7 ms·

Want to put in a quick plug for Sacramento. Great quality of life here, generally great weather (sometimes a little hot in summer, but sunny most of the year),

Want to put in a quick plug for Sacramento. Great quality of life here, generally great weather (sometimes a little hot in summer, but sunny most of the year), affordable housing with rents between $500 and $1,000 (and affordable to buy a house - still good places available for under $300k), nice neighborhoods, great amenities, bars, restaurants, all that. Good access to awesome outdoors. And really easy to get to the Bay if need be. By Amtrak and BART it takes me 2 hours 12 min to get from downtown Sac to Downtown SF - regardless of traffic (and you can easily work - or drink a beer - on the train). Given how much more affordable it is I am really surprised more folks don't set up shop out here and just head into the bay on occasion / when need be.

roughani 11y ago
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/silicon-valley-based-500-startups-partners-with-sacramento-to-build-entrepreneurial-ecosystem-300211998.html http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/silicon-valley-based...
halpme 11y ago
I went to UC Davis but would frequently visit Sac. It's such a beautiful and laid-back city, and the people are great. SF is only a one hour drive away and Lake Tahoe is relatively close too. I've been living in Mountain View for a couple months and I miss the Davis/Sac area more and more as time goes on. The atmosphere here is, I dunno, toxic. Too many people here size each other up based on where they work and where they live and people are way too obsessed with advancing their careers and chasing higher salaries, more luxurious cars, nicer apartments, etc. Everyone seems to have some sort of inferiority complex if they don't work for the "Big 4". People in Davis/Sac seemed less superficial and it was a lot easier for me to make friends. Also, yeah, the cost of living is so much cheaper. I'm paying $1700 for a tiny studio in MV. Back in Davis I was paying $1400 for a pretty nice 2-bedroom apartment. Meh.
- eclipxe 11y ago
  >The atmosphere here is, I dunno, toxic. Too many people here size each other up based on where they work and where they live and people are way too obsessed with advancing their careers and chasing higher salaries, more luxurious cars, nicer apartments, etc. Everyone seems to have some sort of inferiority complex if they don't work for the "Big 4". People in Davis/Sac seemed less superficial and it was a lot easier for me to make friends. Is this your own set of insecurities being projected on others? I never got that sense in SV...
  - halpme 11y ago
    Do you actually go out and talk to people? The first thing anyone asks is what you do, followed by which company you work for. Watch people's reactions change depending on the reputation of your company. The whole social scene here is centered around networking, not making meaningful relationships. No one cares if you're a chill person with cool hobbies, but if you work at <cool company> then you become one more inside connection when someone needs a new job and a reference. YMMV.
    - sjg007 11y ago
      I lived in LA and the first thing you learn there is to not ask what anyone does because everyone's an actor.
      - beachstartup 11y ago
        these days everyone in LA is working on some kind of tech-related nonsense. i moved here to get away from all that, and it followed me. now i just want to go live in the woods with my dog.
        mikekij 11y ago
        @beachstartup Me too. In North SD. Want to work on med device security and take company retreats in the woods?
        rosettesor 11y ago
        @beachstartup @mikekij sounds great. when can we start? just moved from sf to venice, and now all i want to do is move where i can own land and start a farm.
