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I work in city planning, so a town like Coronado may not offer many opportunities for me with a lateral transfer. I would probably have to move on to bigger and better places like San Diego proper when it comes down to it. I work at a smaller office now and am experiencing a lack of advancement opportunities, which is why I'm even looking around for other jobs. I think the position in Coronado would be worth it if I really wanted or needed to move back to San Diego; right now I could go either way.
I have a pretty good idea what San Diego is like in one sense, but I'm not very familiar with it some other ways. I effectively moved away in 2001, and honestly, neighborhoods like East Village, Little Italy, and North Park have substantially changed in the past 12 years. The change is easy to see physically, but I can't really tell how they've changed socially since I don't know anyone that lives or works in those neighborhoods. And then there are places like Pacific Beach (for example) that I never spent time in as a kid, so I only have a foggy idea what it is like day-to-day.
Interesting advice and comments regarding office socialization. My current workplace skews very much older than me, with many of my co-workers old enough to be my parents (I am 30), so I am not used to hanging out with them at all. I meant happy hour in more of a general sense of meeting up with friends who don't work where I do but happen to be nearby. This is easy to do here in the Bay Area; for example, I know many people who can easily reach a bar in downtown Oakland for drinks after work.
There are tons of city planning opportunities ripe for the picking here in San Diego as the younger wave tries to refine the city in terms of accessibility, mobility, and sustainability. Use your age to your advantage to make yourself noticed.
I think East Village was and still is the prime time place to be if you are somebody who 'gets it' when it comes to urban living. Check this out:
It sounds like you are more concerned with your career at this point, than you are with your social life. Downtown, you can have both, and I think that's what makes it special and deserving of our attention.
I spend a lot of time all over the Bay Area. It is materially different, socially, economically, demographically. In my mind it is not a very fun place to live unless you have lots and lots of money. However it is still California. What it's missing in SD, and what the Bay Area has in droves, is young people with real jobs. You could fit the entire under-30 gainfully employed population of SD on the Google campus.
I spend a lot of time all over the Bay Area. It is materially different, socially, economically, demographically. In my mind it is not a very fun place to live. However it is still California. What it's missing, and what the Bay Area has in droves, is young people with real jobs. You could fit the entire under-30 gainfully employed population of SD on the Google campus.
There are a lot of reasons why this is true, but if San Diego wants to be more like the Bay Area in the sense that we attract more young, educated professionals, we need to attract the companies that they seek. One of downtown's top priorities at this point is to attract a big-name client to house a large complex, such as Google.
There are a lot of reasons why this is true, but if San Diego wants to be more like the Bay Area in the sense that we attract more young, educated professionals, we need to attract the companies that they seek. One of downtown's top priorities at this point is to attract a big-name client to house a large complex, such as Google.
This has been a top priority in the 20 years I've lived here and it's yet to happen. In that time we built a library and a ballpark and a heck of a lot of condos.
LA built a subway. There are massive developments going into the tech cluster near LAX right now - thousands of units. SF redeveloped SOMA and now all the way down to the industrial part on the bay where they built their ballpark.
There is no demand here. Even our only big tech employer, Qualcomm won't open an office downtown, because their employees don't live there, the office space is old, small and expensive, and there is not enough parking or functional transit alternatives. If SD was a significantly less expensive place to live and do business... shops would flock here from LA and SF Bay. It isn't though. It's like 80% of the cost with 20% of the opportunity.
In SF, the only companies with offices downtown are little startups. To attract Twitter and Salesforce into Market St the City of SF basically gave them massive tax incentives to take over big abandoned derelict buildings in the nastiest, high crime corridor in the city. Still there are banks and big retailers and just a lot more business in SF proper, which alone is half the population of SD.
San Diego's city government is not progressive, forward thinking, or frankly smart enough to engineer something like this. They are content to milk the tourism, real estate development engine that's been the lifeblood of this town for 50+ years. Maybe somewhere like Carlsbad will figure it out, at least on a smaller scale.
I hang out in a bar or coffee shop in SF and all I see are young people, well dressed, coming and going to exciting, high paying jobs. I hang out at happy hour in Downtown SD (where I work) and I see nothing but waiters and waitresses going to work at 6PM.
There are tons of city planning opportunities ripe for the picking here in San Diego as the younger wave tries to refine the city in terms of accessibility, mobility, and sustainability. Use your age to your advantage to make yourself noticed.
I think East Village was and still is the prime time place to be if you are somebody who 'gets it' when it comes to urban living. Check this out:
It sounds like you are more concerned with your career at this point, than you are with your social life. Downtown, you can have both, and I think that's what makes it special and deserving of our attention.
-TFD
I used to work in urban planning too, and for the most part now work in a similiar field though with higher demand and salaries.
