
Ask HN: Best city to start a career in 2019? - sheetin
If you were starting over, where would you start today?
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marapuru
I would start in the city where I grew up and currently live. Giving back to
your local community is important. Especially if you have a new trade or know
something that is currently not there.

Biggest plus points:

\- No car required. Everything could be bikeable

\- Your network is already there

\- It's probably cheaper then moving to a 'big' city.

If you are looking for money, and money only. Go to the default startup
hotspots and cities. But if you are looking to find personal happiness, I'd
say doing that in a place that's more quiet and less competitive would be much
more rewarding.

~~~
wjossey
There’s another response to this supporting staying where you grow up. I’m not
against this in any way, but leaving your home community has value as well.

I left where I grew up in rural suburban Ohio and followed my girlfriend to a
college 500 miles from home. Beyond her, I knew no one else (and we quickly
broke up).

I then moved east to Boston after graduating. Once again, knew no one. I had
no financial support from family, no couches to sleep on, just quite literally
me and my dog.

I built a life there, which was my own. It was tough, had some bad roommates
at times, was in debt and poor, but quickly learned all the things I needed to
be self sufficient (sans the food gathering) in this life. I met the woman who
would later become my wife, started a career, made great friends, and
eventually moved to LA.

My wife grew up in NH, went to school in Boston, and her “moving away” was
when we went to LA. It was an important growth moment for her, and she’s been
able to learn things about herself she couldn’t with her support structure in
Boston.

So, moving away has tons of challenges. But, in a lot of ways, it’s like
joining a startup. You end up wearing a lot of hats because there’s no one
else to wear them for you. You quickly learn you can tackle problems in front
of you better than you realized, and you gain confidence that will serve you
throughout your life.

~~~
marapuru
You made a valid point here that I didn't express in my original comment. I'm
not saying traveling is bad. I basically wanted to state that starting a
career doesn't necessarily have to be in a Tech Hotspot. It can be a smaller
community as well. Where tech skills can be much more of value.

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gshdg
US-Centric:

With a CS degree: SF or Seattle or wherever I could find a FAANG/MS type
highly regarded big tech company to recruit me to, since the entry level
market is soft among startups and a lot of non-tech BigCos seem to be a path
to stagnation (based on my experience interviewing candidates from such
backgrounds).

Software developer without a CS degree: best chance of being hired is probably
at a startup or agency. I’d go somewhere with a startup scene but lower CoL
than SF or NY. Probably Seattle or Austin.

Other fields: follow the jobs. To break into publishing, New York. Film, LA.
Anything that’s not specific to an industry (say, marketing), I’d probably
find somewhere with moderate CoL that’s undergoing an economic boom. Then
consider moving somewhere with higher CoL but also higher salaries once you’re
established - since if you can save the same percentage of your salary you’ll
save more total dollars and reach financial targets faster.

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quickthrower2
Starting out? 20s? Maybe be nomadic, do a year in Barcelona a year in NY do
some digital nomadding.

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thiago_fm
It really depends.

Latin America: Sao Paulo

North America: Portland

Europe: Berlin

~~~
claudiulodro
Why Portland? It's a nice place, but the job market is highly competitive and
not super lucrative.

~~~
thiago_fm
Because it isn't crazily expensive like SF, people got good mindset and I see
a lot of potential for growth.

Highly competitive is a quality, no?

