5 ms·

As far as I can tell, SF is in SV. To someone who has never been/worked there, everything I've read makes it seem like "Silicon Valley" is often used interchang

by delecti 10y ago

As far as I can tell, SF is in SV. To someone who has never been/worked there, everything I've read makes it seem like "Silicon Valley" is often used interchangeably with the Bay Area in general (though Wikipedia seems to specify that SV refers to the southern bay area in particular).

jtmcmc 10y ago
Silicon Valley has a pretty drastically different feel from San Francisco at both an industry level (lots of large companies there vs. largely smaller startups in SF) and culturally (San Jose is a largely suburban community while SF is an urban center).
Apocryphon 10y ago
SF is in SV insofar sometime between the inception of the dot-com bubble and the great recession it became the place for many, many tech startups to relocate to. But culturally there's still a difference between the two.
rst 10y ago
Geographically, Silicon Valley is about an hour south of San Francisco proper on highways, depending on traffic. The concentration of tech startups there was seeded by Stanford University (in Palo Alto), and by a lot of defense contractors who had facilities in the area. Many workers commuted from San Francisco because they preferred to live in the city (most of the Valley is very bland suburbia); companies started actually locating in the city maybe ten or fifteen years ago.
- mirsadm 10y ago
  That was the most surprising thing for me when I went to check out the Silicon Valley area a couple of years ago. I have no idea why so many people choose to work there. It looks like suburbia mixed in with a bit of industrial wasteland. I really enjoyed San Francisco but the commute must be hell every morning if you choose to live there.
  - hkmurakami 10y ago
    It's really just a matter of preference. Some people like the density and excitement of cities, while others like the space and privacy of sprawl. They both have advantages and disadvantages. As for myself, I tried living in SF for a few years and was convinced that the appeal of city life just did not resonate with me; however many good friends could not do without the amenities and convenience that the city offers. We all just pick what is best for us given who we are and what we value for ourselves.
  - nostrademons 10y ago
    You choose to work in SV because you get a job at a SV company doing things that you're interested in, or you're accepted at Stanford. That's basically it. The first wave of migrants came for transistors (Shockley/Fairchild/Intel), ballistic missiles (Lockheed), or nuclear weapons (Lawrence Livermore). The next wave came for personal computers (Apple etc.), workstations (SGI, Sun, Xerox PARC, Western Digital), databases (Postgres, Oracle), or networking (Cisco). The wave after that was all Internet, and then mobile, and now it's started to branch out again. If you're not working on something that is currently hot in Silicon Valley, there is little reason to be here. It's not like Portland, where you decide that you want to live there first and then decide what you'll do for a living. But if you do want to work in one of those hot sectors, there really is no place to do so other than Silicon Valley; nowhere else do you get the same combination of talent, capital, experience, open-mindedness, and risk-taking. It doesn't surprise me that people are moving out (even beyond personal experience, where basically all of my friends have remarked that they're considering moving to Colorado, or Seattle, or Portland, or North Carolina, and my wife & I are considering it too). We're at the end of a technology cycle, so nobody really knows what the next one will be or if it's something that'll interest them. But there are a lot of fascinating things going on with drones, robotics, self-driving cars, AI, satellites, and hardware, so if any of them seem interesting, Silicon Valley might be a good place to check out.
    - Apocryphon 10y ago
      Are you considering RTP in North Carolina? How's the software scene in NC?
gumby 10y ago
> As far as I can tell, SF is in SV. To someone who has never been/worked there.. Which is most reporters. They get sent out to Silicon Valley, land at the SF airport, and of course go to San Francisco. There's little to see in the valley, while SF has great views and also (recently -- last 15 or so years) companies to visit. Reporters with deep roots here (e.g. Markoff, who grew up in Palo Alto and lives in SF) write about the difference, but if the Bay Area is a foreign place to you, the distinction is invisible. It reminds me of a cabby I had in Berlin: "Oh, you're flying to the USA? I know it very well -- I've been to Miami four times!" Most coarsely, SV is more tech heavy, SF much less so. There are many exceptions of course.
ericHosick 10y ago
SV seems to have migrated a bit North. At one time, Scotts Valley (other side of Highway 17) was considered part of Silicon Valley (Borland and Seagate).
- Apocryphon 10y ago
  Wonder if tech will return to Santa Cruz in huge numbers. Silicon Beach North!
  - lsc 10y ago
    I would take a 20% pay cut if it made that happen.
DiNovi 10y ago
the bay area is being absorbed into it, but SV is like, disney world 'burbs.
anjneymidha 10y ago
"SV is a state of mind". Only semi-joking.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

by delecti 10y ago

jtmcmc 10y ago

Silicon Valley has a pretty drastically different feel from San Francisco at both an industry level (lots of large companies there vs. largely smaller startups in SF) and culturally (San Jose is a largely suburban community while SF is an urban center).

