Moving to the Bay Area was the best thing I've ever done for myself financially. The network of companies, developers, and investors/advisers (in good times) is unparalleled and enough to make you a career if you can hack it, and give you the exposure to people to mentor you and teach you how to hack it.
Moving away from the Bay Area was the second best thing I've ever done for myself financially, because once you have the skills and network there's not much gains to be had by staying in that dystopian hellhole where the only positive quality of life is the weather.
“ that dystopian hellhole where the only positive quality of life is the weather.”
Eesh that’s laying in on thick. SF is clearly not your cup of tea but no need for this type of hyperbole. I happen to enjoy the Bay Area, and S.F. in particular. People have different things they are interested in.
You wouldn’t want me to hyperbolically rant on about how many other areas of the country are concrete mcdonaldified wastelands. Or whatever place you moved to, some people would rant about how bad it is.
I mean the point was to be hyperbolic, but "concrete mcdonaldified" is just a notch below the SFBA. There's a kind of northern Californian exceptionalism that reeks of people who have never traveled to the other 49 states. Or even within California.
I've lived in a number of different places in the country and the Bay Area is hands down the worst, and it always baffled me how many people that lived there thought it was the peak of American living. I'm sorry that most places you don't need to worry about stepping over needles and human excrement in the streets. But there are some pretty mountains that catch on fire only every couple of years, so I guess it's alright?
“ There's a kind of northern Californian exceptionalism that reeks of people who have never traveled to the other 49 states. Or even within California”
This statement seems snidely directed and presumptuously inaccurate. And almost intentionally so as the viewership is biased towards tech salaries I.e. plenty of ability to travel.
I’d say it’s strange that it needs mentioning that there are places that exist outside the financial district/soma in SF and the bay, but it’s not actually strange if the only thing one thinks about said areas and neighborhoods outside the financial district is that they are the undesirable wildfire zone.
grass is always greener on the other side, and its Going to be a rude awakening if fire in distant hills is one’s notion of bad weather events.
Also fire isn’t just a CA thing anymore. A neighborhood in CO was wiped out, NY was blanketed in smoke. Hurricanes are making the Florida home instance market collapses. That’s just scratching the surface.
While this also feels hyperbolic, I noticed this attitude while living in Northern California myself. But I saw that exceptionalism state-wide, and most especially with young people. The first time I saw a notable break from that attitude was during 2020 pandemic when moving to Austin, TX became de jour (even though many returned).
The irony that people would leave a large, wealthy state full of exceptionalist attitudes for a similarly large, wealthy, exceptionalist state was not lost on me!
But I maintain close personal and business ties to CA and my networks there and won’t live long term more than a days drive away. Maybe I’m part of the problem.
> I'm sorry that most places you don't need to worry about stepping over needles and human excrement in the streets.
SF isn't the Bay Area. Traditionally SF wasn't considered part of Silicon Valley at all (these days depends who you talk to and when and where they got immersed here).
> I've lived in a number of different places in the country and the Bay Area is hands down the worst
I somewhat don't actually like the Bay Area TBH. Every few years I look into leaving. I go through all possible options and their pros and cons and, depressingly, every time I find that Silicon Valley is still the best place in the US.
It's not any one thing, but I have not found any place that is either ok or reasonably good about everything without having any terrible deal-breakers.
I'm a Bay Area native. Grew up in San Jose and took my first paid tech job in 1999. I left CA after 30 years and with the exception of Tahoe and a few people, I can't find anything to miss.
Care to share what you consider "deal-breakers" because I've found parity for less money, pretty much everywhere I looked.
> Care to share what you consider "deal-breakers" because I've found parity for less money, pretty much everywhere I looked.
Well that's going to be very personal preference so not sure if my criteria is useful to anyone else. But for me I must be within ~2hr drive of the ocean, which limits me to coastal areas. And I won't tolerate any below freezing weather nor days above 100F. And I need the area to have sufficient concentration of tech work that changing jobs (for both me & partner) without having to move houses is pretty easy.
Moving away from the Bay Area was the second best thing I've ever done for myself financially, because once you have the skills and network there's not much gains to be had by staying in that dystopian hellhole where the only positive quality of life is the weather.