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Ask HN: Is there any point to being in Silicon Valley for an engineer now?

3 points by aphextron ↗ HN
The atmosphere there of the last 10 years was incredible. Daily meetups, hackathons, endless networking events, game jams, conferences, hacker spaces, cool offices, likeminded people everywhere. But literally all of that is gone now. Will it ever come back, or is the dream over? Is SV as "Florence in the Rennaisance" a thing of the past at this point?

4 comments

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eyberg
No.

I was definitely in the camp that "yes you need to be here" - at least for a stint but all of that has been effectively killed because of the response to covid. All the big companies new date for coming back is end of this year - minimum, however those goalposts keep getting changed every quarter or so. I think it's going to be a solid 2-3 years minimum before we see anything back here and that's assuming nothing gets crazier this year.

I'm selling the house and leaving. I'd be interested in hearing about places where people are going.

7thaccount
The south has real cheap real estate. Just don't tell your friends.
chrispeel
The meetups, hackathons, networking, etc will come back. I think that there will be more of a reason for a young engineer to be a place like SF or Silicon Valley when things return to normal than for a mature engineer. I foresee lotsa cheap commercial real estate, which will enable young companies to start in SV. I'm less sure what will happen to the home and apartment markets, yet at least the prices will be stable or lower to start with. The more of a mature engineer you are, the more likely you are to be in a stable job where you can work remotely and may be inclined to either move away from the valley or never move in.

I could be wrong; the next few years will be interesting.

phendrenad2
The fact that noncompete clauses are apparently unenforceable in CA, and nowhere else, means CA always has an advantage. So while people may have moved due to COVID, those who stay will innovate faster, keeping the startups rolling off the assembly line.