I know this isn’t the point, but I object to the quote at the beginning of your post. Maybe it’s just because I’m one of “those who don’t live in that place,” but what about people who are optimizing for something other than their career? Is that really such a big “exception?” Or am I taking the quote out of context, or does he think those people are optimizing for the wrong things, or what?
Some examples of alternative things one may be optimizing for when selecting where to live:
A significant other’s career (or an area compatible with both people’s careers)
I completely agree. If moving to the Bay Area were an obvious choice, I’d already be there. Honestly, for me the choice of Boston (my current locale) vs Silicon Valley is less about career trajectory and intellectual environment and more about weather—Boston’s climate just seems awful to me. The quote was mostly to justify the idea that a lot of LWers might also be thinking of moving to SFBay.
Gotta be honest, if you have more roots and relationships in Boston, you shouldn’t move unless there’s something you want to do that you can do far better in the Bay Area.
Because roots and relationships are important and Boston is a very nice city/metro that can easily compete with SF in terms of culture, cuisine, variety (if not climate) and economy. Even if you’re in software, there’s plenty of jobs and even startups in Boston.
I know this isn’t the point, but I object to the quote at the beginning of your post. Maybe it’s just because I’m one of “those who don’t live in that place,” but what about people who are optimizing for something other than their career? Is that really such a big “exception?” Or am I taking the quote out of context, or does he think those people are optimizing for the wrong things, or what?
Some examples of alternative things one may be optimizing for when selecting where to live:
A significant other’s career (or an area compatible with both people’s careers)
Being near family or friends
Convenient access to specific hobbies
The weather
I completely agree. If moving to the Bay Area were an obvious choice, I’d already be there. Honestly, for me the choice of Boston (my current locale) vs Silicon Valley is less about career trajectory and intellectual environment and more about weather—Boston’s climate just seems awful to me. The quote was mostly to justify the idea that a lot of LWers might also be thinking of moving to SFBay.
Gotta be honest, if you have more roots and relationships in Boston, you shouldn’t move unless there’s something you want to do that you can do far better in the Bay Area.
Why do you say that?
Because roots and relationships are important and Boston is a very nice city/metro that can easily compete with SF in terms of culture, cuisine, variety (if not climate) and economy. Even if you’re in software, there’s plenty of jobs and even startups in Boston.