Apocryphon 10y ago

SF is in SV insofar sometime between the inception of the dot-com bubble and the great recession it became the place for many, many tech startups to relocate to. But culturally there's still a difference between the two.

rst 10y ago

Geographically, Silicon Valley is about an hour south of San Francisco proper on highways, depending on traffic. The concentration of tech startups there was seeded by Stanford University (in Palo Alto), and by a lot of defense contractors who had facilities in the area. Many workers commuted from San Francisco because they preferred to live in the city (most of the Valley is very bland suburbia); companies started actually locating in the city maybe ten or fifteen years ago.

mirsadm 10y ago
That was the most surprising thing for me when I went to check out the Silicon Valley area a couple of years ago. I have no idea why so many people choose to work there. It looks like suburbia mixed in with a bit of industrial wasteland. I really enjoyed San Francisco but the commute must be hell every morning if you choose to live there.
- hkmurakami 10y ago
  It's really just a matter of preference. Some people like the density and excitement of cities, while others like the space and privacy of sprawl. They both have advantages and disadvantages. As for myself, I tried living in SF for a few years and was convinced that the appeal of city life just did not resonate with me; however many good friends could not do without the amenities and convenience that the city offers. We all just pick what is best for us given who we are and what we value for ourselves.
- nostrademons 10y ago
  You choose to work in SV because you get a job at a SV company doing things that you're interested in, or you're accepted at Stanford. That's basically it. The first wave of migrants came for transistors (Shockley/Fairchild/Intel), ballistic missiles (Lockheed), or nuclear weapons (Lawrence Livermore). The next wave came for personal computers (Apple etc.), workstations (SGI, Sun, Xerox PARC, Western Digital), databases (Postgres, Oracle), or networking (Cisco). The wave after that was all Internet, and then mobile, and now it's started to branch out again. If you're not working on something that is currently hot in Silicon Valley, there is little reason to be here. It's not like Portland, where you decide that you want to live there first and then decide what you'll do for a living. But if you do want to work in one of those hot sectors, there really is no place to do so other than Silicon Valley; nowhere else do you get the same combination of talent, capital, experience, open-mindedness, and risk-taking. It doesn't surprise me that people are moving out (even beyond personal experience, where basically all of my friends have remarked that they're considering moving to Colorado, or Seattle, or Portland, or North Carolina, and my wife & I are considering it too). We're at the end of a technology cycle, so nobody really knows what the next one will be or if it's something that'll interest them. But there are a lot of fascinating things going on with drones, robotics, self-driving cars, AI, satellites, and hardware, so if any of them seem interesting, Silicon Valley might be a good place to check out.
  - Apocryphon 10y ago
    Are you considering RTP in North Carolina? How's the software scene in NC?

gumby 10y ago

> As far as I can tell, SF is in SV. To someone who has never been/worked there.. Which is most reporters. They get sent out to Silicon Valley, land at the SF airport, and of course go to San Francisco. There's little to see in the valley, while SF has great views and also (recently -- last 15 or so years) companies to visit. Reporters with deep roots here (e.g. Markoff, who grew up in Palo Alto and lives in SF) write about the difference, but if the Bay Area is a foreign place to you, the distinction is invisible. It reminds me of a cabby I had in Berlin: "Oh, you're flying to the USA? I know it very well -- I've been to Miami four times!" Most coarsely, SV is more tech heavy, SF much less so. There are many exceptions of course.

ericHosick 10y ago

SV seems to have migrated a bit North. At one time, Scotts Valley (other side of Highway 17) was considered part of Silicon Valley (Borland and Seagate).

Apocryphon 10y ago
Wonder if tech will return to Santa Cruz in huge numbers. Silicon Beach North!
- lsc 10y ago
  I would take a 20% pay cut if it made that happen.

DiNovi 10y ago

the bay area is being absorbed into it, but SV is like, disney world 'burbs.

anjneymidha 10y ago

"SV is a state of mind". Only semi-joking.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]