3 ms·

I worked for 7 years in NYC, considered the #2 tech hub. (Obviously, there's a huge gap between #1 and #2.) I'd almost certainly be an angel investor by now if

I worked for 7 years in NYC, considered the #2 tech hub. (Obviously, there's a huge gap between #1 and #2.) I'd almost certainly be an angel investor by now if I spent that time in SV. People about as talented as I am (and, some, significantly less) are now EIRs and partners at reputable VC firms, or even able to found. Place matters. I'm not poor, but I'm not where I should be, and probably not where I would be if I'd started in SF. (Why I chose NYC would take too long to explain. It's not relevant.) Once you have a national reputation and can get $250+ per hour consulting rates, you can live whereever you want. It takes a while to get there. Most people have to put in their decade in a congested, expensive, and not very pleasant region of the country before getting there (and some never do). As for remote work, it has the same issues. If you have a national reputation already, you can get away with it. Most places, remote workers don't really advance their careers and are the first ones axed.

king_jester 13y ago
If your goal is to assimilate into certain wealth classes, then it probably doesn't matter to you about the socioeconomic conditions of people you displace or how a city changes as people like yourself pursue that wealth. I those things do matter to you, I would expect that you'd be highly critical of VCs and investing culture. > Once you have a national reputation and can get $250+ per hour consulting rates, you can live whereever you want. It takes a while to get there. Most people have to put in their decade in a congested, expensive, and not very pleasant region of the country before getting there (and some never do). > As for remote work, it has the same issues. If you have a national reputation already, you can get away with it. Most places, remote workers don't really advance their careers and are the first ones axed. For what it's worth, I started my career in NYC in a really depressed market and made peanuts for my work as a software dev. I command nowhere near that kind of money now nor do I want to, but I'm paid very well compared to many friends and people in NYC and I have no trouble surviving gentrification effects on rent. But that survival is a privileged, I've seen tons of people driven out of the city because their skills and credentials are not valued by business. To that end, I am highly privileged, I don't have to flee because I'm part of a career class that is riding high right now.

king_jester 13y ago

If your goal is to assimilate into certain wealth classes, then it probably doesn't matter to you about the socioeconomic conditions of people you displace or how a city changes as people like yourself pursue that wealth. I those things do matter to you, I would expect that you'd be highly critical of VCs and investing culture. > Once you have a national reputation and can get $250+ per hour consulting rates, you can live whereever you want. It takes a while to get there. Most people have to put in their decade in a congested, expensive, and not very pleasant region of the country before getting there (and some never do). > As for remote work, it has the same issues. If you have a national reputation already, you can get away with it. Most places, remote workers don't really advance their careers and are the first ones axed. For what it's worth, I started my career in NYC in a really depressed market and made peanuts for my work as a software dev. I command nowhere near that kind of money now nor do I want to, but I'm paid very well compared to many friends and people in NYC and I have no trouble surviving gentrification effects on rent. But that survival is a privileged, I've seen tons of people driven out of the city because their skills and credentials are not valued by business. To that end, I am highly privileged, I don't have to flee because I'm part of a career class that is riding high right now.