> New York is pretty impressed by a billion dollars even if you merely inherited it. In Silicon Valley no one would care except a few real estate agents.
The only defining common factor of all the VC shops in the bay area is money. Sure a lot of them made that money in tech but it is money that lets them have power.
Also some anecdotal impressions:
I lived in SF for two years. I think the constant humdrum of tech (specifically a strange breed of big data + machine learning + web tech) is making the place intolerably insular. When I first moved there, I thought the opinionated twenty something year olds who think that their youth and opinions mean that they matter were cute. Now, it is just fucking insufferable. Building a company shouldn't be purely about getting sold, acqui-hired or building products that no one outside your iphone addled tech circle will use.
I think there is utility in moving out of the bay area to build real products. I recently moved to NYC. The tech scene feels refreshingly small, surprisingly under-dog like, I am reminded of Austin. Most tech folks I meet here are mellow, there is also a large overlap with incredibly smart ex-finance people who are humble and sociable.
Everything also doesn't seem to be focused on shipping your shitty product and tweeting about it, there is focus on building something that is not primarily focused on acqui-hired or VC-driven.
Also, more importantly, NYC is superior to San Francisco as a place for your social life. The men:women ratio is way more balanced, you are constantly reminded that your "coding skills" are not all that define you. When I first came to interview here, I had serious misgivings about the place (the climate is miserable), yet I think the thing that made me decide to move here was a conversation I over-heard in a coffee shop between two girls. It was about Python. The snake, not the language.
when i lived in SF women would be completely rude to me when talking to them in a bar or social setting. calling me names to my face, bare sarcasm, thinly beiled insults, back-handed complements... you name it, i experienced it.
that kind of shit just doesn't happen in LA or NY. or vancouver, or texas, or ... anywhere, really. it's a REALLY fucked situation. sorry, single guys in sf.
I think you must have missed the good parts of SF, if you felt that your coding skills defined you. Try Cole Valley, or the Lower Haight and skip SOMA. I would take issue also with your men:women ration nonsense, SF is full of women. I suggest you stop eavesdropping conversations girls are having near you and get out more! NYC isn't the answer. NYC is an amazing place, it's full of life and vitality, but so is San Francico. NYC has better galleries, but SF has better weather. Might I remind you right now it's 70's in SF while you have snow...
> I think you must have missed the good parts of SF, if you felt that your coding skills defined you.
As a person who got into programming five years ago after finding out math doesn't get you jobs, I would be worried if my average coding skills alone defined me.
> Try Cole Valley, or the Lower Haight and skip SOMA.
I lived a block away from Cole Valley, dated girls in the Lower Haight, spent never more than an 8 hour day in SoMa. Your move! :)
> Might I remind you right now it's 70's in SF while you have snow...
As do all my friends who keep sending me pictures. However, a view as observed through a window whilst working in a SoMa warehouse is about as real as a screensaver.
The "stop eavesdropping and get out more" bit seems like an unnecessarily condescending/judgmental response to eshvk's comment, especially considering he hasn't said anything to suggest he's poorly socialized or a hermit.
This reminds me somewhat of response to people complaining of the Seattle Freeze (the infamous propensity for Seattleites to be simultaneously polite yet unfriendly). The standard response when this is brought up is to insinuate the complainer is antisocial. This, despite being so widely felt by so many that it has a name.
As a native to NorCal, might I remind you this weather is incredibly unusual, and we're in a drought. I dislike the cold, but we need rain. If I wanted it sunny all year long I'd move to San Diego. This lack of rain is irritating many northerners right now because it's not habitual. The only people okay with it are non locals.
The other problem with this pressure ridge, is zero precipitation is horrible for your skin. You need lotion and humidifiers to avoid cracked skin, especially through sleeping.
I like warm weather in the Spring and Summer, but most Northern California residents enjoy living here for the seasons. It's almost depressing without them.
Despite the lack of rain, humidity right now in the Bay Area is still not horribly low by national standards. Looking at the local forecast I am seeing humidity in the range of roughly 40% - 60%.
Taking into account the effects of indoor heating and an outside temperature well above freezing, this is still pretty pleasant compared to what happens in cold climates indoors when you heat frigid outdoor air up to room temp. Cold air does not hold as much moisture, and when your furnace heats it up, the amount of moisture content stays the same but the carrying capacity for moisture increases, effectively making it very dry.
The upshot here is that even if it is a bit dry in the Bay Area right now, it's still nothing compared to the bone dry indoor air you would get somewhere where the winters are actually cold.
The only defining common factor of all the VC shops in the bay area is money. Sure a lot of them made that money in tech but it is money that lets them have power.
Also some anecdotal impressions:
I lived in SF for two years. I think the constant humdrum of tech (specifically a strange breed of big data + machine learning + web tech) is making the place intolerably insular. When I first moved there, I thought the opinionated twenty something year olds who think that their youth and opinions mean that they matter were cute. Now, it is just fucking insufferable. Building a company shouldn't be purely about getting sold, acqui-hired or building products that no one outside your iphone addled tech circle will use.
I think there is utility in moving out of the bay area to build real products. I recently moved to NYC. The tech scene feels refreshingly small, surprisingly under-dog like, I am reminded of Austin. Most tech folks I meet here are mellow, there is also a large overlap with incredibly smart ex-finance people who are humble and sociable.
Everything also doesn't seem to be focused on shipping your shitty product and tweeting about it, there is focus on building something that is not primarily focused on acqui-hired or VC-driven.
Also, more importantly, NYC is superior to San Francisco as a place for your social life. The men:women ratio is way more balanced, you are constantly reminded that your "coding skills" are not all that define you. When I first came to interview here, I had serious misgivings about the place (the climate is miserable), yet I think the thing that made me decide to move here was a conversation I over-heard in a coffee shop between two girls. It was about Python. The snake, not the language.