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Has something changed, or is Forbes taking bribes for that best-cities list? I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs

Has something changed, or is Forbes taking bribes for that best-cities list? I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs a widely-understood-to-be-terrible city in Florida.

Firmwarrior 4y ago
That's interesting, I visited last year and it seemed OK. Everything was way cheaper than the SF Bay, it was clean and easy to drive around, plenty of variety for shopping and restaurants. Not as fancy as silicon valley, but being half the price made up for a lot What this thread really makes me think is that I need to look into moving back to Seattle.. if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay and only a short flight away, maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut, haha.
- boring_twenties 4y ago
  > if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay It's not. > maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut You can. I have two friends who started at new jobs in Seattle in the first half of 2022. Both are making over $500k.
  - Sebguer 4y ago
    It's probably 80% of the price, maybe a little less or more depending on the neighborhood, at least in terms of apartment costs.
  - Firmwarrior 4y ago
    Man, that sounds great! I'm at a bit of a disadvantage since I only work on C/C++ OS/driver stuff, so there aren't as many openings around for me.. Maybe I should pivot to something a little higher up the stack
    - boring_twenties 4y ago
      I don't think it's a disadvantage at all. Maybe in terms of sheer number of openings, but many of those openings, you probably wouldn't enjoy filling. If you have any interest in securities trading, you can definitely make top dollar with those skills.
andrew_ 4y ago
Have been here 10 years and never heard a joke where Tampa was the butt since being here nor in my 30+ years living in the north. Perhaps you just have a bias?
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  I've never even lived in Florida, it's just a pop-culture thing. Like how Ohio's a go-to state for "boring" in similar contexts. [EDIT] I mean I guess the other possibility was that it was never true. I've been briefly a couple times and the city seemed pretty unremarkable, either way, but I wasn't there long and only saw a small part of it.
- Sebguer 4y ago
  John Oliver uses it a lot in the way GP described. Tbh, Tampa is definitely the best of Florida's cities, so not sure why beyond wanting to avoid the usual targets.
munificent 4y ago
> I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs a widely-understood-to-be-terrible city in Florida. Finally, Jacksonville's time to shine.
- yamtaddle 4y ago
  Ah, good point, I forgot about Jacksonville, LOL. Of course thanks to the "Florida man" law the whole state gets a fair amount of negative attention.

Firmwarrior 4y ago

That's interesting, I visited last year and it seemed OK. Everything was way cheaper than the SF Bay, it was clean and easy to drive around, plenty of variety for shopping and restaurants. Not as fancy as silicon valley, but being half the price made up for a lot What this thread really makes me think is that I need to look into moving back to Seattle.. if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay and only a short flight away, maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut, haha.

boring_twenties 4y ago
> if Seattle is still half the price of the Bay It's not. > maybe I can find a decent job without too much of a pay cut You can. I have two friends who started at new jobs in Seattle in the first half of 2022. Both are making over $500k.
- Sebguer 4y ago
  It's probably 80% of the price, maybe a little less or more depending on the neighborhood, at least in terms of apartment costs.
- Firmwarrior 4y ago
  Man, that sounds great! I'm at a bit of a disadvantage since I only work on C/C++ OS/driver stuff, so there aren't as many openings around for me.. Maybe I should pivot to something a little higher up the stack
  - boring_twenties 4y ago
    I don't think it's a disadvantage at all. Maybe in terms of sheer number of openings, but many of those openings, you probably wouldn't enjoy filling. If you have any interest in securities trading, you can definitely make top dollar with those skills.

andrew_ 4y ago

Have been here 10 years and never heard a joke where Tampa was the butt since being here nor in my 30+ years living in the north. Perhaps you just have a bias?

yamtaddle 4y ago
I've never even lived in Florida, it's just a pop-culture thing. Like how Ohio's a go-to state for "boring" in similar contexts. [EDIT] I mean I guess the other possibility was that it was never true. I've been briefly a couple times and the city seemed pretty unremarkable, either way, but I wasn't there long and only saw a small part of it.
Sebguer 4y ago
John Oliver uses it a lot in the way GP described. Tbh, Tampa is definitely the best of Florida's cities, so not sure why beyond wanting to avoid the usual targets.

munificent 4y ago

> I mostly know Tampa as the Florida city that's useful in a joke when someone needs a widely-understood-to-be-terrible city in Florida. Finally, Jacksonville's time to shine.

yamtaddle 4y ago
Ah, good point, I forgot about Jacksonville, LOL. Of course thanks to the "Florida man" law the whole state gets a fair amount of negative attention.