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Ask HN: How's the Miami Scene?
31 points by rsb1 on Jan 5, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 31 comments
My wife are seriously considering moving down to Miami from Boston. How's the overall scene? I mean startups, culture, people, etc.

Would love some insights from people who made a similar move.

How are the summers, really? Cost of life? Is Brickell a good place to start?




I'm a recent arrival in Fort Lauderdale, from San Jose (though I spent several years in Boston as well). The vibe is uniquely its own down here. The biggest difference is that tech feels like a minority in South Florida. That is, unlike the experience of Boston or SF, you'll be an oddity, and a curiosity. Wow, app developer? Really?

People are friendly, the drinks are strong, and the pretty relaxing, cheap beachfront lifestyle is a warm welcome. It's not a place I'd view as a career destination.

If you're looking for a lifestyle change _outside of the office_, and your idea of a good time is working less and chilling on the beach, well, it's a fantastic option.

On the other hand if you're considering Miami for a tech career alone - well, it's a second fiddle town. The seriousness and quality of the local startups reflect that. There are a lot more crypto bros masquerading as a viable business than anything else.

Personally, I'm working remotely for a Bay Area company while living on the beach here. A pleasant mix of the two.

Edit: As for your specific questions... Summers are low nineties with a humidity index in the nineties as well. You'll not want to go out for a good six weeks, save in the water. But the rest of the year is beautiful.

Cost of living in Miami proper is similar to Boston, but 20 minutes outside and it's half price. I picked Fort Lauderdale over Miami primarily due to a more relaxed and upscale vibe. We're 20 minutes away. Highly recommend checking both FTL and Miami out, as the two have different scenes and crowds.

Brickell is.. well, vertical, modern, expensive, vibrant and dirty. Would you want to live directly on State street? Same idea.

If you're looking for something a bit less sterile - might look at Edgewater in MIA or Flagler Village in FTL.


Florida is weird. For the third largest state by population, I expected a much better market. For career stuff RTP seems better or even Atlanta.


How did Boston and San Jose compare in your experience? Any notable differences, VC money and Biotech aside?


I guess I’d describe SJ as a kind of monoculture. Everyone I knew was a fellow tech person, and escaping the programmer scene was impossible. When I lived in Revere Beach, my neighbours were chemists, doctors, geologists, professors… a brainy but varied bunch.

I earned more money in SJ but had a better work life balance in Boston. Companies in the former were more expecting of the grind, raising and deploying capital as early and often as possible; in the latter, more self-pacing of the growth curve and interested in sustainable, organic numbers.

Not sure if I answered your Q, but feel free to ask just about anything and I’ll follow up mañana.


In which decade were your stays in SJ and Boston?

If you had to make the choice all over again would you choose to live in Boston, or even pick another city entirely?


What's the housing and rent situation like where you are? Do you need a car or is it generally a walkable place?


No OP, but I will offer this: Some may say downtown areas are walkable, but you are severely limiting your access to resources. Public transportation in South Florida is poor. One train line runs north/south between Miami to West Palm Beach and it is not the most reliable. Miami has an above ground metro train which gets you to most areas there and is actually pretty decent. There are many buses but I have not invested the time to understand them. For the most part anywhere else in South Florida, you better have Lyft or Uber at the ready.

Sure, you could find a place where you can walk, but it's not really that common unless you're in a densely populated area. I biked exclusively during college and did relatively alright for a few years but I upgraded to a car as soon as I could afford to.


Is the metro what's referred to as the "people mover" and runs on the elevated tracks?


Yes: https://www.miamidade.gov/global/transportation/metrorail.pa...


Both Miami and Fort Lauderdale themselves are fairly walkable downtown. But the metro area is LA style car-first. I shipped my car from CA, but I only drive it when I want to leave Fort Lauderdale, basically.

Paying $2300/mo for a 1600 sqft 2 bed 3 bath apartment about a quarter mile from downtown and a half mile from the main beach with all the expensive resort hotels.


I lived here 3 years without a car. South Beach is a great walkable beach town. For anything further I used: Zipcar (<day), Hertz/Avis/Ent (>day), Lyft/Uber (<1 hour). I only bought a car during the early stages of the pandemic, rideshare and rentals basically shutdown and leased cars were being firesaled.


Interesting. That's pretty good chunk of time to be car free. Are the rents expensive in South Beach? My mental image of it is a wealthy place.


South of Fifth (SoFi) and north of 17th are where the pricier condos exist. The Flamingo Park neighborhood are older (1920s) bungalows and apartments. This is the neighborhood where most of the families, retires, and service workers live. So while I had a few friends that lived in $5000/mo Portofino, I making substantially less, lived in a cute walk up with a great parking a block away and my choice of ventanas nearby.


If you’re a Spanish speaking immigrant it’s a good place to get your foot in the door. My parents moved there when I was a kid and it’s where I went to middle and high school. I left for college and haven’t returned as there aren’t opportunities that make sense for me (tech).

If you’re an investor looking to tap into underrated talent it could make sense. But if you’re a software developer?

