4 ms·

I just moved to the Bay Area last year and living in SF was never an option. You can get the same housing (or better) for $1000/month less by living in the East

I just moved to the Bay Area last year and living in SF was never an option. You can get the same housing (or better) for $1000/month less by living in the East Bay and you'll be right next to the BART. If SF real estate prices continue to climb like they have been, I think there's going to be an even greater trend of folks moving to the East Bay where it's more affordable. I also think the East Bay will be attractive for the same reason the Valley was: once you get older, it's a great place to settle down and think about having children. You can buy a single family house (with a yard!) in Rockridge, Berkeley, or Orinda with great schools that's still accessible to SF. I know plenty of folks getting into their mid-30s or 40s for whom this has become a lot more attractive than a million dollar rowhouse in SF.

wavefunction 13y ago
For how long? The situation sounds untenable. Better to spread the tech-industry all over the country and world in my not at all humble opinion.
- rsync 13y ago
  No. Economies of scale, network effects and (god willing) an end to sprawl-based development. By all means, if your career allows it, telecommute from anywhere you like - but nobody needs physical infrastructure and commute-endpoints spread evenly all over the land...
- nostrademons 13y ago
  Somebody needs to solve the out-of-sight-out-of-mind problem then. The technology already exists for easy videoconferencing (Hangouts/GVC), for easy screen-sharing (VNC), for easy code collaboration (GitHub), and for easy code reviews (Rietveld/Gerrit). The problem is that this isn't enough: many of the great ideas that the big tech companies are built on came out of small informal discussions in hallways, in cubes, or over dinner. Until you can hack human nature so that people will randomly say whatever just popped into their head to the avatar sitting next to them, there will still be a strong incentive for creative companies to colocate their employees.
gress 13y ago
None of these things will be true if the current trend continues and the tech sector does move to the east bay in force.

wavefunction 13y ago

For how long? The situation sounds untenable. Better to spread the tech-industry all over the country and world in my not at all humble opinion.

rsync 13y ago
No. Economies of scale, network effects and (god willing) an end to sprawl-based development. By all means, if your career allows it, telecommute from anywhere you like - but nobody needs physical infrastructure and commute-endpoints spread evenly all over the land...
nostrademons 13y ago
Somebody needs to solve the out-of-sight-out-of-mind problem then. The technology already exists for easy videoconferencing (Hangouts/GVC), for easy screen-sharing (VNC), for easy code collaboration (GitHub), and for easy code reviews (Rietveld/Gerrit). The problem is that this isn't enough: many of the great ideas that the big tech companies are built on came out of small informal discussions in hallways, in cubes, or over dinner. Until you can hack human nature so that people will randomly say whatever just popped into their head to the avatar sitting next to them, there will still be a strong incentive for creative companies to colocate their employees.

gress 13y ago

None of these things will be true if the current trend continues and the tech sector does move to the east bay in force.