      - bcheung 11y ago
        I was living in LA for a while (5 years). I got a job as a photographer at a modeling agency. Pay was crap so I tried doing more programming work but most of the work wasn't very innovative and really boring compared to Silicon Valley so I moved back to the bay area where I'm originally from. Going from being surrounded by models all day to living in Man Jose is quite the difference. Wish I could still be there.
- autotune 11y ago
  $1700 for a tiny studio would be a steal here in SF.
throwaway376183 11y ago
Lately I've been very interested in moving to Sacramento. I like just about everything I read about the city (can't really say the same about SF/SV). My main worry is that searches for local dev jobs turn up almost nothing. I don't think I could handle a 2+ hour commute daily. Any advice?
- sn0v 11y ago
  Find a remote job maybe? Shouldn't be super hard to find one in SV. I know GitHub is one such employer.
- dvorwak 11y ago
  Been working remote in Sacramento for the past year it's definitely the way to go. Sf wages but Sacramento rent prices
Nate75Sanders 11y ago
Hey, I'm in the process of moving to Sacramento (mostly live here now), at least for a while, I think. If you click my profile, you can email me and I hope you do. I wouldn't mind discussing the tech scene here, the city, etc, although I may end up working remotely.
baddox 11y ago
I've entertained the idea of living in Sacramento, mostly because it's closer to the Sierras than SF. But one question: do you guys have air conditioning? I presume so, if it gets hot. SF's lack of air conditioning is brutal!
- jotux 11y ago
  Sacramento gets about 3-6 weeks of 100+ weather a year, and probably 1-2 weeks worth of freezing weather (freezing overnight only). Almost all homes and cars sold here have AC. The heat here is pretty dry so people complain about it but not a lot. Sacramento very consistently gets a ~30mph wind from the southwest in the summer (we call it the "Delta Breeze") that will push temperatures at night down to the 70s or 60s. I rarely run the AC in my house here overnight and instead open the windows after ~9pm. Honestly, a bigger problem for a lot of transplants to Sacramento is allergens. We're right at the tip of the central valley and lots of stuff will bloom in the spring and fall and lots of people will be red faced and sneezing for a week or two.
  - Maultasche 11y ago
    Very true. We live in Sacramento area, and I rather like it here. It's a pretty diverse area and the cost of living to salary ratio is a lot better than in the Bay Area. We're considering having to move somewhere else that's less allergenic because of the allergy situation. I start sneezing and blowing my nose a lot in April or May, but it's manageable. My wife and kids have much more severe allergy and asthma issues. My wife pretty much has to remain indoors all the time between March and October because her allergies to various pollens have become so severe and Sacramento has a lot of pollen in the air. She doesn't really like that and wants to live somewhere else where she can go outside without having breathing issues. I sure love the nice Delta breezes we get in the evenings. It cools everything down and summer evenings are very pleasant. Unfortunately, we're unable to open the house up because of the breathing issues it causes among my family members. Very frustrating. The Bay Area would be better for allergies, but it's so astronomically expensive that I want to stay far away. Sure I'd probably double my salary, but my cost of living would probably go up by 4x or 5x. No thank you. My wife loves Seattle because she can breathe so much better there so maybe we'll end up there someday.
billconan 11y ago
I also think Davis and Sacramento have potentials. they are cheap, safe and close to bay area.