What type of work do you do? How old are you and how far along are you in your career? Are you allocating capital or investing? Are you an IC?

Perhaps if you’re targeting work in tourism and hospitality, when I’ve explored the options as a software professional it hasn’t looked good.

Perhaps things have changed, but after I finished college I considered starting my tech career there 10 years ago and found that the region has never diversified its economy beyond tourism.

A Latin American friend of mine, recent Comp Sci PhD from top US school, just spent a few months trying to find good work based in Miami. He did a few remote jobs with Silicon Valley companies and ultimately moved to Seattle for a job there. This is someone with family in Miami and every desire to live there.

It can be helpful to think about what your n+1 move might look like. You don’t want to be trapped in a place with few or limited opportunities. It’s a place that offers opportunities for people who are new to the US… and for investors or retirees looking for lower taxes… maybe that’s you maybe it’s not.

If you’re closer to retirement and can land a job paying SV salary in Florida, it could be a great quality of life.

And let’s not mention the political climate there.


Ahahahahaha oh man. Oof. Oh. Jeeze.

I was born in Davie, somewhere outside Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Everything in Florida is a scam that does not discriminate. A scam on the users. A grift on the employees. A land inflated by speculation. You won't get paid enough to live there and everything will price you out of paying for it anyway.


As someone who spent most of my life in south Florida / in and around Miami. The culture of the city is undeniably defined by Hispanic and Latino influence. The summers (and spring, and fall tbh), are hot and humid - it's a tropical climate. The sports, music/entertainment industries are far more prevalent than tech (although Mayor Suarez seems to be attracting a new crowd and I haven't been back in over a year). Brickell attracts a young crowd with a good amount of nightlife.


This may go without saying, but it is VERY HOT in the summer. I grew up in Florida and I know how hot it gets from experience… and even I am shocked every time when I go back and feel like my face is melting off my body. Miami is hot and humid the way Vladivostok is cold.


>>> moving down to Miami from Boston

About as large a culture shock as one can get in Modern America today ;)

Not to hijack, but have heard tech incubation in Gainesville, FL is getting some buzz and is attractive to startups frugality-wise. Anyone down there?


>Gainesville, FL

never a more laughable thing has there been uttered. UF has an "incubator" that consists of wet labs repurposed for house software startups (we were literally in a room with test tube holders and sinks and no proper desks). there are some random coworking spaces (like the one that doubles as a dorm lolol) but mostly everyone is a complete wantrepreneur. tech talent coming out of UF is also solidly mediocre (anyone good goes to SF or NYC). finally unless you love football and/or nature walks (not hikes) the town is dreadfully boring.


LOL, thanks for the view tubby!

My thinking was: it's close to Cape Canaveral, so I can film launches ;)


Thanks for all the great comments! Much appreciated!

My wife and I are not in the tech scene. I am a marketplace founder and she's a Big Law attorney (real estate). We're in our 30's. I'm less concerned with the tech scene and more with the overall startup/entrepreneur community.

Finding a job is not a huge concern for either of us. She'll be fine anywhere she goes and I'm sure I can find something remote if my startup doesn't succeed.

I think our main concern is around culture and community. We like to party and be in the "scene" but also plan on having kids soon(ish). Our current circle of friends in Boston is small but they're all very educated and great to spend time with. They're all in finance, law, or entrepreneurs. One of our worries is that it'll be harder to find those educated but fun people down in Miami area. Maybe this is totally wrong. This may sound crazy but the concern is that the people down there are either South American millionaires, bottle girls, OnlyFans, etc...haha. I know it's a huge stereotype of FL.

Again, really appreciate all the thoughtful comments here.


Local here. Brickell is a great place to start. There are lots of open air shopping and restaurants within walking distance. The mayors, both city and county, have really endorsed new urbanism and Project Zero ideas. I moved back to Miami about 5 years ago. 10 years before that you were taking your life in your hands by walking out the door. But they are building out dedicated bike lanes, public transit, and actual sidewalks.

If highrises aren't your deal across the bay is Miami Beach. The apartments and bungalows are smaller and low slung, the city is infinitely walkable, and you are a few blocks from one of the best beaches in the world. It's still relatively affordable, but not for long.

The actual tech scene is miniscule and feels like I'm at a dentist convention happening weekly. A lot of our co-work, makerspace, and VCs host mixers and happy hours. This is more for new arrivals than anything. Old tech prefers to live out west and north. There is still a lot of radio and aviation tech that happens away from the startup scene. They don't attend the meetups.

Job wise it's not the best. If you come here with remote work contract you are golden. There is a lot of LatAm and Caribbean tech companies who tend to be penny-wise and pound foolish. Salaries are lower because why pay NYC/SV rates when you can get a fresh CompEng immigrant for cheap and who'll culturally be a better fit.

What we do have is a lot of regional sales and finance offices in the downtown core. This masks the fact that they are just the go between and don't have a lot of decision making/innovating going on. For example, Miami technically has the largest number of banks in the US outside of NYC. Microsoft, Google, Dell have a regional office here but no actual engineering goes on there.

