How realistic (or unrealistic) is my plan to move from Long Island to Bay Area? (rental, mortgage)

[Chuck5000]

Sure, if the OP wants to live in Gilroy and be limited to SJ or points south, totally do-able. Nobody disputes that.

Overall, Jade is correct on difficulty of breaking in, and IT jobs are not the same thing at all.. Crouching, Do you work in the tech industry? Just curious. It's not that it's not diverse (although women, blacks and latinos are heavily underrepresented).

It's that it is clique-y. Two different things. You need CS degrees or highly-evolved skills (i.e. that you can demonstrate, such as apps you've built), Ivy or near-Ivy degrees (Stanford preferred) and friends/connections are always first in line for jobs. My local coding school recommendation seemed to just pass on by - it's a great idea. It does cost 10 to 20k, though, and one needs housing for the time they're in it. But it solves a lot of first-entry problems. Wasn't even acknowledged by the OP.

Also, NY has vastly, vastly superior public transit, which enables one to live in multiple areas north, east, and west of NYC and commute by rail...and get work done on the train. The Bay Area would need to quintuple current BART coverage to get to that level. So NY is a much better choice for the OP because a much, much larger range of jobs is within commuting distance.

But aside from that, nobody who lives in Gilroy can ever commute to a job in SF, or even much north of SJ, without hitting 90 minutes plus. Jobs are spread throughout the region (which itself is a planning failure) and the county with the most is Santa Clara, not SF. Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, etc are much further away than SJ, and that's where a ton of choice tech jobs are. That's why it costs so much to live within commuting distance of those towns.

Is there anyone out there who commutes 90 minutes each way and is not miserable? This is the kind of thing that breaks up marriages, harms relationships with children, etc. It's brutal.

[04kL4nD]

Exactly. Tracy and Gilroy aren't close to SF. Gilroy is 90 mins without traffic and Tracy isn't much closer. In either case, both places kinda suck and aren't really part of the Bay Area. I think the OP is looking for a shortcut into the tech industry and he doesn't really have one. He needs to get a degree or some Bay Area college credits under his belt first. Actually, he needs to talk to people who've been in a similar situation and made their way, but he doesn't seem to want to listen to anyone in this thread unless they agree with him .

[snaaaaake]

Originally Posted by crouching_tiger

As long as you have a backup plan I see no harm. He is trying for a friggin tech job folks, not moving to LA to be the next Steven Spielberg.

I will do that after I sell my startup to Google for a billion or so

[crouching_tiger]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

Sure, if the OP wants to live in Gilroy and be limited to SJ or points south, totally do-able. Nobody disputes that.

Overall, Jade is correct on difficulty of breaking in, and IT jobs are not the same thing at all.. Crouching, Do you work in the tech industry? Just curious. It's not that it's not diverse (although women, blacks and latinos are heavily underrepresented).

It's that it is clique-y. Two different things. You need CS degrees or highly-evolved skills (i.e. that you can demonstrate, such as apps you've built), Ivy or near-Ivy degrees (Stanford preferred) and friends/connections are always first in line for jobs. My local coding school recommendation seemed to just pass on by - it's a great idea. It does cost 10 to 20k, though, and one needs housing for the time they're in it. But it solves a lot of first-entry problems. Wasn't even acknowledged by the OP.

Also, NY has vastly, vastly superior public transit, which enables one to live in multiple areas north, east, and west of NYC and commute by rail...and get work done on the train. The Bay Area would need to quintuple current BART coverage to get to that level. So NY is a much better choice for the OP because a much, much larger range of jobs is within commuting distance.

But aside from that, nobody who lives in Gilroy can ever commute to a job in SF, or even much north of SJ, without hitting 90 minutes plus. Jobs are spread throughout the region (which itself is a planning failure) and the county with the most is Santa Clara, not SF. Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, etc are much further away than SJ, and that's where a ton of choice tech jobs are. That's why it costs so much to live within commuting distance of those towns.

Is there anyone out there who commutes 90 minutes each way and is not miserable? This is the kind of thing that breaks up marriages, harms relationships with children, etc. It's brutal.

