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So, honest question (not trying to troll) - what jobs are available in Raleigh/Boulder/Austin/etc? Because where I'm sitting, facebook, Google, Amazon, Microso

So, honest question (not trying to troll) - what jobs are available in Raleigh/Boulder/Austin/etc? Because where I'm sitting, facebook, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, which are 5 of the top 6 most valuable US companies, are HQ'd in the Bay Area or Seattle. So if you want that caliber of job, with the opportunities and pay ($200-300k+ for mid-level people), you really do have to live in SF/Seattle. I don't work a BigCo job for other reasons but the reasoning does seem sound.

shostack 10y ago
Google is in Boulder. But from what I've heard of the area in general (not specific to Google), they have Bay Area housing prices with Colorado comp, so overall you are taking home less and getting less for your money.
- sigstoat 10y ago
  i'm near enough to boulder that google's boulder location would be a <15 minute commute, and <$500k buys you a 2000 sqft house in a quiet neighborhood and enough of a yard you can't see through your neighbor's window. pretty sure that's rather drastically cheaper than sf. if you're ok with a 30 minute commute, you can shave $100k off that. 60 minute commute would shave another $100k off. while i'm commenting, i'll note that i don't feel boulder really competes with NC's research triangle, or austin. boulder county population is 310k, and a sizable chunk of that is tied up in and around the university and government research facilities that i feel don't impact local tech industry that much.
  - nedwin 10y ago
    Would you mind unpacking "NC research triangle"? North Carolina? Three research heavy universities?
    - closeparen 10y ago
      The Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill combined metro area in North Carolina. Home to UNC, Duke, and the somewhat famous Research Triangle Park, a suburban campus containing R&D for Red Hat, IBM, and several big pharmaceutical companies. The Palo Alto of the South.
    - sigstoat 10y ago
      ah, of course: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle
  - shostack 10y ago
    Can you share some links to real estate listings like you are mentioning, and what towns or parts of Boulder they are in? There are cheap homes in places like Longmont, but there is no real downtown to speak of. Are these cheap houses you mention suburban subdevelopment sprawl? Or are they urban homes on the edge of the city?
coredog64 10y ago
Amazon & Microsoft both have a significant software presence in Phoenix. I don't know if they still do, but at one point Google had some stuff here as well. Amazon recruiters have also been pinging me for jobs they have in SoCal, although I wouldn't say that LA is significantly cheaper than the Bay Area or Seattle.

shostack 10y ago

Google is in Boulder. But from what I've heard of the area in general (not specific to Google), they have Bay Area housing prices with Colorado comp, so overall you are taking home less and getting less for your money.

sigstoat 10y ago
i'm near enough to boulder that google's boulder location would be a <15 minute commute, and <$500k buys you a 2000 sqft house in a quiet neighborhood and enough of a yard you can't see through your neighbor's window. pretty sure that's rather drastically cheaper than sf. if you're ok with a 30 minute commute, you can shave $100k off that. 60 minute commute would shave another $100k off. while i'm commenting, i'll note that i don't feel boulder really competes with NC's research triangle, or austin. boulder county population is 310k, and a sizable chunk of that is tied up in and around the university and government research facilities that i feel don't impact local tech industry that much.
- nedwin 10y ago
  Would you mind unpacking "NC research triangle"? North Carolina? Three research heavy universities?
  - closeparen 10y ago
    The Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill combined metro area in North Carolina. Home to UNC, Duke, and the somewhat famous Research Triangle Park, a suburban campus containing R&D for Red Hat, IBM, and several big pharmaceutical companies. The Palo Alto of the South.
  - sigstoat 10y ago
    ah, of course: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle
- shostack 10y ago
  Can you share some links to real estate listings like you are mentioning, and what towns or parts of Boulder they are in? There are cheap homes in places like Longmont, but there is no real downtown to speak of. Are these cheap houses you mention suburban subdevelopment sprawl? Or are they urban homes on the edge of the city?

coredog64 10y ago

Amazon & Microsoft both have a significant software presence in Phoenix. I don't know if they still do, but at one point Google had some stuff here as well. Amazon recruiters have also been pinging me for jobs they have in SoCal, although I wouldn't say that LA is significantly cheaper than the Bay Area or Seattle.