19 ms·

Work remote, move to the midwest (or, really, anywhere outside of the bay area or NYC), own your house outright. The idea that the options are "get paid usurio

Work remote, move to the midwest (or, really, anywhere outside of the bay area or NYC), own your house outright. The idea that the options are "get paid usurious amounts of money" or "live 90 minutes from work with a bunch of roommates" is a false dichotomy.

closeparen 7y ago
Interesting perspective. My employer entertains remote workers and satellite offices only to the extent that it feels the Bay Area is “tapped out.” If that thinking is at all representative of the industry, I think we’re likely to see those options evaporate rather than grow. There are definitely IT jobs “native” to the Midwest, but they’re overwhelmingly seen as cost centers to be deskilled/automated/offshored rather than value-creating R&D.
- jaggederest 7y ago
  I mean, I've been doing it for the vast majority of the last decade, so my feeling is that it can only increase. The housing prices and the sheer stress of living in bay area / nyc are so overwhelming.
- IggleSniggle 7y ago
  I've been working remote for only a short time, but it's been interesting to watch as my entire company (its a software company) now goes remote due to COVID-19. There's a lot of people that seem to be having lightbulb moments like, "oh wow, I'm just as much if not more productive than I was before" as well as some people that seem to be having a crisis and not know what to do with themselves. The people that don't know what to do with themselves seem to be correlated with the same people that I previously felt had a negative impact on our velocity. Any company that truly believes all the talent is on the coasts isn't the kind of small-minded company I would want to work for anyway, so it's kind of moot for me. But I think there will be a lot more understanding of what jobs work well in a remote setting due to quarantine, and plenty of software companies will realize they can save a ton of money by not retaining an expensive office space, while gathering talent from a wider pool of diverse perspectives.
ghaff 7y ago
A fair number of tech jobs can draw from areas within an hour or so of tech centers where housing is, if not cheap, a lot less than much of the Bay Area. And in many cases the companies aren’t even downtown anyway. The SF/NYC vs. back of beyond dichotomy is pretty silly.

closeparen 7y ago

Interesting perspective. My employer entertains remote workers and satellite offices only to the extent that it feels the Bay Area is “tapped out.” If that thinking is at all representative of the industry, I think we’re likely to see those options evaporate rather than grow. There are definitely IT jobs “native” to the Midwest, but they’re overwhelmingly seen as cost centers to be deskilled/automated/offshored rather than value-creating R&D.

jaggederest 7y ago
I mean, I've been doing it for the vast majority of the last decade, so my feeling is that it can only increase. The housing prices and the sheer stress of living in bay area / nyc are so overwhelming.
IggleSniggle 7y ago
I've been working remote for only a short time, but it's been interesting to watch as my entire company (its a software company) now goes remote due to COVID-19. There's a lot of people that seem to be having lightbulb moments like, "oh wow, I'm just as much if not more productive than I was before" as well as some people that seem to be having a crisis and not know what to do with themselves. The people that don't know what to do with themselves seem to be correlated with the same people that I previously felt had a negative impact on our velocity. Any company that truly believes all the talent is on the coasts isn't the kind of small-minded company I would want to work for anyway, so it's kind of moot for me. But I think there will be a lot more understanding of what jobs work well in a remote setting due to quarantine, and plenty of software companies will realize they can save a ton of money by not retaining an expensive office space, while gathering talent from a wider pool of diverse perspectives.

ghaff 7y ago

A fair number of tech jobs can draw from areas within an hour or so of tech centers where housing is, if not cheap, a lot less than much of the Bay Area. And in many cases the companies aren’t even downtown anyway. The SF/NYC vs. back of beyond dichotomy is pretty silly.