Unmentioned but large comparative advantage of this: it’s not based in the Bay Area.
The typical alignment pitch of:
“Come and work on this super-difficult problem you may or may not be well suited for at all”
Is a hard enough sell for already-successful people (which intelligent people often are) without adding:
“Also you have to move to this one specific area of California which has a bit of a housing and crime problem and very particular culture”
Unmentioned but large comparative advantage of this: it’s not based in the Bay Area.
It’s based in the Bay Area of England (Oxford), though, with no mention of remote. So, all the same pathologies: extreme liberal politics, high taxes and cost of living, Dutch disease being captured by NIMBYs with a lock on ever escalating real estate prices and banning density, persistent blatant crime and homelessness (in some ways, worse: I was never yelled at by the homeless in SF like I was in Oxford, and one woman tried to scam me twice. I was there for all of 2 weeks!).
Taxes in Oxford are more-or-less the same as anywhere else in the UK. These are lower than many European countries but higher than the US (especially states with no income tax).
Rent in SF is more than 2x Oxford (seems roughly right to me) but I agree with what you say on housing.
Having lived in SF and Oxford, the claim about crime and homelessness doesn’t match my experience at all (nor any anecdotes I’ve heard). I’d be very surprised if stats showed more crime in Oxford vs the central parts of SF.
Another difference is the geographic location! As someone who grew up in Germany, living in England is a lot more attractive to me since it will allow me to be closer to my family. Others might feel similarly.
Unmentioned but large comparative advantage of this: it’s not based in the Bay Area.
The typical alignment pitch of: “Come and work on this super-difficult problem you may or may not be well suited for at all” Is a hard enough sell for already-successful people (which intelligent people often are) without adding: “Also you have to move to this one specific area of California which has a bit of a housing and crime problem and very particular culture”
It’s based in the Bay Area of England (Oxford), though, with no mention of remote. So, all the same pathologies: extreme liberal politics, high taxes and cost of living, Dutch disease being captured by NIMBYs with a lock on ever escalating real estate prices and banning density, persistent blatant crime and homelessness (in some ways, worse: I was never yelled at by the homeless in SF like I was in Oxford, and one woman tried to scam me twice. I was there for all of 2 weeks!).
Taxes in Oxford are more-or-less the same as anywhere else in the UK. These are lower than many European countries but higher than the US (especially states with no income tax).
Rent in SF is more than 2x Oxford (seems roughly right to me) but I agree with what you say on housing.
Having lived in SF and Oxford, the claim about crime and homelessness doesn’t match my experience at all (nor any anecdotes I’ve heard). I’d be very surprised if stats showed more crime in Oxford vs the central parts of SF.
The homeless in Oxford talked to me or followed me more than in Berkeley. (I haven’t spent much time in SF.)
Another difference is the geographic location! As someone who grew up in Germany, living in England is a lot more attractive to me since it will allow me to be closer to my family. Others might feel similarly.