roughani 11y ago

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/silicon-valley-based-500-startups-partners-with-sacramento-to-build-entrepreneurial-ecosystem-300211998.html http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/silicon-valley-based...

halpme 11y ago

I went to UC Davis but would frequently visit Sac. It's such a beautiful and laid-back city, and the people are great. SF is only a one hour drive away and Lake Tahoe is relatively close too. I've been living in Mountain View for a couple months and I miss the Davis/Sac area more and more as time goes on. The atmosphere here is, I dunno, toxic. Too many people here size each other up based on where they work and where they live and people are way too obsessed with advancing their careers and chasing higher salaries, more luxurious cars, nicer apartments, etc. Everyone seems to have some sort of inferiority complex if they don't work for the "Big 4". People in Davis/Sac seemed less superficial and it was a lot easier for me to make friends. Also, yeah, the cost of living is so much cheaper. I'm paying $1700 for a tiny studio in MV. Back in Davis I was paying $1400 for a pretty nice 2-bedroom apartment. Meh.

eclipxe 11y ago
>The atmosphere here is, I dunno, toxic. Too many people here size each other up based on where they work and where they live and people are way too obsessed with advancing their careers and chasing higher salaries, more luxurious cars, nicer apartments, etc. Everyone seems to have some sort of inferiority complex if they don't work for the "Big 4". People in Davis/Sac seemed less superficial and it was a lot easier for me to make friends. Is this your own set of insecurities being projected on others? I never got that sense in SV...
- halpme 11y ago
  Do you actually go out and talk to people? The first thing anyone asks is what you do, followed by which company you work for. Watch people's reactions change depending on the reputation of your company. The whole social scene here is centered around networking, not making meaningful relationships. No one cares if you're a chill person with cool hobbies, but if you work at <cool company> then you become one more inside connection when someone needs a new job and a reference. YMMV.
  - sjg007 11y ago
    I lived in LA and the first thing you learn there is to not ask what anyone does because everyone's an actor.
    - beachstartup 11y ago
      these days everyone in LA is working on some kind of tech-related nonsense. i moved here to get away from all that, and it followed me. now i just want to go live in the woods with my dog.
      - mikekij 11y ago
        @beachstartup Me too. In North SD. Want to work on med device security and take company retreats in the woods?
        rosettesor 11y ago
        @beachstartup @mikekij sounds great. when can we start? just moved from sf to venice, and now all i want to do is move where i can own land and start a farm.
    - bcheung 11y ago
      I was living in LA for a while (5 years). I got a job as a photographer at a modeling agency. Pay was crap so I tried doing more programming work but most of the work wasn't very innovative and really boring compared to Silicon Valley so I moved back to the bay area where I'm originally from. Going from being surrounded by models all day to living in Man Jose is quite the difference. Wish I could still be there.
autotune 11y ago
$1700 for a tiny studio would be a steal here in SF.

throwaway376183 11y ago

Lately I've been very interested in moving to Sacramento. I like just about everything I read about the city (can't really say the same about SF/SV). My main worry is that searches for local dev jobs turn up almost nothing. I don't think I could handle a 2+ hour commute daily. Any advice?

sn0v 11y ago
Find a remote job maybe? Shouldn't be super hard to find one in SV. I know GitHub is one such employer.
dvorwak 11y ago
Been working remote in Sacramento for the past year it's definitely the way to go. Sf wages but Sacramento rent prices

Nate75Sanders 11y ago

Hey, I'm in the process of moving to Sacramento (mostly live here now), at least for a while, I think. If you click my profile, you can email me and I hope you do. I wouldn't mind discussing the tech scene here, the city, etc, although I may end up working remotely.

baddox 11y ago

I've entertained the idea of living in Sacramento, mostly because it's closer to the Sierras than SF. But one question: do you guys have air conditioning? I presume so, if it gets hot. SF's lack of air conditioning is brutal!

jotux 11y ago
Sacramento gets about 3-6 weeks of 100+ weather a year, and probably 1-2 weeks worth of freezing weather (freezing overnight only). Almost all homes and cars sold here have AC. The heat here is pretty dry so people complain about it but not a lot. Sacramento very consistently gets a ~30mph wind from the southwest in the summer (we call it the "Delta Breeze") that will push temperatures at night down to the 70s or 60s. I rarely run the AC in my house here overnight and instead open the windows after ~9pm. Honestly, a bigger problem for a lot of transplants to Sacramento is allergens. We're right at the tip of the central valley and lots of stuff will bloom in the spring and fall and lots of people will be red faced and sneezing for a week or two.
- Maultasche 11y ago
  Very true. We live in Sacramento area, and I rather like it here. It's a pretty diverse area and the cost of living to salary ratio is a lot better than in the Bay Area. We're considering having to move somewhere else that's less allergenic because of the allergy situation. I start sneezing and blowing my nose a lot in April or May, but it's manageable. My wife and kids have much more severe allergy and asthma issues. My wife pretty much has to remain indoors all the time between March and October because her allergies to various pollens have become so severe and Sacramento has a lot of pollen in the air. She doesn't really like that and wants to live somewhere else where she can go outside without having breathing issues. I sure love the nice Delta breezes we get in the evenings. It cools everything down and summer evenings are very pleasant. Unfortunately, we're unable to open the house up because of the breathing issues it causes among my family members. Very frustrating. The Bay Area would be better for allergies, but it's so astronomically expensive that I want to stay far away. Sure I'd probably double my salary, but my cost of living would probably go up by 4x or 5x. No thank you. My wife loves Seattle because she can breathe so much better there so maybe we'll end up there someday.

billconan 11y ago

I also think Davis and Sacramento have potentials. they are cheap, safe and close to bay area.