
Why I’m leaving Silicon Valley - madmax108
https://medium.com/@preethikasireddy/why-im-leaving-silicon-valley-72919edb3297
======
junkscience2017
For most people, moving to Silicon Valley will simply accelerate their
personal financial ruin. For most people, buying, owning and then selling
their home is the accepted and straightforward path to financial independence.
The common case now is to rent perpetually at very high rates. Most of these
people will end up much worse off than someone in a podunk uncool city who was
able to buy a home.

If you are here and do not see a clear path to financial independence within
five years, leave. If you turn forty and are still renting your primary
residence out of necessity, leave.

~~~
matchsetpoint
I don't understand this argument. Let's put some numbers up:

Single: income starting at $130k a year. That's 7k/month after tax. Rent a
room in SV for $1000 (or Berkeley), and spends $1000/month. That's still
$5k/month in savings. If you're senior, that number goes up to $200k a year.
That's $11,500. That turns into $9500/month in savings.

Couple: 2 income at combined $260k a year. that's $14k/month after tax. Rents
a house in SV or berkeley at $3000/month. Spends $2000/month. That's
$9000/month in savings.

etc

~~~
junkscience2017
find me the room for $1k/month. find me that home for $3k/month. oh and be
sure to lock in those rates for five years

ok let's say you were lucky enough to find a $1k room in a neighborhood not
littered with gangs, bullets and drugs...

okay, now get married. where will you live?

okay, now your wife is pregnant, what now?

is success to you renting a bedroom in an apartment with three people when you
are forty five?

~~~
skybrian
Different strategies work for people in different situations. Renting cheaply
and saving while single has worked for some people. If the situation changes,
you'll have the down payment (and then some) to buy a house somewhere when
it's time to make a change.

Maybe not in Silicon Valley. Or maybe the housing bubble will be over by then?
There's no crystal ball.

------
matchsetpoint
This article reads like a self-promotional, self-important fluff piece.
Leaving all the congratulatory of her own career aside, she decides on
blockchain and decides on LA.....not New York or Singapore or places that
actually have alot of financial expertises she can learn.

> going onto to doing bigger and harder thing

Tell yourself the truth; you're afraid of the intense competition in SV.
You're going to LA for the weather, and live an easy life. There's no tech in
LA _except_ the big tech companies.

~~~
nobleach
...Intense competition with little real reward other than being able to tell
people that you work in SV. While you may make 150,000, you can barely afford
one room in a shared house. But, you DO work in SV so, there's that. If one
wants to work in tech, there are a ton of places one can do so. I know that SV
holds this position of tech nirvana in the minds of nerds (said
affectionately, not as a pejorative)... but some folks really do enjoy having
tangible real rewards for their hard work.

------
product50
I don't get her point. She is moving out since she realized Silicon Valley is
not the epicenter of tech? And her reasons on why LA are weak still (proximity
to SV, weather & hustle culture). I would have understood if she wanted to
move to another country to immerse herself into new culture and gain more
exposure but this seems like a copout. Unless she is planning to work in non-
tech space in LA, why is she expecting that techies in LA based companies
would be much different than SV (especially in companies like Snapchat, Google
etc. which she is quoting)?

~~~
cableshaft
I don't think she's exited the groupthink of SV as much as she claims.

------
alexasmyths
The 'block chain revolution'? Revolution? Really? Can anyone tell me about the
blockchain tech they are using that makes a noticeable difference in their
lives?

Also - what's with the massive glam spread glossy photo shot?

If anything, a big, professional magazine style selfie for a Medium post,
combined with the very self-oriented (i.e. it's mostly about me) narrative is
more evidence of the symptoms of the Valley than anything.

~~~
igorgue
Revolution: noun. Something that makes a noticeable difference in people's
lives.

Is not the definition of a revolution.

This is Revolution: noun. a forcible overthrow of a government or social order
in favor of a new system.

That's exactly what Blockchain technologies are doing to fiat currencies.
Don't you see it? Or you're one of the idiots here that are missing out. Don't
fall into collective thinking (like OP says).

~~~
alexasmyths
" Don't you see it? Or you're one of the idiots here that are missing out."

Ha ha ... ha ha ... yes, I'll use those BTC to buy ... what exactly? Nothing?

It's ok to be naive and dumb on YC, we're just not allowed to call other
people names.

~~~
igorgue
I use [https://www.shiftpayments.com/](https://www.shiftpayments.com/) I buy
everything with BTC

------
alexasmyths
1 year at Goldman Sachs and then _PARTNER_ at Anderseen Horrowitz, basically 1
year out of school?

What?

I don't think there's the full story here.

This is really strange LinkedIn history:

[https://www.linkedin.com/in/preethi-
kasireddy-41383528/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/preethi-kasireddy-41383528/)

Also - less than two years coding experience ... it's going to be hard. Surely
she's very smart so hey ...

~~~
BadassFractal
It's just an associate role, basically being the first line of defense against
people wasting the firm's time.

I suspect many firms call them "partners" these cays to prevent companies from
not going to meetings once they realize they're only being put in front of an
associate with no actual decision making power.

~~~
alexasmyths
I agree with your logic, much like a lot of private wealth managers being
'VPs'.

But still, there are actually 'Associates' there :)

Partner usually not until a few years and maybe an MBA.

------
ryandrake
I might be missing something big but who is the author, and why would anyone
care why she is moving? Is she a tech celebrity or something? Not sure how the
personal story of some rando techie got the up-votes it did but hey, odder
stuff has made it to the front page...

~~~
rboyd
maybe the blog post is a clever way to get people to offer to help pack and
load the truck

------
fuzzieozzie
Nice story telling -- my question is around the transition from banking --> VC
--> engineer. If you had your time over would you still follow the same path?
Was the finance side of business so complex that you needed to be in the "tick
of it" for so long?

~~~
cableshaft
I went from engineer -> producer/pm -> engineer. It almost seemed like I could
physically feel my programming skills atrophy during my time as a producer and
it was driving me nuts at the time.

I'm starting to think I should have just stuck with it. I'd probably be making
a lot more money now, and I would have dealt with a lot less bullshit.

------
baristaGeek
Reminds me of this post by Fred Wilson: [http://avc.com/2015/06/loyalists-vs-
mercenaries/](http://avc.com/2015/06/loyalists-vs-mercenaries/)

Summary: Starting a tech company outside SV is better in the sense that
engineers aren't there solely for the money, but have other motivations such
as the mission of the company or growing in the city that they'll be happy.
Therefore companies outside SV have less labor rotation.

------
dailyvijeos
Yup. Along the lines of one of Friedman’s book, the world is flatter thanks to
the internet and global transport.

------
omegaworks
Fantastic example of contemporary entrepreneurial life: come to the hub to get
exposure: build your network, increase your value, and understand what
motivates and drives your passion, then move on because there are easier
places to truly take root than SF.

SF doesn't offer the density of New York City, or the exposure to
creative/media infrastructure of LA. What any of these blockchain currencies
lack right now is mainstream appeal, LA would be fantastic for building that
once she's got the tech right.

Her bio drops a strong hint:

>I have a passion for understanding things at a fundamental level and _sharing
it as clearly as possible_.