At one point career wise I got trapped here and vowed never to return. But wanted to have my family be closer. I had a remote job with a European tech company until that didn't work and now I'm working for another tech company in a different field. A lot of companies are supposedly looking for senior engineers in a city where there barely any mid-level engineers. So the benefits to local talent seem to be wasted and creating some resentment.

The entire tech scene is just a pocket. It entirely fits in a few square miles; almost all of it east of I-95. Living here is going to be a culture shock for a lot of new arrivals. You'll wake up one morning and see Santeristas sacrificing a chicken and that sort of thing.


There are definitely some tech folks and companies that have moved from the west coast to Miami. I feel like in the beginning of the pandemic lots of VCs made noise about moving to Miami, and I know some crypto companies have opened up offices and HQs there. I still live in California but have family in the Miami metro and from here it seems like the overall tech scene there is fledgling at best. It hasn't hit critical mass yet. It's definitely better than 2 years ago, but still not anywhere near the Bay Area, Seattle, New York or even smaller hubs like Austin, Utah, Portland Boulder or Atlanta.


Born, raised, and lived here for four decades. I've lived and worked all over south Florida. Miami, Hollywood, Ft Lauderdale, Pompano, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, Jupiter. It's very hot and it's getting hotter by the year. Mosquitos are a thing. Beaches and tropical life is stunning. Cost of living is comparably cheap here. No state tax, good access to most any resource you could need or what, pretty good selection of food (most of which is okay to good, and the seafood is great), and tons of latin and Caribbean culture. There's quite a variety of nightlife, music, and culture which lean definitely toward latin influences in all parts. (Though latin influence diminishes pretty quickly as you head further north.) Art is pretty big in South Florida... we get Art Basel in Miami, a sizable Maker Faire which showcase a good cross-section of indie art/tech here.

Real estate is blowing up here (home equity basically doubled in the last 7 years)... may not be a good time to buy, but rent is just as expensive. People are mostly good-natured. Not much crazy unless you go into the seedier areas. There are some which will put up a "don't mess with me" front, but even most of these are quite nice despite. Population leans more toward the superficial side of the value spectrum. Politically, more democratic leaning which quickly becomes republican as you go north from West Palm Beach. South Florida, being the retirement capital of the US, you'll find quite a lot of elderly as well as frequent snow birds who have the money to visit from up north during the winter months.

The tech scene in South Florida: Tech is very undervalued. I believe Miami is really trying... but salaries are typically offered at around 70% of the national average (casual observation during job seeking and I consider myself in the top 10% of the industry, ymmv). I have been working remote from here for over a decade as you quickly end up hitting a ceiling limited/influenced by the local culture. The prevalent big tech is Citrix and Microsoft...lots of Java, PHP and .NET content/events. This also means that newer technology doesn't gain momentum here nearly as fast. There's a growing cryptocurrency scene in Miami w the Mayor spearheading interesting projects. Startup scene is here but you'll have to spend some time looking for it (especially if you're outside of metro areas).

I'm personally underwhelmed by the tech scene and wished it were more curious, innovative, and cutting edge but the money here is not technology savvy and isn't willing to take these kinds of risks so it's difficult to affect this sort of change (despite personal efforts). I admit, I've lost touch on this a lot over the past 5 years, so this might have changed. When I stepped away from the community, there was lots of grassroots effort to help educate the money and get it moving through the tech community. Money does circulate if you know the right communities/people.

Education is very meh. Only private schools will get you any edge down here. Public schools in some small pockets do well, but most don't. Any high achievers are dissuaded from staying since there's not many strong higher education programs as far as technology is concerned. And if any _did_ decide to stay here to take advantage of state scholarships (Bright Futures is pretty good, FWIW) there is hardly much opportunities for interesting work unless you want to work in enterprise tech..... which is not for everyone (and very likely not the HN crowd).

It's not a terrible place to live, but as another commenter already mentioned, you're not going to be making huge career moves by working within the local community. I'm sure I'm glossing over much, but I've asked some folks from Miami proper to weigh in. Let me know if I can fill in any gaps I might have left.


This should be the top comment. I grew up in FL as well and went to school in Miami. Tech is not in any way interesting or special there. Don't move there for tech. Move there because you want to live in Florida.


We like summers in Miami. It rains just about every day and you get a breeze off the ocean. Much better than elsewhere on the east coast. Miami is amazing.

Dont worry about pre-existing geographical concentration of "startups" - this will become less important over time.

Brickell is awesome.


Just don't buy anything under 10m above sea level ;)


Georgia is close and cheap enough to vacation in Florida.


Not _south_ Florida though, which is the only place worth vacationing to if you care about beach life. Honestly, though, if you care about beach life, living in Georgia doesn't make sense anyway. If you don't care about beach life, you might as well just live anywhere and fly to Florida for your two weeks a year or whatever.


Don't sleep on Jacksonville. ;) Atlantic Beach and the area around (especially during July 4th) is pretty sweet.


Times like July 4th are the worst to be at the beach. Super crowded, usually very very hot, rentals cost a fortune, etc.

Imo "beach life" is about how things are when it's not a holiday.




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