I figured out while working in planning that when you are young you don't have a lot of demands you can make, its not like technology where younger people have an advantage. There are tons of 'oldsters' still in planning who have 100 years more experience than a 30 year old. The other thing with planning is you need to (to grow your career) be willing to move to the "lesser" cities because frankly that is where the big opportunities are. Not many city planners need to go where "its all been figured out" that is where the designers go. I got tired of planning due to the paper pushing, politics and lack of advancement opportunity which I needed more quickly to pay my student loans. I still am interested in it.
I had my first planning job in Naples, FL. (outside of internships) not exactly known for Bay area sophistication but in 2003 it was booming with new developments and that was the way to learn the business AND get a job since there are plenty of 60 somethings that can sill work as planners and they know the laws and systems.
Not surpisingly I ended up in a more technical field as I didn't have competition for higher wages from the 60 year olds.
Anyway, I'm just saying I don't know the OP and I'm sure maybe things have changed a little but as a planner it doesn't make sense to me to be looking to the city that already has it figured out. You go to the places LIKE San Diego where the opportunity is to make a difference and maybe the older generation wants to bring in new eyes. That is if they pay you enough to live. When I was 30 and in my situation there were plenty of jobs but the money I needed and could make was much better with my skillset in other fields which are related. If I didn't need the money as bad I probably would have jumped in a heartbeat on a San Diego planning job
and ps. I'm not saying SF has it all figured out...but I also don't think you will be in demand in that area or really anywhere as a 30 year old in planning
This has been a top priority in the 20 years I've lived here and it's yet to happen. In that time we built a library and a ballpark and a heck of a lot of condos.
LA built a subway. There are massive developments going into the tech cluster near LAX right now - thousands of units. SF redeveloped SOMA and now all the way down to the industrial part on the bay where they built their ballpark.
There is no demand here. Even our only big tech employer, Qualcomm won't open an office downtown, because their employees don't live there, the office space is old, small and expensive, and there is not enough parking or functional transit alternatives. If SD was a significantly less expensive place to live and do business... shops would flock here from LA and SF Bay. It isn't though. It's like 80% of the cost with 20% of the opportunity.
In SF, the only companies with offices downtown are little startups. To attract Twitter and Salesforce into Market St the City of SF basically gave them massive tax incentives to take over big abandoned derelict buildings in the nastiest, high crime corridor in the city. Still there are banks and big retailers and just a lot more business in SF proper, which alone is half the population of SD.
San Diego's city government is not progressive, forward thinking, or frankly smart enough to engineer something like this. They are content to milk the tourism, real estate development engine that's been the lifeblood of this town for 50+ years. Maybe somewhere like Carlsbad will figure it out, at least on a smaller scale.
I hang out in a bar or coffee shop in SF and all I see are young people, well dressed, coming and going to exciting, high paying jobs. I hang out at happy hour in Downtown SD (where I work) and I see nothing but waiters and waitresses going to work at 6PM.
Would you consider relocating, working in SF if factors aligned, or not, and why?
Would you consider relocating, working in SF if factors aligned, or not, and why?
Wouldn't want to yank my kids out of school for an unstable tech job, but of money was no object, I could easily settle into the peninsula or Marin. Would not want to live in SF itself though.
Wouldn't want to yank my kids out of school for an unstable tech job, but of money was no object, I could easily settle into the peninsula or Marin. Would not want to live in SF itself though.
Maybe unstable specific tech job, but from what I understand it is a stable tech city (vs SD)?
Reg. kids, it is a easier to yank if they are in elementary school, but is more complicated at middle/high school levels (but folks do it).
Yes, those areas of SF seem good. A lot of folks live in the eastern trivalley area but it seems too tough to commute from there and kind of like Carmel Valley like suburbia. I've been intrigued by the less popular, more foggy Pacifica and Half Moon Bay on the coast, drivable to all the action, but don't know too much about those.
I figured out while working in planning that when you are young you don't have a lot of demands you can make, its not like technology where younger people have an advantage. There are tons of 'oldsters' still in planning who have 100 years more experience than a 30 year old. The other thing with planning is you need to (to grow your career) be willing to move to the "lesser" cities because frankly that is where the big opportunities are. Not many city planners need to go where "its all been figured out" that is where the designers go.
...
Anyway, I'm just saying I don't know the OP and I'm sure maybe things have changed a little but as a planner it doesn't make sense to me to be looking to the city that already has it figured out. You go to the places LIKE San Diego where the opportunity is to make a difference and maybe the older generation wants to bring in new eyes. That is if they pay you enough to live. When I was 30 and in my situation there were plenty of jobs but the money I needed and could make was much better with my skillset in other fields which are related.
