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Tell HN: Setting up a live-in hacker house

43 points by ainsleyb ↗ HN
We're looking at putting together a hacker house within a 20 minute driving radius of Mountain View and I was hoping to gauge interest. Is anyone looking to move to/around the area in the next few weeks? There are a number of houses available and finding an apartment is a pain. Plus, living with like-minded individuals is always nice :)

Feel free to ping me at ainsleyb at alum dot mit dot edu

24 comments

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kinkora
A lil off topic but somehow when I read this, the first thing that leapt to my mind is the LikeALittle HQ @ Palo Alto. Have you seen it on techcrunch?

http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/04/tc-cribs-likealittle-lal/

I can imagine the sights and smells of your hacker house will end up somewhat similar to this guys within a few months of moving in.

Tip: It will be prudent to make sure the house is female-friendly. :)

ainsleyb
Well.. I am a female, so it will have to tend toward the female-friendly side :)
jvandenbroeck
haha:p I imagine a hackers house with a pink wall, that's just plain wrong ;p
borski
As her co-founder, I can guarantee I wouldn't let that happen. (well, maybe _one_ wall... ;) )
jackowayed
It's "just plain wrong" to have something challenge the status quo of this being a heavily male/macho field?

I know you meant it as a light-hearted joke, and she didn't seem to take offense, but a joke that suggests hacking is male doesn't help us get more females into the field.

jvandenbroeck
I'm sorry if I offended you, two of the brightest hackers I know are girls so I would be the last one to claim "hacking is for guys". It didn't even cross my mind, I don't know how it is in the States but here in Belgium there are plenty examples of smart women in computer science.
iamdave
Do yourself a favor and skip the video, or at least the first minute.
jackowayed
There's also been a Palo Alto hacker house for several years. I met a couple of the guys at Startup School and they seemed pretty cool. http://hackerhouse.bluwiki.com/go/Hackerhouse
nicholasreed
Speaking as a resident, come by and visit sometime! We're a few blocks off University
mjdwitt
It's too bad the site doesn't seem to have seen any love in a while. Last update to the main page there was over a year ago and a few of the external links seem to be broken.
jwwest
Just because we're nerds doesnt mean we can't wash some dishes every once in a while.
jvandenbroeck
Genius idea! Would love to do something like that when I graduate - I don't feel like working for a big corp & earn piles of $$$, would love to start my own thing

I only gotta figure out how to tell my parents.. :p

borski
Easy! "Mom, I can make $100k now, or $6M in 3 years. You tell me which you'd prefer." And then just make sure to not tell her the stats, of course ;)
robflynn
Eerily close to what I said to my mother when I moved from NC to CA around the age of 17-18.

I was on the right track, but I'll be damned if that dot-com bubble didn't stop me :P

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realitygrill
Sure. I have odd circumstances, but I'll ping ya.
mjdwitt
If you end up finding enough interest, it would be awesome to know how this works out. Any chance you will write about this more in the future?

Also, this is when I wish that I was in the bay area instead of Middle-of-Nowhere, Midwest.

ainsleyb
Definitely. I'm still trying to figure out the best place. Some people are up for the idea of being further away in something really nice, and others want to be in the thick of things. Optimal situation would be to find a happy medium :)
mjdwitt
Awesome! Here's to hoping it will all be positive news.
stchangg
Awesome! I had a similar idea -- will email you.

Just a note, in case the primary motivator for getting a house is cost: most of the time, apartments are cheaper per bedroom than houses.

ainsleyb
We've actually found it much easier and cheaper to find houses in this area. Granted, we moved here with the major influx of interns :P
athst
What kind of price range of house are you looking at?