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True; it's pretty much impossible to succeed in business in LA without engaging with Hollywood in some fashion or another. (Unless you're in real estate, I supp

True; it's pretty much impossible to succeed in business in LA without engaging with Hollywood in some fashion or another. (Unless you're in real estate, I suppose.) Even the startups in LA regularly meet with, and receive funding from, celebrities, big talent agencies, and media companies. That said, I don't think there's a failure stigma attached to startup life in LA the way there is to acting or writing. If you're pushing 35 as an actor and you haven't caught a big break, you're seen as damaged goods -- and you've got a resume with 10+ years of food service on it. Not a fantastic place to end up. But if you tried and failed at a startup or two, and you have marketable skills? Very different story. Fox, Disney, etc., will probably hire you. So will other startups. So will Activision or various other game companies, if you have the stomach for that lifestyle. To your point, though, life at those big companies isn't much like life at Google or Facebook. That's because they aren't tech companies, and tech is a side business for them. In some companies, and in some divisions, life can downright suck. But some of those companies are making bigger commitments to tech, and life as an engineer at Disney (depending on the department) can be pretty solid and well compensated. But if doing a few years at a BigCo while you figure out your next move is "failure," it's a much softer and kinder failure than that which awaits Hollywood hopefuls who never quite make it. On a semi-related note: the key to Hollywood is relationships. It's like DC in that regard. People who come to town with preexisting relationships have a significant advantage. People who don't will need to forge them somehow. While that's not trivial, it's not impossible. As the tech scene grows and matures, so too will access to fellow tech workers, financiers, etc. One of the reasons I'm optimistic about LA is that its tech scene is starting to become self-sufficient, i.e., almost ready to become an independent ecosystem and industry, apart from entertainment or media. It'll always be to the LA tech scene's advantage to maintain ties there. But sooner or later, you'll be able to live and enjoy LA as an engineer without having to play the Hollywood game.

niels_olson 12y ago
Isn't SpaceX in LA? What about JPL, etc? Aerospace seems big there.
- michaelmike 12y ago
  They are. And so is Boeing, Raytheon, EA, and Blizzard if you're near Irvine. LA is incredibly diverse, despite people harping on about Hollywood. You can work in this town and never even care "the industry" is here. It becomes background noise. This is also why LA will never be defined by "Silicon Beach." People on the east side don't go west. (For good reason, I might add. Your life will be one hellish commute after another)
- jonnathanson 12y ago
  Good point. Aerospace in LA used to be a lot bigger than it is now. A lot of companies migrated out or downsized over the years, though to your point, some of the more exciting ones are still around. I'd certainly consider it a real possibility for anyone interested. It's kind of a different world, though. You don't generally see a lot of crossover between aerospace and the startup scene in LA. That's not to say it can't happen, that it doesn't happen, or that more cross-pollination shouldn't happen. Just that a lot of the skills required in aerospace are domain-specialized. Great space to be in, however, if you want to specialize. A good friend of mine spent most of his career at JPL, worked on navigational software for the Mars rover missions, etc. He was coding at the assembly level for most of that time. Which is super cool for people who are interested, and perhaps less so for people who aren't. If one has inclinations in that area, it's a fascinating place to be.
  - mturmon 12y ago
    I work at JPL. We do see crossovers to start ups, but as mentioned, not many, and typically in selected domains like machine learning, robotics, and computer vision or image processing, all of which are represented at JPL. An early googler (@lisper on HN) used to work next to me at JPL, and so did a very early Amazonian. I also know early hires for SpaceX and D-Wave. I would echo the comments nearby that the LA tech scene is not all Hollywood. Sometimes Hollywood has a hard time seeing outside itself. To me, the universities have a significant presence in the tech scene here (Caltech, USC, ISI, UCLA, UCI).
    - jonnathanson 12y ago

niels_olson 12y ago

Isn't SpaceX in LA? What about JPL, etc? Aerospace seems big there.

michaelmike 12y ago
They are. And so is Boeing, Raytheon, EA, and Blizzard if you're near Irvine. LA is incredibly diverse, despite people harping on about Hollywood. You can work in this town and never even care "the industry" is here. It becomes background noise. This is also why LA will never be defined by "Silicon Beach." People on the east side don't go west. (For good reason, I might add. Your life will be one hellish commute after another)
jonnathanson 12y ago
Good point. Aerospace in LA used to be a lot bigger than it is now. A lot of companies migrated out or downsized over the years, though to your point, some of the more exciting ones are still around. I'd certainly consider it a real possibility for anyone interested. It's kind of a different world, though. You don't generally see a lot of crossover between aerospace and the startup scene in LA. That's not to say it can't happen, that it doesn't happen, or that more cross-pollination shouldn't happen. Just that a lot of the skills required in aerospace are domain-specialized. Great space to be in, however, if you want to specialize. A good friend of mine spent most of his career at JPL, worked on navigational software for the Mars rover missions, etc. He was coding at the assembly level for most of that time. Which is super cool for people who are interested, and perhaps less so for people who aren't. If one has inclinations in that area, it's a fascinating place to be.
- mturmon 12y ago
  I work at JPL. We do see crossovers to start ups, but as mentioned, not many, and typically in selected domains like machine learning, robotics, and computer vision or image processing, all of which are represented at JPL. An early googler (@lisper on HN) used to work next to me at JPL, and so did a very early Amazonian. I also know early hires for SpaceX and D-Wave. I would echo the comments nearby that the LA tech scene is not all Hollywood. Sometimes Hollywood has a hard time seeing outside itself. To me, the universities have a significant presence in the tech scene here (Caltech, USC, ISI, UCLA, UCI).
  - jonnathanson 12y ago