Moving to the Bay Area for Entrepreneurship (San Jose, San Francisco: fit in, apartment)

[gnomatic]

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As for being LGBT in tech in the bay area, it's usually a non issue, and I worked everything from a small startup of 20 to huge corporations of 100K. I have been here for almost 14 years (last 4 in SF, before that in San Jose). And I was in tech up in Canada before that. I worked with more then 2 LGBT in technical roles over the years. Hell I think I worked with more then 2 in technical roles at the last job at a games startup. And we weren't making girly games. There could've been more, but it just never came up in conversation. It's not like one can tell just by looking at someone.

It's more conservative in the south bay, but it's more "Oh...I haven't met any gay people before" then actual intolerance. Especially at some of the places where the workforce are primary new immigrants, or transplant from more conservative part of the country.

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by branh0913

I've only known 2 openly gay men in tech, and I've been in tech for nearly 15 years. It's definitely a VERY masculine industry.

With regards to your first point I don't think gay men are underrepresented tech, it is probably about as much as the average for the Bay Area. Regarding the latter point gay men in general don't seem to be more or less masculine than other men in general, and I've worked in tech in Silicon Valley for the last 6 1/2 years, and I really don't see tech as overly macho or anything, but it is 80% male at the engineering level, if that is what you're getting at.

[felinius]

Originally Posted by Wobuffet

I am taking the San Francisco-San Jose-Oakland area into consideration for starting a game development company, after graduation with my bachelors in Computer Science in 2017. I have some questions

1. I know California is very expensive, how does an entrepreneur with little money successfully overcome the expense challenges to start a successful game development company? (working 2 jobs?)

2. How successful are most video game start-ups in the Bay Area? (I am not playing with EA)

3. What makes The Bay Area such a good place to start tech and gaming companies?

4. DO many entrepreneurs who come to the area to start a company fail and end up poor?

5. Is it harder for black and homosexual entrepreneurs to start a company and be successful?

Please help, it's very greatly appreciated.

Here are my opinions ... I used to work with video games / have fun programming games myself.

1. Start now. Get in touch with people who can do different things -- video games are (a) logic, (b) storywriting and (c) art. If you have A, find people who excel at B and/or C. This is networking and super important. Not everyone is good at all three.

2. You don't need to move to the Bay, especially if you are planning on going the indie route. Start making games now, see if they can be Greenlighted (Steam) or put them up on your own site and advertise them.

3. There are video game companies all over the USA and the world. Many in the Bay, many in Seattle, but you have some like Bethesda which is located in Maryland. The thing is that you need to MAKE your game first and ADVERTISE it! (PAX/PAX East, other conventions, etc)

I feel like starting a video game company is a little different than a typical startup firm, but these are just my thoughts.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by branh0913

I've only known 2 openly gay men in tech, and I've been in tech for nearly 15 years. It's definitely a VERY masculine industry.

If by "masculine" you mean "male," then you are -- unfortunately -- correct. Women, unlike gay men, are vastly UNDERrepresented in tech. It all goes back to networking, as has been emphasized to the OP time and time again. Being a gay man, I have lots of gay male friends and acquaintances, many of whom are in tech, and if I were younger (as in under 35) and more qualified, I'm sure I could use my network to land a nice high-paying tech job. I know several gay guys who have done exactly that.

But until such time as women become ensconced in technical careers in significant numbers, the network effect will not be available to them.

[pch1013]

Also, OP, in aid of your future networking efforts, you should check out the gay gamers' group. I think it's called "gaygamer." It attracts not only gamers, but also game-company employees. (I used to date one.)

[cardinal2007]

Originally Posted by pch1013

If by "masculine" you mean "male," then you are -- unfortunately -- correct. Women, unlike gay men, are vastly UNDERrepresented in tech. It all goes back to networking, as has been emphasized to the OP time and time again. Being a gay man, I have lots of gay male friends and acquaintances, many of whom are in tech, and if I were younger (as in under 35) and more qualified, I'm sure I could use my network to land a nice high-paying tech job. I know several gay guys who have done exactly that.

But until such time as women become ensconced in technical careers in significant numbers, the network effect will not be available to them.

