6 ms·

Weirdly Atlanta is not on the list, but this is why I'm probably never moving to SF. Yes, all the cool jobs are there, but for what price? GA tech is releasing

Weirdly Atlanta is not on the list, but this is why I'm probably never moving to SF. Yes, all the cool jobs are there, but for what price? GA tech is releasing very high quality engineers and the startup scene here is great (Mailchimp and many others), and you live in a frikin mansion 10 minutes commute to work (if you live in Alpharetta). Tons of technical meetups and both thriving startup scene and established enterprise presence. West coast based companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Amazon et al keep trying to offer me jobs in SF like it's obvious that this is where I would want to move, I really don't understand why they don't open offices in Alpharetta. Dead cheap office space, great talent pool, and if you ask me - awesome weather. and they will have to pay me 50% less than what they would in SF, and I won't have to switch my 3,500 square feet house (which is 10-20 minute drive to a myriad of tech companies) with a 2 bedroom and an hour commute to work

madcaptenor 12y ago
and you live in a frikin mansion 10 minutes commute to work (if you live in Alpharetta) Yeah, but then you have to live in Alpharetta. Would be nice to see more jobs ITP. I currently work for a large enterprise company, at an office in Roswell (our office was moved here from Alpharetta a few months before I started) and I see lots of people (including me) commuting up. I'm coming up 400 the whole way so it's not too horrible. But I don't think it's a coincidence that the people who have to use the east side of 285 (we have lots of people who live in or near Decatur) work from home a lot. Still, it beats living in San Francisco... I actually moved here from SF when my wife and I realized there was no way we could afford to settle down there.
- eranation 12y ago
  Alpharetta is great (if you are 35+ with kids) Not so great if you are a young couple before having kids and want to have some city action, I agree... I think that most ITP jobs are more tending toward younger startups, Rails, Python etc. Alpharetta is much more enterprise / Java / .NET, funny how your tech stack needs to change dramatically based on where you choose to live... I actually think the cooler jobs are midtown ;)
kingnothing 12y ago
I'm also surprised Atlanta isn't on the list. I live here for now, but my main gripe is that there isn't much to do in or near the city. We don't have any worthwhile natural features like mountains, lakes, or beaches, and the cultural scene (museums, etc) is a joke.
- eranation 12y ago
  We can change that! :) If more companies will move from SF / NY to Atlanta / Alpharetta - there will be more things todo. I agree that seeing the Aquarium, Fernbank, High museum once is pretty much enough for a lifetime, but what about top golf? the new avalon? things are getting more and more interesting... ;)
  - jessedhillon 12y ago
    I feel like you're trying hard to reframe the situation so as not to admit the obvious fact here -- that your tastes are, by big city standards, somewhat dull. It's fine if you like living in a place with one museum, an aquarium and a golf club. But don't frame it like there's some mystery about why people choose to pay multiple times your costs to live in big cities: that's where the culture is. Your Atlanta suburb is not an alternative to SF, it's a place where you can live because you simply don't care for the things that draw many others to SF. There's no need to compare the two.
  - hollerith 12y ago
    Ah yes, Atlanta boosterism. I remember that about Atlanta.
birk5437 12y ago
I wouldn't move back to Atlanta unless I had a job ITP....I worked in Alpharetta for 2 years right out of school and hated the location...all of the action is near midtown/ponce/buckhead
- eranation 12y ago
  Yep, not the best place for right out of school job, but it's heaven on earth if you are with a family and want to settle down. When I go out today, (not as often as before) we less go to a buckhead rave party, and more to each other's huge basements playing pool / watch movies in our 3D home cinemas drinking from our home made bar because of all the money saved from living in Alpharetta ;) (sorry, was mixing a bit of fantasy with reality, but I have 2 kids and I go out every week or so, it's just that things change with time, especially after getting married and having kids, at least for me...)
jamiesonbecker 12y ago
I love GA too... but Texas has zero income tax (it's in the state Constitution).
- totalrobe 12y ago
  Yes because of insane property tax
  - jamiesonbecker 12y ago
    High property taxes are a myth. Slightly higher, yes. However, you can choose your tax rate by choosing a subdivision right next door. Subdivs w/ larger, more expensive homes tend to have lower tax rates. 3% at $100k home is common, 2.5% at $500k home. Depends on community amenities. About half of the collected tax go directly to your local school district, and small slices to various community services, fire, police, water, etc. The state is mostly funded through sales tax (which is around 7 to 8%). Taxes are generally from 2% to 3% of property tax appraisal (which is usually lower than the real, "market" value; when I bought my house, it was appraised for 40% less than what I paid for it). For a $500k house (large home, probably 4,000 to 5,000 sq ft, pool), maybe $1k/mo. For a $200k home (which could still be 3k sq ft), maybe $500/mo. Any way you cut it, even $12k/year in property tax is certainly less to possibly a LOT less than 13% income tax in CA, and you can buy smaller or larger, buy elsewhere or relocate, or negotiate it away by protesting with comps data. Also, it's a tax only when you spend the money, not when you make it (encouraging investment). Rentals have no direct property tax, of course. Compare the actual prices. Before you say "oh, that's where it is!" compare the rental prices for a home in San Jose (or SF) to the same home in an Austin suburb.
    - madcaptenor 12y ago
      Rentals have no property tax, of course. Someone's paying that tax, even though it's not the tenant. That's going to get passed through to the tenant in the form of higher rents.
      - 12y ago
s73v3r 12y ago
Where I am, I can reasonably bike commute to work, and I might just have to change clothes and towel down. Down there, I'd have to take a full on shower once I got to the office.