Well I would agree that NYC itself is not a bad area to be in at all, even for tech and the number of tech jobs (if I am not mistaken the total number of tech jobs in NYC are equal to the number in the Bay Area). And it has, as you noted, far superior public transportation.

I don't really understand the OP's real motivation for moving here (I did ask him already). Does he in his heart want to enjoy what California has to offer in terms of weather and things to do outside and this is not really a career move? He is in NYC; its not like he is stuck in Tuscaloosa AL.

[04kL4nD]

If he's moving to CA to take advantage of the lifestyle by living in the Central Valley and commuting to the Bay Area, it seems like a downgraded or watered down experience to me. Might as well stay in NYC and take vacations to CA every once in a while. Everybody has to start somewhere, but typically an education is what helps the most.

[crouching_tiger]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

If he's moving to CA to take advantage of the lifestyle then living in the Central Valley and commuting to the Bay Area, it seems like a downgraded or watered down experience to me. Might as well stay in NYC and take vacations to CA every once in a while. Everybody has to start somewhere, but typically an education is what helps the most.

BTW just curious on a side note I am asking you if its not worth living in the Bay Area unless you are living in one of the Tonier neighborhoods like PA, Danville, San Ramon, Orinda, Piedmont etc.?

[snaaaaake]

Looks like some of you skipped over some of my posts. I do have close to 10 years of experience working in various tech jobs (including sales, 8 years of pure tech work, about 3 years of mechanical work - there is your specialization), so there is no shortcut here. I am South Asian and I currently have a well paying job with a company that has been on fortune 500 list. All my skills are self taught. I went to college for business degree but didn't like it (and it wasn't giving me much value in terms of my time). I can dedicate time to learning everyday on my own which can yield better results than college courses. The only value I see in college is if I make really cool friends. My siblings and cousins did the whole college thing. They are still paying off their student loans and have mixed feelings about taking out huge loans for a piece of paper. The skills can be learned if one is dedicated.

[crouching_tiger]

Originally Posted by snaaaaake

Looks like some of you skipped over some of my posts. I do have close to 10 years of experience working in various tech jobs (including sales, 8 years of pure tech work, about 3 years of mechanical work - there is your specialization), so there is no shortcut here. I am South Asian and I currently have a well paying job with a company that has been on fortune 500 list. All my skills are self taught. I went to college for business degree but didn't like it (and it wasn't giving me much value in terms of my time). I can dedicate time to learning everyday on my own which can yield better results than college courses. The only value I see in college is if I make really cool friends. My siblings and cousins did the whole college thing. They are still paying off their student loans and have mixed feelings about taking out huge loans for a piece of paper. The skills can be learned if one is dedicated.

So why move here? Its not like you are living in Little Rock, AR. You are in friggin NYC. Do you hate the NYC winters? Love the California landscape? I would argue there is equal economic opportunity in NYC.

[comingbacktocali]

i have no doubt that you could find a job in the bay area but your housing scenario is unrealistic.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by crouching_tiger

I would argue tech is diverse, lots of Asians, Indians and Foreigners are working in it. Just because there are few blacks and hispanics doesn't mean its not diverse. Also he can try getting a job with a bigger company to start out with. Finally 4 hours a day commute is an exaggeration. A commute from say Gilroy to San Jose (31) miles takes only 37 minutes without traffic and maybe 1 hour with traffic.

As long as he is ok with living in one of the exurbs, he should be fine. He is moving from expensive NYC metro area, not Biloxi, MS.

It's not though. Did you drill into the stats? Asians are pigeon-holed into certain roles. Senior leadership is overwhelmingly white and male. I'll call it diverse when the makeup of the engineering ranks matches the engineering leadership, and the non engineering roles match up closer to general population portions. This isn't just about Black people and Latinos. The company I work at is around 85% white across the board. And engineering is mostly white. Accounting is almost all asian. Sales is all white. Marketing is almost totally white. The VP and Directors are almost 100% white. The startup in our building has similar demographics.

It is all a mute if the OP doesn't have any ins that will get his resume noticed. Connections are critical if you have a non-standout resume.