Ask HN: Seattle vs. Bay?
I have an option to work for a large tech company in the Bay Area or in Seattle. I'm not sure which to pick, and as far as I can tell the work experience will be about the same.
Any thoughts one way or another?
Any thoughts one way or another?
17 comments
[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 45.9 ms ] threadI also find it a bit silly to base your life on the dang daily weather. Of all the human experience and pain, the daily weather matters not.
Professionally, did you have any problems after living/working in Seattle? I had slight concerns that people in the bay might lack preference for engineers coming from outside of the bay, but hopefully that isn't true.
No one in tech in sf cares if you’re a transplant.
The nerve! Personally, I like riding my bike and sharing the road with people who aren't driving as fast as possible. There are still plenty of idiots driving, but at least they're driving a bit slower than where I grew up (deep South).
A place with responsible drivers! Sounds like heaven compared to where I live.
SF is beautiful and the weather is better. It seems to be An Experience.
Many years ago, I lived 45 miles from SF and I spent some time wishing I could live there. It's an incredible city.
It was unaffordable then and it's only gotten worse. But both cities have serious homeless problems. That is not peculiar to SF.
I guess it depends in part on how much you want An Experience and how much you want a relatively sane lifestyle. If you can afford it, I think the Bay Area is amazing. I'm glad I lived there and a little sad that moving to SF was not possible. But I'm currently in Washington and my life works vastly better here. So I'm getting over those feelings.
I didn't really get to do much in the city, so most of what I saw of it were sprawling hills of close, run-down housing with the exception of the financial district and SOMA. The city honestly seemed really dirty to me too. Maybe there are parts of it I didn't see?
When I visited Seattle the city seemed clean and full of interesting places to visit. I heard the housing market there is more reasonable, and it just seems more affordable overall. My concern is the weather in the winter, but maybe it isn't that bad?
I was a military wife. I've lived a bunch of places. To me, bad weather is 115 in the summer or heavy snow and ice in winter or tornados or hurricanes etc.
I also grew up in Georgia. Georgia gets terrible storms. Seattle doesn't get a lot of storms. It just rains and rains.
California has Fire Season as one of its seasons. That alone made me consider leaving. That's not a season I want in my life.
The big concerns for the Seattle weather are if you suffer from SAD or allergies. If you have SAD, it doesn't get enough sunlight. If you have allergies or certain other health issues, the combination of rain and temperate weather means you have a lot of mold there. That's a big problem for some people, but there are ways to minimize its impact on you.
I have allergies and respiratory problems. I don't want carpet, among other things. If my indoor air quality is tolerable, I'm okay up here in Washington. (I'm like 2 hours from Seattle, near the coast.)
They are both world class cities with a lot to offer. If you have been to both and you liked Seattle, then go there. Feel free to use sites like bestplaces.net to compare some of the metrics, but there is nothing wrong with going with your first impression if you don't personally have specific issues that need to be addressed.
I have a long list of personal issues and I heavily researched where to move. I live without a car. I have a limited income. I have health issues. So I had specific needs.
If you are basically healthy, can drive if you need to and make adequate money, then it really comes down to what you like and if you have specific career goals that would be better met in one of the cities. That's actually a wonderful problem to have and I envy you.
Best.
I really like the sun though, so the 9 months of gray and dark are hard. I often fantasize about leaving, but I think a tropical vacation in April can really help that.
Affordability is still much better in Seattle. You still have a (small) chance of buying a house here, depending on income. My career opportunities have been solid.
I'm a little sad that I missed out on the Bay Area Experience in my younger years. If I had things to do over again I think I'd work in the Bay for 2-3 years first, then leave. At this point I'm never moving there because the cost of living is too high with a family.
You'll save a lot more money living in Seattle compared to SF. The weather is a bit dreary sometimes, but I didn't find it to be much of a problem.
I'm from Chicago so I figured I'd just be trading lots of cold and snow for relatively less cold and mostly rain in the winters.