madcaptenor 12y ago

and you live in a frikin mansion 10 minutes commute to work (if you live in Alpharetta) Yeah, but then you have to live in Alpharetta. Would be nice to see more jobs ITP. I currently work for a large enterprise company, at an office in Roswell (our office was moved here from Alpharetta a few months before I started) and I see lots of people (including me) commuting up. I'm coming up 400 the whole way so it's not too horrible. But I don't think it's a coincidence that the people who have to use the east side of 285 (we have lots of people who live in or near Decatur) work from home a lot. Still, it beats living in San Francisco... I actually moved here from SF when my wife and I realized there was no way we could afford to settle down there.

eranation 12y ago
Alpharetta is great (if you are 35+ with kids) Not so great if you are a young couple before having kids and want to have some city action, I agree... I think that most ITP jobs are more tending toward younger startups, Rails, Python etc. Alpharetta is much more enterprise / Java / .NET, funny how your tech stack needs to change dramatically based on where you choose to live... I actually think the cooler jobs are midtown ;)

kingnothing 12y ago

I'm also surprised Atlanta isn't on the list. I live here for now, but my main gripe is that there isn't much to do in or near the city. We don't have any worthwhile natural features like mountains, lakes, or beaches, and the cultural scene (museums, etc) is a joke.

eranation 12y ago
We can change that! :) If more companies will move from SF / NY to Atlanta / Alpharetta - there will be more things todo. I agree that seeing the Aquarium, Fernbank, High museum once is pretty much enough for a lifetime, but what about top golf? the new avalon? things are getting more and more interesting... ;)
- jessedhillon 12y ago
  I feel like you're trying hard to reframe the situation so as not to admit the obvious fact here -- that your tastes are, by big city standards, somewhat dull. It's fine if you like living in a place with one museum, an aquarium and a golf club. But don't frame it like there's some mystery about why people choose to pay multiple times your costs to live in big cities: that's where the culture is. Your Atlanta suburb is not an alternative to SF, it's a place where you can live because you simply don't care for the things that draw many others to SF. There's no need to compare the two.
- hollerith 12y ago
  Ah yes, Atlanta boosterism. I remember that about Atlanta.

birk5437 12y ago

I wouldn't move back to Atlanta unless I had a job ITP....I worked in Alpharetta for 2 years right out of school and hated the location...all of the action is near midtown/ponce/buckhead

eranation 12y ago
Yep, not the best place for right out of school job, but it's heaven on earth if you are with a family and want to settle down. When I go out today, (not as often as before) we less go to a buckhead rave party, and more to each other's huge basements playing pool / watch movies in our 3D home cinemas drinking from our home made bar because of all the money saved from living in Alpharetta ;) (sorry, was mixing a bit of fantasy with reality, but I have 2 kids and I go out every week or so, it's just that things change with time, especially after getting married and having kids, at least for me...)

jamiesonbecker 12y ago

I love GA too... but Texas has zero income tax (it's in the state Constitution).

totalrobe 12y ago
Yes because of insane property tax
- jamiesonbecker 12y ago
  High property taxes are a myth. Slightly higher, yes. However, you can choose your tax rate by choosing a subdivision right next door. Subdivs w/ larger, more expensive homes tend to have lower tax rates. 3% at $100k home is common, 2.5% at $500k home. Depends on community amenities. About half of the collected tax go directly to your local school district, and small slices to various community services, fire, police, water, etc. The state is mostly funded through sales tax (which is around 7 to 8%). Taxes are generally from 2% to 3% of property tax appraisal (which is usually lower than the real, "market" value; when I bought my house, it was appraised for 40% less than what I paid for it). For a $500k house (large home, probably 4,000 to 5,000 sq ft, pool), maybe $1k/mo. For a $200k home (which could still be 3k sq ft), maybe $500/mo. Any way you cut it, even $12k/year in property tax is certainly less to possibly a LOT less than 13% income tax in CA, and you can buy smaller or larger, buy elsewhere or relocate, or negotiate it away by protesting with comps data. Also, it's a tax only when you spend the money, not when you make it (encouraging investment). Rentals have no direct property tax, of course. Compare the actual prices. Before you say "oh, that's where it is!" compare the rental prices for a home in San Jose (or SF) to the same home in an Austin suburb.
  - madcaptenor 12y ago
    Rentals have no property tax, of course. Someone's paying that tax, even though it's not the tenant. That's going to get passed through to the tenant in the form of higher rents.
    - 12y ago

s73v3r 12y ago

Where I am, I can reasonably bike commute to work, and I might just have to change clothes and towel down. Down there, I'd have to take a full on shower once I got to the office.