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We have agency in that we could choose to renounce careers in tech. That’s it. There is a price/quality tradeoff in every housing market; all complaints about

We have agency in that we could choose to renounce careers in tech. That’s it. There is a price/quality tradeoff in every housing market; all complaints about price can be interpreted as insufficient willingness to compromise on quality. A cardboard box under a bridge is free! “You’re actually obscenely wealthy because you don’t live in a basement and drive 6 hours to work” is not the argument you think it is. Tech workers are telling you how they feel about Bay Area weather, schools, and transportation every time they complain about RTO. We all want nothing more than to get the fuck away from here. Nothing more except, perhaps, to do the work we were meant to do.

bagacrap 3y ago
You can easily find big tech jobs in Seattle, Austin, NY, Denver, Los Angeles, etc etc. Actions speak louder than words, so no, they are not telling me they want to live elsewhere. They're telling me they like to complain.
- tekknik 3y ago
  That $1.2 mil figure wasn’t any of those cities, nor was it from SF. You seem to be detached from reality. And btw, I spent a large portion of my life living out of a rack on a warship so don’t talk to me about compromise kiddo.
- closeparen 3y ago
  Moving to New York or Los Angeles for affordable housing is ridiculous on its face. Austin, Denver, and I would add Miami were basically flash-in-the-pan situations: first movers got some great deals, but the housing markets have priced it in by now & the forward-looking job market outlooks are uncertain. Seattle is interesting in that it's clearly a durable tech job center and is meaningfully cheaper than San Francisco. It's still twice as expensive as a normal place ($862k vs. $400k) and its street conditions reflect a housing crisis every bit as severe as San Francisco's, but it's true that you could keep your career while paying ~30% less there. So I guess the delta between SF and SEA could be interpreted as a lifestyle splurge.

bagacrap 3y ago

You can easily find big tech jobs in Seattle, Austin, NY, Denver, Los Angeles, etc etc. Actions speak louder than words, so no, they are not telling me they want to live elsewhere. They're telling me they like to complain.

tekknik 3y ago
That $1.2 mil figure wasn’t any of those cities, nor was it from SF. You seem to be detached from reality. And btw, I spent a large portion of my life living out of a rack on a warship so don’t talk to me about compromise kiddo.
closeparen 3y ago
Moving to New York or Los Angeles for affordable housing is ridiculous on its face. Austin, Denver, and I would add Miami were basically flash-in-the-pan situations: first movers got some great deals, but the housing markets have priced it in by now & the forward-looking job market outlooks are uncertain. Seattle is interesting in that it's clearly a durable tech job center and is meaningfully cheaper than San Francisco. It's still twice as expensive as a normal place ($862k vs. $400k) and its street conditions reflect a housing crisis every bit as severe as San Francisco's, but it's true that you could keep your career while paying ~30% less there. So I guess the delta between SF and SEA could be interpreted as a lifestyle splurge.