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I went the opposite route as most. I was remote for 3 years from Texas and then moved to the Bay Area for work. And I have a family of four. Key aspects that m

I went the opposite route as most. I was remote for 3 years from Texas and then moved to the Bay Area for work. And I have a family of four. Key aspects that make it work for me are the following: * Accept a long commute to a more family-friendly community with good schools. * Live near BART and use it everyday. * Work in the city, not the South Bay. * Make sure you have two strong professional incomes. * Pay for good quality child care and/or after school care. * Pay the high housing costs and accept that you will redirect a good portion of your investments towards housing here. And it won't be as nice. All in all its been worth it for me. I am working with extremely smart, driven people who I am learning a ton from. I don't have to hide my political views, and everyone has been open and accepting. It has been very easy for us to make great friends in a short time.

pj_mukh 10y ago
"I am working with extremely smart, driven people who I am learning a ton from." This is something being overlooked completely. There aren't a lot of other places that have this concentration of progressive minded bright (tech and non-tech) individuals. Great things will come out of this density. It sucks that the non-techies are being pushed out, but that should accelerate the need for housing reform. This density must be maintained and made widely accessible. Vote. Call your rep. http://www.dof.ca.gov/budgeting/trailer_bill_language/local_government/documents/707StreamliningAffordableHousingApprovals_000.pdf http://www.dof.ca.gov/budgeting/trailer_bill_language/local_...
- sbardle 10y ago
  At the risk of the grossest generalisation, the Bay Area has worked because it's combined two very different types of people. On the one hand, the engineers/techies (with roots in the defence industry and conservative midwest backgrounds) and on the other, the idealists/utopians (with roots in the counter-culture movement). Strange bedfellows, but a world-changing combination back then. I don't live in the Valley now, so can't comment on the situation, but I hear it is far more of a mono-culture now.
  - hx87 10y ago
    If it is a monoculture now, it's because the engineer culture took on counterculture values while pricing the actual counterculture out of the region. The engineers still have their conservatism in that they tend to think of as many possible failure modes as possible and try to address then when they can. It's just not recognizable as such because the rational, cautious, establishmentarian 1950s conservatism has been almost completely replaced by emotional, religious, populist conservatism.
    - pj_mukh 10y ago
      It doesn't need to be. If all the tech companies are experimenting with ways to up-end different industries and ways of doing things. The municipality should also invest in experimenting with how to maintain affordability and accessibility and therefore diversity. Currently, the municipality, is geared to just make sure real-estate investor values are maintained. Therefore, the bill mentioned above.
    - sbardle 10y ago
      Maybe it was also just a unique period of history, never to again be repeated.

pj_mukh 10y ago

"I am working with extremely smart, driven people who I am learning a ton from." This is something being overlooked completely. There aren't a lot of other places that have this concentration of progressive minded bright (tech and non-tech) individuals. Great things will come out of this density. It sucks that the non-techies are being pushed out, but that should accelerate the need for housing reform. This density must be maintained and made widely accessible. Vote. Call your rep. http://www.dof.ca.gov/budgeting/trailer_bill_language/local_government/documents/707StreamliningAffordableHousingApprovals_000.pdf http://www.dof.ca.gov/budgeting/trailer_bill_language/local_...

sbardle 10y ago
At the risk of the grossest generalisation, the Bay Area has worked because it's combined two very different types of people. On the one hand, the engineers/techies (with roots in the defence industry and conservative midwest backgrounds) and on the other, the idealists/utopians (with roots in the counter-culture movement). Strange bedfellows, but a world-changing combination back then. I don't live in the Valley now, so can't comment on the situation, but I hear it is far more of a mono-culture now.
- hx87 10y ago
  If it is a monoculture now, it's because the engineer culture took on counterculture values while pricing the actual counterculture out of the region. The engineers still have their conservatism in that they tend to think of as many possible failure modes as possible and try to address then when they can. It's just not recognizable as such because the rational, cautious, establishmentarian 1950s conservatism has been almost completely replaced by emotional, religious, populist conservatism.
  - pj_mukh 10y ago
    It doesn't need to be. If all the tech companies are experimenting with ways to up-end different industries and ways of doing things. The municipality should also invest in experimenting with how to maintain affordability and accessibility and therefore diversity. Currently, the municipality, is geared to just make sure real-estate investor values are maintained. Therefore, the bill mentioned above.
  - sbardle 10y ago
    Maybe it was also just a unique period of history, never to again be repeated.