Does the Bay Area have the worst "rat race" vibe after the East Coast?

[ambient]

Midwest transplant here with about eleven years of work experience. About half back East, half here in Tech at your usual suspects in Silicon Valley. Spent 1.5 years in SF, too.

Yes, it is more of a rat race out here if you're in the business world. This place is a Mecca for workaholics, especially young white males. You have these types everywhere, true, but the concentration of them is greater out here. And it makes total sense... There is no question that this place is one of the world's pre-eminent incubators and top venture capital concentrations of next-generation tech companies. Nearly all of today's dominant technology companies grew up here. The success stories here are legendary; there are more billionaires around than you could shake a stick at. People flock here from all over the world with dreams of making it big with a startup, and a good 20% of Harvard's graduating business school grads regularly come out here. These are not people who want to take easy; they want to do whatever it takes to get rich.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by ambient

Midwest transplant here with about eleven years of work experience. About half back East, half here in Tech at your usual suspects in Silicon Valley. Spent 1.5 years in SF, too.

Yes, it is more of a rat race out here if you're in the business world. This place is a Mecca for workaholics, especially young white males. You have these types everywhere, true, but the concentration of them is greater out here. And it makes total sense... There is no question that this place is one of the world's pre-eminent incubators and top venture capital concentrations of next-generation tech companies. Nearly all of today's dominant technology companies grew up here. The success stories here are legendary; there are more billionaires around than you could shake a stick at. People flock here from all over the world with dreams of making it big with a startup, and a good 20% of Harvard's graduating business school grads regularly come out here. These are not people who want to take easy; they want to do whatever it takes to get rich.

Thank you, ambient! It really does depend on what sector you're in, as to whether you experience the Bay Area as a rat race, or not.

[WizardOfRadical]

Originally Posted by HappyinCali

I don't get the negative connotations of a rat race. What place isn't a rat race? Do you think Hawaii is not a rat race with its high cost of living? Just because people do things slowly there, do you think there is no stress in their life? I would love to hear what places people consider to not be rat races. Generally, if you are working for someone and have a roughly 9-5 job, you can be qualified as being in a rat race.

Globally, the poor countries are an even bigger rat race, because there it is about going hungry at times, if you don't make enough for the day.

I would say, from my experience, the biggest cause of uncertainty/rat race in America is the mortgage you have to pay. That crushing 30 year burden affects a lot of people in a stressful manner. In my much poorer native country, a lot more people have housing stability, because apartments have been passed on to generations. Knowing that you will have a place to live, even if crappy, regardless of what happens to your job, is very relaxing.

LoL Hawaii is the polar opposite of rat race.

Being expensive does not make a place a rat race.

I live in Santa Cruz and it is expensive, but it is laid back, easy going, and government is the main employer.

People are chill here. The rats all race up highway 17 to jobs in Silicone Valley.

[NewbiePoster]

Originally Posted by WizardOfRadical

LoL Hawaii is the polar opposite of rat race.

Being expensive does not make a place a rat race.

I live in Santa Cruz and it is expensive, but it is laid back, easy going, and government is the main employer.

People are chill here. The rats all race up highway 17 to jobs in Silicone Valley.

I'm down with this! There are people in Berkeley who are the same. The OP may be thinking mainly of the South Bay and SF. I don't see too much rat race where I live. IME Bay Area residents know how to kick back, and enjoy their walkable neighborhoods, their friends and neighbors, and get out into nature on the weekends. There's definitely a subculture that's into living a balanced life.

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by ssmaster

Andyadhi you could get a really nice 6000 square foot home in Dallas with a pool even vs a 1200 square foot 2 bedroom in Palo Alto each for the same price. In my opinion having to live with the red state Bible Belt politics and sensibilities is not worth it. You can't escape the cringe worthy comments about gays,foriegners ,people of color etc

No need to repeat inane stereotypes and show your ignorance. Dallas is as diverse as bay area and more diverse than San Francisco. The gay, people of color and foreign born population is significantly larger in Dallas than SF and they live in more integrated neighborhoods!

[cardinal2007]

San Francisco metro area in which people spend the most amount of time in the office, the commutes are the 4th worst in terms of time commuting, combined it is #2 right after NYC.

The cities where people work the most in the United States - The Washington Post

Despite what people claim around here the San Jose metro is down at #14 in terms of amount of time worked, and #13 in terms of time spent commuting, because people aren't crazy workaholics down here like in SF.

[UKWildcat1981]

What's a rat race lol?

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

No need to repeat inane stereotypes and show your ignorance. Dallas is as diverse as bay area and more diverse than San Francisco. The gay, people of color and foreign born population is significantly larger in Dallas than SF and they live in more integrated neighborhoods!

Yep, there are ignorant people on both sides of the spectrum. The post you replied to shows the ignorance from the left. Dallas actually voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012. It's not only more diverse racially speaking, but also politcally speaking too.