

Ask HN: Why is living in the bay area such a big deal? - basdevries

Hi HN,<p>As my finals have nearly come to an end I've decided to take a break for a year, learn about myself, do some design and coding, and to come back after one year and decide which road to take.<p>By thinking about which road to take I wondered why everyone is so into the bay area: It's an extremely expensive place to live, and talent is hard to find as you have to compete with Google and other major tech companies.<p>VC money is relatively easy to find but you don't have to live in the valley for that.<p>Are the meetups really worth it?<p>I'm asking this because I would love to apply for the Thiel Fellowship next year, but it's important to realize that I'll probably live in the valley for a long time afterwards. That's okay if things work out, but if they don't I'm stuck with quite high expenses and no academic background (I'm currently in highschool) which makes it hard to compete with all the Standford &#38; Berkley grads.. Which would mean I probably have to start my life over again at some place else.<p>I could also go to college in The Netherlands, but after college I've some debt to work myself around and before I get a chance to take some sort of a decision again I might be around 25-30 and planning to have babies or something like that. I need your help!
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iqster
I lived in the bay area for a while and moved away. I went to the meetups and
didn't get it initially. I used to joke that every person, including their
dog, has a lil startup. After a while, I started to "get" the extreme
optimism, ideals, etc. Don't get me wrong ... there is a TON of B.S. and lots
of posers who end up getting successful. But it is a neat feeling to meet your
tech heroes in person, and perhaps get a chance to work with them.

I do think SV is a special place and, if you are in tech, you should
experience it at least once. I like to say "Silicon Valley is a state of
mind". Once you get it, I think you can live anywhere with the same mindset.
Certainly, you don't need to live in the valley to get "it" but it sure helps.

~~~
basdevries
So basically all you're saying is: it's disneyland for techies, but after a
while not that fun? Why do still the most successful entrepreneurs stay in the
area then? Why did you move away btw?

~~~
mknappen
People tend to stay close to family, friends, beloved hobbies, and work. Once
a place feels like home, you are unlikely to leave unless compelled by love or
money.

Your gap year might best be used as a scouting trip. Sometimes the place that
most captures your imagination turns out to be exactly where you don't want to
live. A place that you never had considered may fit so well you never want to
leave. You won't know until you visit.

~~~
basdevries
Do you have any suggestions about how I can cover the costs? By the time I
enter my gap year I'll just be out of highschool, which means: not a really
great skillset on a professional level. That's why I want to work on that for
a year and then check the possibilities I have. There won't be any other time
I can imagine when I would be able to work on just my skills then a gap year
(locked up in my room, maybe)

~~~
mknappen
No knowledge is ever lost. You WILL learn a ton but the balance will likely
tip towards soft skills. This is great! Do not become angry with yourself if
you are not coding as much as you had hoped as long as you are coding
consistently.

HOW TO PAY YOUR WAY If it were me today, I would look for work that offered
some degree of physical control over my day and the ability to listen to high-
level conversations undetected. Janitorial for interesting companies, non-
profits and museums would be my ticket. When it was me, twenty years ago, I
did quite a bit of restaurant work supplemented with targeted freelance and
internships. Restaurants usually provide a free meal during your shift. (Get
friendly with a cook and you can go home with sandwiches to cover your days
off as well.) Freelance keeps you from being ground down by the physical
exhaustion and constant ego blows of a "low skill" position- and if it makes
you some money, well, Yahtzee for you.

LIVING TIPS Shared room situations and furnished sublets will keep you lease-
free but be sure you have a way to lock up your stuff while you are at work.
Pay your sub-let rent by check or money order to maintain a paper trail. Often
the landlord will not know you are there and this covers your butt. Also, even
friendly, straight-A student, drug users will "borrow" from you eventually.

HOW TO STAY SANE If not freelance, any structured learning will help buoy you
psychologically but be sure to connect with someone who will hold you
accountable for turning in something every week. Another option is
<http://www.straighterline.com/> or some other MOOC program. The added bonus
is you can tell your grandparents you are in a distance, college program. Even
if the university you eventually attend does not accept your MOOC credits, you
can often "challenge" a course and, by proving you have mastered the material,
be passed out of it.

TOTALLY DO-ABLE Resourceful people capable of teaching themselves can survive.
A resourceful person who knows a portable skill like coding, is single, child
free, 17-19 year old, willing to ask for help, and has a middle class
background is well equipped for a gap year. You won't starve. Travel lightly
and take photos.

------
deadfall
When I moved to San Francisco two years ago because I wanted to be around
intelligent inspiring people that I could get help from on my journey to
becoming a great software engineer. When I got here I saw that there are so my
developers per square mile than anywhere I know. This is great for dev meetups
and hacker meetups. This is bad when 10-15 people are looking at the same job
position available.

I have found it to be pretty expensive to live here if you don't want a
roommate or you want a decent place.

All and all, I found the bay area pretty great for anything and everything you
want to do. I recently graduated from nerd school by visiting the Computer
History Museum.

------
orangethirty
Its nerd central. Which means that you will come into contact with a lot of
people who are like you. It makes the place unique, because there is simply no
other place in the world where that happens. Well, maybe in akihabara or the
chinese hardware market, but no other place.

~~~
ank286
It also makes you one dimensional because everyone is like you. This can be
bad for your own personal development and coming across ideas in different
areas of industry/economy. No wonder you see "herd" startups in SF a lot of
times. There is too much noise in SF.

