Good idea to move to SF or Bay Area solely to work on new tech? (rentals)

[vauser]

Relates to my earlier post: “Is it worth moving to the Bay Area from the DC Metro? but is slightly different..

If you were in your early 40s, have been doing software development work of all sorts for 2 decades, lived in the DC Metro most of those years, worked for companies of all sizes (including start ups), did most of that work remotely (with some commute depending on the project), did contracting work using mostly cutting edge technologies, and *most importantly* - didn’t want to miss out on all of the more recent, cool work involving AI, IoT, Machine Learning & the likes, would you “pack your bags, not think twice & move to SF or the Bay Area”, and then deal with the housing & cost of living challenges?

UPDATED: One of the questions my wife always asks me repeatedly and I never seemed to have a good answer (other than a hunch) is this: “As a software developer or an architect, and given that all one needs really is a decent machine and a good internet connection to actually build stuff, why do you want to take the pain to relocate to a very expensive part of the country to do something you could (at least, on paper) very well do from just about anywhere in the country?” - Perhaps, the answer to this question is key to our decision making (and any and all help or advice from absolute strangers, who are super helpful by nature, in this forum would be deeply appreciated!).

Some more specifics:
- Soon to be empty nesters (so a great school district is not our concern, for the first time in our lives)
- Feel reasonably confident we can find employment if history should serve as any precedent (but even if that takes a few months to happen, we can manage).
- There is an element of “sell home, relocate, buy home” & the usual complexities associated with that but if the move is worth it for other reasons, we are willing to put all the efforts.

Is it worth it? Or, would I be crazy to do that?

[BurnInTheMil]

Originally Posted by vauser

Relates to my earlier post: “Is it worth moving to the Bay Area from the DC Metro? but is slightly different..

If you were in your early 40s, have been doing software development work of all sorts for 2 decades, lived in the DC Metro most of those years, worked for companies of all sizes (including start ups), did most of that work remotely (with some commute depending on the project), did contracting work using mostly cutting edge technologies, and *most importantly* - didn’t want to miss out on all of the more recent, cool work involving AI, IoT, Machine Learning & the likes, would you “pack your bags, not think twice & move to SF or the Bay Area”, and then deal with the housing & cost of living challenges?

Is it worth it? Or, would I be crazy to do that?

It goes further than just experience

Do you have a family? What’s your budget going to be if you move without a job? Do you hve enough in savings/checking to last you awhile if necessary? Do you have a vehicle?

There are many intangibles to take into consideration other than just proper job experience

[vauser]

Originally Posted by Greg10556

It goes further than just experience

Do you have a family? What’s your budget going to be if you move without a job? Do you hve enough in savings/checking to last you awhile if necessary? Do you have a vehicle?

There are many intangibles to take into consideration other than just proper job experience

Updated my post to include some of these specifics.

[clongirl]

I think that you only live once. It seems that with your career paths it could work out very well in the Bay Area. Do homework on rentals, cities, cost of living. It's very expensive here as you probably have heard.

Give it a try for a year, see if you like it. If not move back home.

As someone that's moved her family around a lot in the past (including an international move) I'm glad that we made such experiences happen overall.

[ccm123]

I'm a Bay Area native, that went to school in Southern California. I worked in Southern California for 20 years (technology sales) before relocating back home.
The job market is robust here, provided that you have the proper skills (sounds like you do), connections help too. I'd do it, as the Bay Area offers great opportunities in the technology job market, unparalleled in my opinion.

[Ceece]

Have you ever spent time here? If not your should try to before making any plans and get a feel for the areas you would most likely end up living. Not the fun tourist stuff, but the 90% of the time stuff...traffic, housing stock, traffic, nearby amenities, etc.

[peninsular]

There are plenty of other places where developers/architects work on cool stuff. I was facing a similar decision about 8 years ago and I decided to go for it and relocate to the Bay Area. Knowing what I know now, I would say that it was the right decision then, but I'm not sure if I would do it in the current economic reality.
I know quite a few people in IT who work on really cool stuff outside the Bay Area. Several of my acquaintances work in Boston, Portland, Austin, New York, several places in Europe, Australia and even Japan on the projects involving so called new technologies. I think it mostly depends on the role you play within the company and how you are perceived by the team and management, rather than on the company itself and especially company's location. Where location does play a role in my observation is the proximity to the headquarters. If you are at the HQ or nearby, you tend to be closer to the real action. While I would agree that stepping into a role that involves more interesting technologies and projects is easier in the Bay, there certainly are a lot of companies and people here who work on less than exciting stuff.
It basically comes down to this - will the benefits of realizing your career potential outweigh your inevitable frustrations due to the harsh economic realities of the Bay Area.
In short, my advice is to look for jobs with potential in this order:
- in DC Area
- outside DC and the Bay Area
- remote work with HQ/employer in the Bay Area
- relocate to the Bay Area

[beb0p]

Originally Posted by vauser

UPDATED: One of the questions my wife always asks me repeatedly and I never seemed to have a good answer (other than a hunch) is this: “As a software developer or an architect, and given that all one needs really is a decent machine and a good internet connection to actually build stuff, why do you want to take the pain to relocate to a very expensive part of the country to do something you could (at least, on paper) very well do from just about anywhere in the country?” - Perhaps, the answer to this question is key to our decision making (and any and all help or advice from absolute strangers, who are super helpful by nature, in this forum would be deeply appreciated!).

From the company's perspective, there is advantage to clustering of talent - the creative and development process is more dynamic and the product is often better.

As for why you personally would do it, I guess that depends on how much you care about your work - if you just work for a paycheck or if you really want to built something you can be proud of. And there is no right or wrong answer.

.

[Abeson]

My conservative side is telling you dont do it until you have a job offer lined up. But my liberal side is saying, just do it!

[DKM]

Yes, do it! I'm sure you and your wife notice that 60's in the winter sound a lot nicer than in DC. Summers are way nicer too, unless you will miss sweating between the thunderstorms. Beyond that, you will have to come to realize the very large gap in quality of housing vs cost. There is nothing like Alexandria in California at all.