3 ms·

Moved here 6 months ago. Lot of what you read is hyperbole. Truth is always somewhere in the middle. Bay Area can be amazing or horrible depending on where you

by rupi 5y ago

Moved here 6 months ago. Lot of what you read is hyperbole. Truth is always somewhere in the middle. Bay Area can be amazing or horrible depending on where you live, where you work and how much you earn. There are some areas where I don't want to go but there are a lot more areas that are thriving, full of friendly people with great communities. Yes, it is expensive - that is very true. Yes, taxes are high. But despite those, there is no lack of people moving here so there must be something right, right? I have lived in 6 states in the US and 5 countries globally including most that people throw out as alternatives to the Bay Area. In my experience, Bay Area has the highest concentration of smartest and open minded people that I have come across. You want to build something? Bay Area energizes you because everyone will be encouraging and ready to help. Weather is nice. There are plenty of gorgeous places to visit, within the area and even more with a short drive. However, I'll repeat - it is expensive! This is the most expensive place I have lived. We are a dual income household and money is less important than it used to be so for us it is totally worth it. Some years ago, we probably couldn't afford to live here. There are two kinds of people I am seeing moving to the Bay Area - 1) high earners that can afford it and 2) those early in their careers who don't mind living in a less than optimal situation and moving here gives them a wage bump . By large, the people moving away are those with average to good incomes who have kids and can't afford the lifestyle that they want. In the end, it comes down to what you value more. In the Bay Area, one thing you do NOT get is value for money. Will we be here long term? Who know but right now, I am in love with this place.

somethoughts 5y ago
I'd also add that much of what drives Silicon Valley tech to a significant degree is the highly educated first immigrant and the support system and retail infrastructure that this requires (i.e. familiar restaurants, grocery stores, cultural events, language schools/tutoring). So I would say most folks saying the center tech will just move to Texas are discounting the needs for first generation immigrants to travel home to Asia Pacific as well as have a local support network. It's trivially easy for Keith Rabois, Jason Calacanis or Peter Thiel to move to Miami or Elon Musk to Austin. It's another thing for Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Jensen Huang to move to Miami/Austin and feel more at home versus just staying put. I use this as a barometer of first generation immigrant tech friendliness. Also its not that it wouldn't be great if all places had built in support for first generation tech immigrants - its just not the current reality. https://www.99ranch.com/my-store/store-locator https://www.99ranch.com/my-store/store-locator
- Bromeo 5y ago
  How exactly are you using this website to judge first generation immigrant support?
  - bmarquez 5y ago
    99 Ranch Market is a chain of supermarkets catering to the Asian community, and it's pretty easy to shop there if you don't speak English. They tend to build in places with large immigrant communities, so having a 99 Ranch Market could be seen as a sign of diversity. That being said I personally tend to shop at smaller Asian stores which don't have websites or multiple locations. Just because the store doesn't have a website doesn't mean there isn't an strong immigrant community in that area.
    - somethoughts 5y ago
      True - 99Ranch is a first order filter. Another first order filter is Din Tai Fung locations: https://www.dintaifungusa.com/us/locations.html https://www.dintaifungusa.com/us/locations.html A more time intensive but perhaps more useful/fair measure is Yelp 3.5+ star ratings designated at $$$ with more than 100 reviews for things like Indian chaat, Cantonese dimsum, Taiwanese boba, Korean BBQ, Japanese Izakaya etc.
- peytoncasper 5y ago
  I agree with most of your comment, but I do think you're discounting the ability for those hubs to exist elsewhere a bit. Dallas, Houston and surprisingly Atlanta all have really robust areas where you can see and feel the cultural influence of immigrants that live in the area. It extends to the buildings that are built, shops that are run and overall feeling of the neighborhoods. They're not all in the city for sure, and none of them are as big or as connected as areas you would find in say Orange County but still quite strong and really add to the cities themselves.
  - somethoughts 5y ago
    Yes totally didn't mean to discount it. It is getting quite diverse and growing more so everyday - which is a good thing. I'd only point out - for a first generation immigrant with a tech salary and tech stock options - all things being equal - I'd imagine the vast preference would be to go where there are 99ranches and Din Tai Fungs and high end chaat at a density where its in proximity to high end housing versus being in the traditional "ethnic" end of town. It will change for sure as tech slowly disperses - so it should be fun to watch.

by rupi 5y ago

somethoughts 5y ago

I'd also add that much of what drives Silicon Valley tech to a significant degree is the highly educated first immigrant and the support system and retail infrastructure that this requires (i.e. familiar restaurants, grocery stores, cultural events, language schools/tutoring). So I would say most folks saying the center tech will just move to Texas are discounting the needs for first generation immigrants to travel home to Asia Pacific as well as have a local support network. It's trivially easy for Keith Rabois, Jason Calacanis or Peter Thiel to move to Miami or Elon Musk to Austin. It's another thing for Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Jensen Huang to move to Miami/Austin and feel more at home versus just staying put. I use this as a barometer of first generation immigrant tech friendliness. Also its not that it wouldn't be great if all places had built in support for first generation tech immigrants - its just not the current reality. https://www.99ranch.com/my-store/store-locator https://www.99ranch.com/my-store/store-locator

Bromeo 5y ago
How exactly are you using this website to judge first generation immigrant support?
- bmarquez 5y ago
  99 Ranch Market is a chain of supermarkets catering to the Asian community, and it's pretty easy to shop there if you don't speak English. They tend to build in places with large immigrant communities, so having a 99 Ranch Market could be seen as a sign of diversity. That being said I personally tend to shop at smaller Asian stores which don't have websites or multiple locations. Just because the store doesn't have a website doesn't mean there isn't an strong immigrant community in that area.
  - somethoughts 5y ago
    True - 99Ranch is a first order filter. Another first order filter is Din Tai Fung locations: https://www.dintaifungusa.com/us/locations.html https://www.dintaifungusa.com/us/locations.html A more time intensive but perhaps more useful/fair measure is Yelp 3.5+ star ratings designated at $$$ with more than 100 reviews for things like Indian chaat, Cantonese dimsum, Taiwanese boba, Korean BBQ, Japanese Izakaya etc.
peytoncasper 5y ago
I agree with most of your comment, but I do think you're discounting the ability for those hubs to exist elsewhere a bit. Dallas, Houston and surprisingly Atlanta all have really robust areas where you can see and feel the cultural influence of immigrants that live in the area. It extends to the buildings that are built, shops that are run and overall feeling of the neighborhoods. They're not all in the city for sure, and none of them are as big or as connected as areas you would find in say Orange County but still quite strong and really add to the cities themselves.
- somethoughts 5y ago
  Yes totally didn't mean to discount it. It is getting quite diverse and growing more so everyday - which is a good thing. I'd only point out - for a first generation immigrant with a tech salary and tech stock options - all things being equal - I'd imagine the vast preference would be to go where there are 99ranches and Din Tai Fungs and high end chaat at a density where its in proximity to high end housing versus being in the traditional "ethnic" end of town. It will change for sure as tech slowly disperses - so it should be fun to watch.