't the same. I don't remember as much of the Korean food I ate in Atlanta, but I didn't really get into Korean until I got out here. I do find the Indian food in the Atlanta area superior.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#86

Post by atomic77 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #83
atomic77 wrote: post #40

In Canada, Montreal is a great city with reasonable living costs and a decent tech scene (esp game development). Climate will probably scare away anyone not originally from the east coast or midwest though. Toronto and Vancouver, despite having some pluses, unfortunately can't be recommended to anyone that cares about cost of housing.

It's interesting you brought up Montreal, since I've been hearing a little amount of buzz about it, at least from this link: https://www.busbud.com/blog/benefits-of-being-a-montreal-sta... Vancouver is more expensive, and Toronto has more traffic, from what I've heard, but the low salaries in MTL sound like a downer.

No question the salaries are lower, but two things balance that out.

Income distribution is somewhat more even in Canada, so maybe you don't make as much but the people in 'lower' positions make more, relatively. This is actually a feature, not a bug - the city is safe, there is still a middle class, public services work (relatively) well and you can walk around as a tech person without worrying about a person randomly punching you.

Second is that you will not have to worry about, and save for, large costs like health care and schooling. People in the US seem to go way outside of their budget just in order to get into a district with good public schools, or, pay an obscene amount for private schooling. That kind of adds up over 18 years. Private schools in Canada exist, but by no means are you disadvantaged in life if you grow up in an average middle class area and go to a public school.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#87

Post by [deleted] »

raverbashing wrote: post #65
atomic77 wrote: post #40

In Canada, Montreal is a great city with reasonable living costs and a decent tech scene (esp game development). Climate will probably scare away anyone not originally from the east coast or midwest though. Toronto and Vancouver, despite having some pluses, unfortunately can't be recommended to anyone that cares about cost of housing.

I, unfortunately, will have to downplay this suggestion If you don't know French some opportunities are not at your reach There aren't a lot of positions, depending on the area, also the market seem to put outsiders in 2nd place (basically anyone that's not from Quebec)

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#88

Post by davidw »

kat wrote: post #79
ArtDev wrote: post #11

Bend, Oregon. Direct flights to and from West Coast hubs. Active startup scene. https://youtube.com/watch?v=KxhA2jopebQ Bend has already been "discovered". However, there is still affordable housing and you can't beat the weather, beer scene and the outdoors here. If you want to check it out, you can stay in my awesome big house when we are traveling: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/7497695

I have to agree. The work/life balance here is amazing. There are start-ups and bigger enterprise-sized tech companies (Sony!) There is also a decent amount of tech jobs available right now.

We moved to Bend last July and are very happy so far!

Hopefully, Bend will get right some of the things that SV and SF get so very, very wrong in terms of NIMBYism that is causing people to move away.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#89

Post by atomic77 »

woud420 wrote: post #75
atomic77 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To address both comments - I didn't mean to suggest Montreal is the new promised land, just to add some discussion of non-US locations that may hold promise since the comments had been US-centric. Most tech people working in the US likely will be shocked at how little tech workers are paid in most of the rest of the world, including Canada. But not everything is about absolute salary. Montreal, imo, provides a well-b…

For a non US location, I agree. I mean don't get me wrong, Montreal is a nice city to live, the culture is great, the people are nice, a lot of great restaurants and what not. While I don't think healthcare is that great, if you don't have insurance, it is enticing to think about. However, from somebody coming out of SF, they do have to expect their in pocket income after expenses to drop significantly, on the range…

Fair enough. My only point is that salary is only one part of the equation when you compare a place like Montreal to the bay area - public services, being in a better overall state in terms of priority and financing mean that you don't need as much money to have a good quality of life.

Re: Ask HN: Moving Out of Silicon Valley because of housing? Where to?

#90

Post by cbanek »

bcheung wrote: post #60
cbanek wrote: post #9

I just moved out of California to Las Vegas because of the housing prices. Las Vegas cost of living is easily half that of LA/SF, and there's no income taxes. This can especially be a boon if you're leaving a company where you're exercising ISO options (you can exercise once you move to Nevada, and not pay CA AMT tax). I wouldn't say there's a lot of tech jobs, but there are some, and if you're working remote, it's a…

I was exploring that option at one point but couldn't find any tech work out there and didn't find any companies with 100% remote options that I liked. The weather seems less than idea as well (hot summers, cold winters). How are you liking it? Would you still recommend it?

I'm three months in, and bootstrapping my own startup on my own dime, so cost of living is the biggest thing, but I also don't need to look for somewhere to take me on.

I'd suggest some of the remote work sites, angel list, etc. The remote work concept is slowly catching on with more companies.

Re: weather, the winters are actually somewhat warm (although we had a real cold snap in December), but I haven't gone through a summer yet. In general, you move from one air conditioned building to another until the sun goes down. I'm curious how my first summer will go!

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