Well admittedly African Americans are WAY MORE underrepresented in tech than women are, which is relevant to the OP. But yeah networking is very important, almost every company I worked for here makes a big deal out of getting referrals from employees for open positions, they hardly if at all, look at applications made from their websites. Almost everything is head hunters, recruiters or referrals, which makes networking really important, and I think this goes without saying, but keep up with people, even 10 years later they may be at a good job, and if they have a good impression of you, they may refer you. Oh, and I guess I should mention this, don't segregate yourself based on sexual orientation or race, really get to know people in tech, especially people that work in what you're interested in regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation, you at least have the same interest in game development.

[branh0913]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

Well admittedly African Americans are WAY MORE underrepresented in tech than women are, which is relevant to the OP. But yeah networking is very important, almost every company I worked for here makes a big deal out of getting referrals from employees for open positions, they hardly if at all, look at applications made from their websites. Almost everything is head hunters, recruiters or referrals, which makes networking really important, and I think this goes without saying, but keep up with people, even 10 years later they may be at a good job, and if they have a good impression of you, they may refer you. Oh, and I guess I should mention this, don't segregate yourself based on sexual orientation or race, really get to know people in tech, especially people that work in what you're interested in regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation, you at least have the same interest in game development.

It's black America. Nothing about us is African. I'm pretty sure my family was here generations before the average white person. Enough of the PC crap. Sorry, I find that term really annoying. Especially since I know where it came from and what it implies.

To the OP, there are a ton more issues with game development. It's one of the "first to the market" type of things. It's all about getting to the market and getting there fast. There are also a diverse amount of demographic for gamers. There are so many breakdowns like...


Popular gamer (guys who pick of COD and Madden then trade it in after 2 months)
Hardcore Gamer ( Guys who try to learn everything about a game, and may play lesser known titles)
Masochist gamers (gamers who love hard games that are challenging to beat)

But you also have different communities such as...

Let's play communities
competitive comminities

Competitive communities can be broken down even FURTHER...


Guys who do speed runs (this is mainly for older games)
Fighting game competitive gamers
Starcraft competitive gamers
League Of Legends or DOTA competitive gamers


It's kind of hard to find who you want to develop for, because there is such a diverse group of gamers. In either case, it's not so much the game, but the medium you use to produce games.

Right now for the up and coming developer, the mobile market is probably the better choice. Mobile development is fairly cheap, not nearly as complex, and a good way to generate money. But again, games are usually about rapid development/first to the market stuff. Have you ever noticed that mobile games are constantly updated? It's because they're always poorly written.

There are many models that have crept up in gaming such as Free 2 play (but Pay 2 Win) models seen in Candy Crush for example. In the console market, DLC is out there. Which is actually pretty annoying to a lot of gamers. But eh, it still generates money.

As a long term gamer myself, the gaming industry is very political. Gamestop and things like "game passes" to stop trade ins is getting ridiculous. But there is of course pressure from publishers for console markers to do that. So it's a very "scratch my back, and I stab yours" industry. At least it looks that way to people like me who tries to follow the business aspect of it.

In either case, you sound similar to me (well I'm not gay), but I'm also black and got into computers because I was an avid gamer. Though when I went to school for computer science in the mid 90s there really weren't any schools dedicated for gaming. There were only 2 in North America, both were expensive, and one was in Canada. The thing is, I wouldn't just limit myself to gaming. Get some good fundamentals in computational theory, and figure out other things that are interesting.

[VJP]

Originally Posted by cardinal2007

You have a source for this, I would love to see the documentation on this. I could really use this for some things I am interested in doing.

A Venture Capitalist Explains Why There Are So Few Blacks In Silicon Valley - Business Insider

There's all kinds of info in this article and hyperlinked in it.

[branh0913]

Originally Posted by VJP

A Venture Capitalist Explains Why There Are So Few Blacks In Silicon Valley - Business Insider

There's all kinds of info in this article and hyperlinked in it.

This is SUCH an interesting conversation. But we already know that the racial sensibilities of CD posters would never allow that to happen. But it is a great forum type discussion to have, and isn't discussed nearly enough. Blacks in the tech industry is a very intriguing topic, and I wish we would stop being so PC when it comes to discussing matters. The reason why so much got done in the 60s, not only for blacks, but other oppressed minorities, is that at the time the dialog was bold and uncompromising. Interesting ideas got exchanged. But then again, we live in a very apathetic America these days, and there is no places more apathetic than the San Francisco Bay Area.

[04kL4nD]

How is the Bay Area apathetic?

I think it's one of the most politically charged places in the country and I don't really see why you've come to this conclusion.