This is true. It isn't something they tell you in college but you figure it out quickly. I started out in San Jose after college, which is in desperate need of help, but the city was just too far gone for the planner in me to tolerate long-term. I lucked out with my current gig, which allows me to live in a planner's paradise, but I probably won't advance for 5-10 years if I stay put. (I've already been at my current job for 6 years.) Career advancement moves at a snail's pace compared to the tech sector.
Luckily I work in a small specialty field (transportation) that pays better and results in more demand in more urban environments, so I'm pretty comfortable where I'm at right now. The Bay Area is pretty built out, though, and the exciting work is happening in places like LA and SD (not Coronado). Even Seattle seems to be pretty hopping, but there's no way I could handle that kind of weather. But that's a whole 'nother story.
This has been a top priority in the 20 years I've lived here and it's yet to happen. In that time we built a library and a ballpark and a heck of a lot of condos.
LA built a subway. There are massive developments going into the tech cluster near LAX right now - thousands of units. SF redeveloped SOMA and now all the way down to the industrial part on the bay where they built their ballpark.
There is no demand here. Even our only big tech employer, Qualcomm won't open an office downtown, because their employees don't live there, the office space is old, small and expensive, and there is not enough parking or functional transit alternatives. If SD was a significantly less expensive place to live and do business... shops would flock here from LA and SF Bay. It isn't though. It's like 80% of the cost with 20% of the opportunity.
In SF, the only companies with offices downtown are little startups. To attract Twitter and Salesforce into Market St the City of SF basically gave them massive tax incentives to take over big abandoned derelict buildings in the nastiest, high crime corridor in the city. Still there are banks and big retailers and just a lot more business in SF proper, which alone is half the population of SD.
San Diego's city government is not progressive, forward thinking, or frankly smart enough to engineer something like this. They are content to milk the tourism, real estate development engine that's been the lifeblood of this town for 50+ years. Maybe somewhere like Carlsbad will figure it out, at least on a smaller scale.
I hang out in a bar or coffee shop in SF and all I see are young people, well dressed, coming and going to exciting, high paying jobs. I hang out at happy hour in Downtown SD (where I work) and I see nothing but waiters and waitresses going to work at 6PM.
The other thing people don't realize is that SF & the bay area, while predominately Tech these days, has a huge art culture, theatre, lots of companies with connections to Asia, they have a finance sector, they have a huge defense sector( i mean most of the tech world exists because companies like HP and others were building things for the military years ago), they have biotech sector that keeps adding more companies, and the list goes on. And they have schools like Berkeley and Stanford and various others that are known around the damn world. Hell people call Stanford the startup college these days.
San diego has some good schools, but outside of San Diego, most people wouldn't know who UCSD is or want to go to San diego state. I know back east, top grads would look at places like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford and so on. Many people know Berkeley over UCSD. Is the education any different? Probably not, but when well connected kids and parents pick schools, this is one of the things they look at. For whatever reason, San diego has a super successful 'tech' company in Qualcomm that most people have never heard of. I'm not sure if thats the way they like it or if it's just not a sexy kind of company.
Or maybe it's just not their 'thing.' There are a lot of people who would still work for Apple & Microsoft and even Oracle. They'd move across the country and world to do so. Most people aren't moving across the world to work at Qualcomm for whatever reason.
The other problem is there are the Sony's, Teradata's, HP, some smaller companies in Carlsbad and so on, but in general, it goes back to it's not just one thing. I mean Apple might be a tech company, but they are far different than some other companies, even Google. Google might be competing in that space, but they are far different than Oracle who is diffrent than youtube and so on. SD has companies that just seem to 'catch up' or 'follow the leader' whereas the Bay Area has companies looking to change the industry.
Adding a Google office is nice, but they have an office in irvine and nobody cares. It adds a few jobs, but it won't change the game. Successful companies like Qualcomm could have changed the city, but they didn't for whatever reason. Seattle's entire culture changed because of Microsoft. Before that it was more Boeing and blue collar manufacturing. Thousands and thousands of companies started up, some succeeded, some didn't, people got rich, spent money, etc. I mean Seattle before Microsoft is nowhere like Seattle today. San Diego before Qualcomm might've been different, but Qualcomm never seemed to care to change the city. It's still tourism, real estate, and a laid back party lifestyle.
Google wasn't the first and won't be the last in SV, that's just entrenched into that culture now. But it started with Stanford, with other schools, and the defense contractor industry. Forward thinking companies changed a farming community into what it is today. It didn't take a few years, but just like MS changed the Seattle area into a wealthy vibrant successful city, it takes things like that to succeed. It will take a company who succeeds and wants the city to succeed. Otherwise it'll just be a big company like Qualcomm who really didn't change anything about the city.
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