Does the Bay Area have the worst "rat race" vibe after the East Coast? (San Jose: lawyer, townhouse)

[destroycreate]

CEOs at 25, millionaires by 28. $120K is the new $50K in SF. Lawyer or accountant, teacher or police officer? Nobody cares. Selling a company as a college drop out? Everything.

People are so SO competitive and ambitious here, like nothing I've ever seen outside of the Northeast. Why? Because you cannot just coast in your job here, as you're always disposable and replaceable. Competition is fierce as is the cost of living.

I've never been around so many people that are so obsessed with money and success (it's not necessarily a bad thing) and yet it's fascinating because they market themselves as these work-to-live granola liberals (I'm liberal, just to clarify). I think SF is becoming more and more like NYC in its mentality, especially with all the Northeasterners who move here.

Thoughts?

[Bonez765]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

I've never been around so many people that are so obsessed with money and success (it's not necessarily a bad thing) and yet it's fascinating because they market themselves as these work-to-live granola liberals (I'm liberal, just to clarify).

You can thank Silicon Valley for that. NYC has Wall Street, we have SV. However, the thing that really sucks if you are a hetero male for the Bay is that we don't get the migration of more attractive girls like NYC does (this was even mentioned to me by a Jew girl from NYC who I was trying to woo a year ago).

But about the work thing, the granolas here are absolute hypocrites. They are as bad as the Evangelicals are in the levels of hypocrisy.

I think SF is becoming more and more like NYC in its mentality, especially with all the Northeasterners who move here.

And sadly, yes. The place is becoming another ****hole infested with *******s but added in with the twist of lacking the public transportation of NYC. It's why so many people I know have thrown the towel or are thinking (I will do it as well head to either Texas or the upper-Midwest)

[UAE50]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

CEOs at 25, millionaires by 28. $120K is the new $50K in SF. Lawyer or accountant, teacher or police officer? Nobody cares. Selling a company as a college drop out? Everything.

People are so SO competitive and ambitious here, like nothing I've ever seen outside of the Northeast. Why? Because you cannot just coast in your job here, as you're always disposable and replaceable. Competition is fierce as is the cost of living.

I've never been around so many people that are so obsessed with money and success (it's not necessarily a bad thing) and yet it's fascinating because they market themselves as these work-to-live granola liberals (I'm liberal, just to clarify). I think SF is becoming more and more like NYC in its mentality, especially with all the Northeasterners who move here.

Thoughts?

Bay Area isn't really a hotbed of Northeasterners..their numbers are rather paltry. International immigration is the biggest source of newcomers to San Francisco and the entire Bay Area, by far. Immigrants (usually H1B1 visa holders) are hustlers and set the tone in the Bay. And people feel the need to catch up since they get the good jobs and drive up pricing.

And 95% of households here aren't millionaires. This tech thing is overly exaggerated. The over 50% of the households earn under 75k. And 45-50k in Texas is the equivalent of 75k in the Bay Area when you adjust for lack of state income taxes and cost of living.

[NOLA101]

And it's not like everyone is like this. I doubt even 10% of the Bay Area population fits this description. There are more households below the poverty line in SF than there are tech households.

[CBB_bear]

I have long said that the bay area isn't a chill place. It's a place for type A people, but on top of that, you need to have a veneer that you are mellow and chill (and compete over who does that most convincingly) rather than the Northeast where they just own their intensity. Sure you can dress more casually, but that doesn't mean that people are not ambitious as hell.

It's not a good or bad thing--it is what it is.

[04kL4nD]

Compared to Seattle and SoCal, yes the Bay Area is a rat race. Compared to DC/NYC/Bos, haha no way.

[xenxes]

I feel like there's still microbubbles all over the Bay area (not just SF), much like there are microclimates.

What you're discussing sounds more like San Jose, where everyone is White/Asian working in tech, all the younger families are trying to pool together $1.5m cash to buy that little townhouse down the street and send their kids to private school, while climbing the neverending tech corporate rung. But even within tech there are different vibes, i.e. the "softer" science companies, i.e. social, still seem a lot more laid back than the hard tech companies.

On the other hand, there are still chill people, say those that are grandfathered into Pacifica, or rich money in Sausalito, not everyone is in that race.

That being said, definitely agree that the general vibe is that the overall area and city is getting more "corporate" and less liberal (on business-fronts), despite the casual appearance and a face full of uncouth beard, underneath each apparent hipster is really a cutt-throat capitalist.

[Bisaro TMF]

New York has more billionaires and millionaires than anywhere else in the world. It's not even close to how it is there. Not to mention you'll have billionaires here wearing flip flops and t shirts. In New York everybody with money is walking around in Armani suits and cuff links.

[ServoMiff]

This might be the only reason my wife and I don't stay in the Bay Area for more than 5-ish years. I'm almost 40 and am not a Type A. My wife is, but I think that veneer will wear off eventually as she's 27 and fits the current demographic of startuplandia. I'm thankful that my East Coast company allowed me to transfer to our small office out here in the East Bay, because I'm not sure if I could hack it in a high pressure job that paid marginally better. I enjoy the ability to live here without a significant amount of stress and 5 weeks of paid vacation.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by Bisaro TMF

New York has more billionaires and millionaires than anywhere else in the world. It's not even close to how it is there. Not to mention you'll have billionaires here wearing flip flops and t shirts. In New York everybody with money is walking around in Armani suits and cuff links.

Yes, and I think that's why the OP said is the Bay Area the worst with this vibe AFTER the East Coast, which acknowledges that it's a lot worse there.

I personally feel like it is, but I don't really consider that a bad thing as someone who has only lived in the area for a year. I find it kinda inspiring. I'm just not as motivated and gung-ho about wasting my life working 60+ hrs/week now. I'd like to find a true balance, and I bet it exists here somewhere.