

Ask HN: Where should I move to maximize my career potential? - ncarlson

Hi everyone,<p>I'm coming to a turning point in my life. I'll be graduating from university soon, and I'm looking forward to moving to a more hacker friendly city with brighter prospects. My question to the community here is... if you were in my position, which city would you choose?<p>Some background information:
I'm a bit of a laggard in graduating, being that I'm 25. I spent two years abroad in Japan, and upon entering university, switched majors more than once. However, my time has been well spent, working on various software projects.<p>I live near Boulder right now, but I'm originally from Detroit. While the Boulder/Denver area is certainly in a better position than Detroit in terms of tech related jobs, I feel that there are better cities out there.<p>Here are some cities and locations I'm considering:<p>* Chicago<p>* New York<p>* SF Bay Area<p>* Seattle<p>* Boston<p>* Houston/Austin<p>From a lifestyle and interests standpoint, any of these cities are acceptable. However, my gut tells me that the SF Bay Area is where I should really be. Some of my tech proficiencies are a bit esoteric (read: Erlang). So I think that given the large concentration of tech related companies in  the SF area, the probability of me finding a suitable job there would be greater than that in a different city. I could be totally wrong though.<p>What do you think?<p>Thanks for the help.
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tokenadult
<http://paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html>

Yes, I think the SF Bay Area is the credited response here.

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wdr1
I'm from Chicago (and still consider it home), but without question,
California is the place to be. I moved west 10 years ago and it's been a fun
ride.

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vaksel
If you want to work with the web, SF Bay Area hands down. + its the shortest
move for you

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noodle
if everything else is equal, SF bay area. if you have other considerations
that do have sway beyond brazen careerism, then that might change things. or
it might not.

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anamax
While SV is a reasonable answer, why isn't Japan on your list?

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menloparkbum
If you aren't Japanese, Japan is not a good place to further your career.

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ncarlson
Why? I disagree.

If you go over there to teach English or engage in an unrelated job, sure,
it's not a healthy career move. But there are plenty of large multinational
companies working out of Tokyo.

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menloparkbum
Even at a large multinational, the experience you get in Japan is not
applicable anywhere else. When you move somewhere else, nobody cares about
your experience abroad and the language and cultural skills are no longer
useful.

Few people would consider moving from the USA to Germany or France a career
building move for a software developer. Yet, there is some mystique about
Japan.

It might be a cool place for international banking, or importing and exporting
obscure luxury items, but it's actually a bad place for a software developer.
Programming is considered a low-status job for dorks. The techniques are bad
and outdated. The work culture is anti-conducive to creative software
development. There aren't many good Japanese programmers. The ones that are
good are almost all indie developers - it's not like they're hiring. I mean,
just think about it... where would you even work? Try to name 10 places where
it would be good to work as a software developer in Japan.

I don't want to dissuade someone from living abroad. I've lived in Japan and
Australia and had a great time. However, if I had wanted to focus on a
software career it would have made more sense to just get a job at Google.

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earl
I've lived and worked at startups in both NYC and SF. It isn't even a contest.
The amount of startup activity, the character of the companies (ie are the
founders left in charge or do you have to have a Harvard MBA to pass muster
with the VCs), the ecosystem surrounding the companies, cheaper housing, the
ability to move between companies (you mostly can't enforce non-competes in
CA) -- come to SF. Oh, and the weather.

Paul Graham will give you the same answer in a much more detailed form -- go
read it.

