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Beware that a lot of networking events take place in 21+ places (read: bars) so that may or may not be a problem. You're planning ahead a lot more than most ki

Beware that a lot of networking events take place in 21+ places (read: bars) so that may or may not be a problem. You're planning ahead a lot more than most kids that move to SF for a summer. Most end up homeless on haight street before calling their parents for a ticket home (I've hosted two separate street kids who moved here with starry eyes and ended up on the street before they went home...) -- so kudos for planning ahead a bit more than them :) I moved here with $7,000 + a $2,000/month contract gig and settled in nicely. You're cutting it close, but it's possible. My $0.02x4: (a) It's possible once you have the network and people who will vouch for your skills. Be aware that CL is full of red herrings; people are not hiring as many contractors in the downturn, but it still happens. Expect to see far less C++ than RoR/python/PHP. (b) It will be challenging, mentally and physically, but it's possible if you're strategic about it. $700 can get you a sublet __if_you_look_long_and_hard__, but $100 for food is tough. You probably won't have much of a kitchen to prepare your own food. When I went through YCombinator I lived off of Vietnamese sandwiches and Dim Sum for days at a time; you'll get sick of it but $3 sandwiches and $4 for a plate of dim sum is hard to beat. $7 mission burritos are also a good bet, El Farolito's has burritos that'll easily feed you for a whole day. c) SF is going to be cold during the summer. You should have been able to find this out, it's no longer 1968 ;) e) You're in high school, you get to be crazy. :)

rdouble 17y ago
This is the best advice so far. I want to chime in and say DON'T move to the east bay or one of the cheap places on the peninsula. The 'savings' are misleading. There's a good chance you'll spend as much in transport as you'll save in rent.. For example, from downtown Berkeley to 16th and Mission is $3.55 each way. If you go back and forth every day, it's $210/m. Thus if you find a $500/m room in Berkeley but you still go into the city all the time, it's the same as having a $700 room in the Mission. Also, there is little chance of finding a cheaper room in the east bay that is within reasonable walking distance from BART. The east bay is way more spread out and chances are that you'll have to walk quite a ways to get to the BART. In fact I'm going to risk criticism and say that anyplace you find a shared room cheaper than $700 in the east bay is going to be a sketchy neighborhood. YMMV, but the shady parts of berkeley are the only places in the bay area I've ever been mugged or physically threatened by people. I speak from experience. When I moved here in 2001 I paid $700 for a place in Berkeley, which was about as cheap as it got. I worked on 17th and Harrison in the outer mission. I had to walk almost 30min to get to Ashby BART each way. If something happened late into the evening I'd have to crash on a friend's couch or take a $40 cab ride back to Berkeley cuz the BART stops running at midnight. It mostly sucked. I don't want to hate on the east bay, it has it's charms. But unless your job and social life is all on that side of the bay, it's better to live in the city. You can definitely find a $700 room somewhere in SF. That's what I paid for a room in the mission until 2006 (then moved into my own place). Also don't drive here, having a car is a huge expense in SF. My car was paid for and it still cost me around $400/m for parking, gas and parking tickets. You almost always get a virgin america flight from SEA to SFO for $49 if you travel on any day besides friday or sunday. If I were doing this I'd bring nothing except a backpack with a few clothes (you can buy more stuff here if you need it) and a laptop. Then I'd just float around different cheap places on AirBNB until I figured out what I was doing.
- mannicken 17y ago
  I'm planning to sleep in the car if something happens. And I can't work on a laptop, I'd have to bring my large 22'' display here, and keyboards, so I'd end up walking around with a very very huge backpack :)
  - notphilatall 17y ago
    I didn't read the car part in your original post. Your car is an additional "mouth to feed", in terms of lodging and gas. If things go crazy, you should have enough $$ for some days of hotel and a flight home. Bringing a car full of computer stuff is a liability; unless you're doing lots of graphic design I'd drop the display and rock a cheap laptop. Good luck dude.
  - thesethings 17y ago
    Yeah, I want to chime in. Not only is having a car expensive, but it even when you can afford it, it does not make anything easier. You don't necessarily get parking spaces closer to your destination than where the bus stop is. Often you're walking farther to and from your spot, than where the bus/MUNI/BART/cab would drop you off. Also, in a city, you're always having to move your car even when you don't need to drive it anywhere for street cleaning days. If you're lucky enough to have a garage for it, it will be hundreds of dollars a month. You're already cutting it pretty close with your budget. Really, really, really don't bring it. Otherwise, I think your plan sounds amazing, and I hope you post here from time to time about your experiences.

rdouble 17y ago

This is the best advice so far. I want to chime in and say DON'T move to the east bay or one of the cheap places on the peninsula. The 'savings' are misleading. There's a good chance you'll spend as much in transport as you'll save in rent.. For example, from downtown Berkeley to 16th and Mission is $3.55 each way. If you go back and forth every day, it's $210/m. Thus if you find a $500/m room in Berkeley but you still go into the city all the time, it's the same as having a $700 room in the Mission. Also, there is little chance of finding a cheaper room in the east bay that is within reasonable walking distance from BART. The east bay is way more spread out and chances are that you'll have to walk quite a ways to get to the BART. In fact I'm going to risk criticism and say that anyplace you find a shared room cheaper than $700 in the east bay is going to be a sketchy neighborhood. YMMV, but the shady parts of berkeley are the only places in the bay area I've ever been mugged or physically threatened by people. I speak from experience. When I moved here in 2001 I paid $700 for a place in Berkeley, which was about as cheap as it got. I worked on 17th and Harrison in the outer mission. I had to walk almost 30min to get to Ashby BART each way. If something happened late into the evening I'd have to crash on a friend's couch or take a $40 cab ride back to Berkeley cuz the BART stops running at midnight. It mostly sucked. I don't want to hate on the east bay, it has it's charms. But unless your job and social life is all on that side of the bay, it's better to live in the city. You can definitely find a $700 room somewhere in SF. That's what I paid for a room in the mission until 2006 (then moved into my own place). Also don't drive here, having a car is a huge expense in SF. My car was paid for and it still cost me around $400/m for parking, gas and parking tickets. You almost always get a virgin america flight from SEA to SFO for $49 if you travel on any day besides friday or sunday. If I were doing this I'd bring nothing except a backpack with a few clothes (you can buy more stuff here if you need it) and a laptop. Then I'd just float around different cheap places on AirBNB until I figured out what I was doing.

mannicken 17y ago
I'm planning to sleep in the car if something happens. And I can't work on a laptop, I'd have to bring my large 22'' display here, and keyboards, so I'd end up walking around with a very very huge backpack :)
- notphilatall 17y ago
  I didn't read the car part in your original post. Your car is an additional "mouth to feed", in terms of lodging and gas. If things go crazy, you should have enough $$ for some days of hotel and a flight home. Bringing a car full of computer stuff is a liability; unless you're doing lots of graphic design I'd drop the display and rock a cheap laptop. Good luck dude.
- thesethings 17y ago
  Yeah, I want to chime in. Not only is having a car expensive, but it even when you can afford it, it does not make anything easier. You don't necessarily get parking spaces closer to your destination than where the bus stop is. Often you're walking farther to and from your spot, than where the bus/MUNI/BART/cab would drop you off. Also, in a city, you're always having to move your car even when you don't need to drive it anywhere for street cleaning days. If you're lucky enough to have a garage for it, it will be hundreds of dollars a month. You're already cutting it pretty close with your budget. Really, really, really don't bring it. Otherwise, I think your plan sounds amazing, and I hope you post here from time to time about your experiences.