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I grew up in Miami and left for California as soon as I could. Miami has a pretty facade, and if you visit for a week or two you might think it's great, but ben

by clpm4j 5y ago

I grew up in Miami and left for California as soon as I could. Miami has a pretty facade, and if you visit for a week or two you might think it's great, but beneath the facade is a cesspool of stupidity, vanity, and corruption just like many other places. As a native Floridian, I hate to say that Florida is just such a strange place. It attracts a really weird mix of people. I think the VCs flocking there appreciate the shiny veneer and the fact that Miami worships rich people - intelligence is almost completely disregarded. The rich VCs can feel like popular kings and queens in their $20m Palm Beach mansions, but it's honestly one of the last places I'd want to be as an engineer.

freyir 5y ago
As a transplant from Boston to California, every instance of “Miami” could be replaced with “California” in your comment and I’d be fine with it.
ryandrake 5y ago
I worked in tech in Fort Lauderdale for around 10 years and you're right about all of that. The place has potential of being a tech hub if they could just attract and retain smart people. Year round warm weather, lots of outdoor stuff, if you like the ocean, zero state income taxes! But, instead of the Bay Area's smart, risk-taking wealth, optimistically (and naively) trying to "change the world with tech", South Florida is filled with dumb, idle "to hell with my neighbors" wealth. It's full of people who got rich running payday loan stores and used car lots, instead of people who got rich building ML models for selling kitty litter on the internet. I remember a boat ride up the intracoastal, and there was a guy with a million-dollar mansion with a yacht docked next to his backyard that had a beautiful gigantic statue of a hand with a raised middle finger. That pretty much sums up South Florida's mindset.
- nradov 5y ago
  The middle finger statue was removed in 2004 when the pornographer who owned it went bankrupt. Pretty funny though. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-al-goldstein-brow100-20141209-story.html https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-al-goldstein-b...
  - ryandrake 5y ago
    Wow it’s been that long, jeez. End of an era. I always thought that thing succinctly summed up the community, culture and zeitgeist of 2000s South Florida.

by clpm4j 5y ago

freyir 5y ago

As a transplant from Boston to California, every instance of “Miami” could be replaced with “California” in your comment and I’d be fine with it.

ryandrake 5y ago

I worked in tech in Fort Lauderdale for around 10 years and you're right about all of that. The place has potential of being a tech hub if they could just attract and retain smart people. Year round warm weather, lots of outdoor stuff, if you like the ocean, zero state income taxes! But, instead of the Bay Area's smart, risk-taking wealth, optimistically (and naively) trying to "change the world with tech", South Florida is filled with dumb, idle "to hell with my neighbors" wealth. It's full of people who got rich running payday loan stores and used car lots, instead of people who got rich building ML models for selling kitty litter on the internet. I remember a boat ride up the intracoastal, and there was a guy with a million-dollar mansion with a yacht docked next to his backyard that had a beautiful gigantic statue of a hand with a raised middle finger. That pretty much sums up South Florida's mindset.

nradov 5y ago
The middle finger statue was removed in 2004 when the pornographer who owned it went bankrupt. Pretty funny though. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-al-goldstein-brow100-20141209-story.html https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-al-goldstein-b...
- ryandrake 5y ago
  Wow it’s been that long, jeez. End of an era. I always thought that thing succinctly summed up the community, culture and zeitgeist of 2000s South Florida.