3 ms·

I miss true seasons. Hoping to make it back East in the future. Any recommendations for NE other than Boston (which I like)?

nkassis 10y ago
Nashua has a lot of tech companies if you would be ok with a smaller urban area close enough to Boston to enjoy the city too. Personally I just moved from Seattle to Boston. I'm conflicted on the two places. I really liked the outdoors areas in Seattle, commute was shorter and rent was also cheaper. But Boston has a lot of cool things too, food better, more interesting activities todo (other than outdoors but you can find it NH) and cycling infrastructure is poor compared to Seattle. I'm not native of either place (from Montreal) so my experience is based on a few years of living in both. Boston isn't exactly better in terms of winter sunlight that's for sure. Both are grayish in winters but summers are great (less humid in Seattle). What did it for me is proximity to family. Being in the same timezone is huge. Cool fact I learned recently, Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH area has one lowest unemployment rate for any metro area at 2.6%.
- Apocryphon 10y ago
  Isn't Montreal marginally a tech city?
  - nkassis 10y ago
    The problem is salary for tech workers in Montreal are way lower than other NE cities. 5 hour south and you make 2-3 times the salary you could make in Montreal (from personal experience) but cost of living does match that increase. You are better off net in the US. I know a few people that spent time working in the US and returned to Montreal with a good amount of savings which lets them live very comfortably.
stephencanon 10y ago
Providence has been perpetually on the cusp of having a tech scene for about 20 years now; it's starting to take off a bit, and still reasonably cheap even in the beautiful areas around Brown/RISD. There's a lot going on just under the radar in the smaller college towns. Amherst/Northampton MA, Burlington in VT, Hanover/Lebanon in NH. A lot of what's going on is in fairly small shops that don't have job postings, but would create a position for the right candidate, which makes it hard to find them if you're not in the area, unfortunately, but there are definitely some medium-size firms, too. These have a very different feel from Boston, though, so maybe not what you're looking for. I also know a few folks who live near me (Hanover/Lebanon) and commute to Boston or NYC (2-3 days a week, WFH the other days). This is a pretty sweet deal if you can make it happen.

nkassis 10y ago

Nashua has a lot of tech companies if you would be ok with a smaller urban area close enough to Boston to enjoy the city too. Personally I just moved from Seattle to Boston. I'm conflicted on the two places. I really liked the outdoors areas in Seattle, commute was shorter and rent was also cheaper. But Boston has a lot of cool things too, food better, more interesting activities todo (other than outdoors but you can find it NH) and cycling infrastructure is poor compared to Seattle. I'm not native of either place (from Montreal) so my experience is based on a few years of living in both. Boston isn't exactly better in terms of winter sunlight that's for sure. Both are grayish in winters but summers are great (less humid in Seattle). What did it for me is proximity to family. Being in the same timezone is huge. Cool fact I learned recently, Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH area has one lowest unemployment rate for any metro area at 2.6%.

Apocryphon 10y ago
Isn't Montreal marginally a tech city?
- nkassis 10y ago
  The problem is salary for tech workers in Montreal are way lower than other NE cities. 5 hour south and you make 2-3 times the salary you could make in Montreal (from personal experience) but cost of living does match that increase. You are better off net in the US. I know a few people that spent time working in the US and returned to Montreal with a good amount of savings which lets them live very comfortably.

stephencanon 10y ago

Providence has been perpetually on the cusp of having a tech scene for about 20 years now; it's starting to take off a bit, and still reasonably cheap even in the beautiful areas around Brown/RISD. There's a lot going on just under the radar in the smaller college towns. Amherst/Northampton MA, Burlington in VT, Hanover/Lebanon in NH. A lot of what's going on is in fairly small shops that don't have job postings, but would create a position for the right candidate, which makes it hard to find them if you're not in the area, unfortunately, but there are definitely some medium-size firms, too. These have a very different feel from Boston, though, so maybe not what you're looking for. I also know a few folks who live near me (Hanover/Lebanon) and commute to Boston or NYC (2-3 days a week, WFH the other days). This is a pretty sweet deal if you can make it happen.