Ambitious student deciding where to live - LA or NY?

[trojangrlof12]

What an irritating OP. Computer Science is just soo ambitious

[jayolm]

Yeah, I agree with the other posters that for Computer Science, San Francisco / San Jose area is the best bet for your career. Not to mention, SF is a really cool city and beautiful, albeit very expensive to live in. If however you cannot go to SF and are forced to choose between NY and LA, I'd say LA from your career perspective (more tech companies in the area than NY), but NY from a meeting-women / lifestyle perspective. I was born and raised in LA, and my brother has lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn, NY for the past 8 years, so I know both cities pretty well. NY has a ton of bars and nightlife. But LA is not that more tech than NY, so perhaps go for SF, and if you can't do that, go to NY.

[taydigga]

Originally Posted by Pacifico

Do NYC first. Embrace the seasons and snow, take in the cold, appreciate the straight up no nonsense attitudes. Load up on the best pizza around. Get gritty, if you can make it there you can make it anywhere. Then, years down the road, move to LaLa land and soak up the sun....you've made it.

I'm with Pacifico. LA is my favorite city in the US and I've been to NYC and SF but I wish I lived in NYC for a couple years before living here. Having said that, I'd probably still say you can move here. Sure, silicon valley is up in the SF area but LA has plenty of tech jobs, (google just opened up a huge new building here in Venice) and it's LA. Nothing's like it, IMO. Be careful of what you take in as advice from people, some will tell you don't go here or there but then you go read their other posts and they are very cynical on everything that has to do with another city...You could always do all three. Or why don't you do a semester at Berkeley or UCLA and see how you like it?

[wall st kid]

Originally Posted by Dexter94941

Thank you all for very good answers.

I spoke to my professor who lived in LA, and he said that in Silicon Valley, there is so much competition that engineers find it very, very hard to find jobs there. He asked me if I have a problem with working 80 hours a week and I told him that of course not, but he proceeded that it's just very tough to get a job because there are oo many computer engineers there...

As for writing, I would seriously pursue it in my spare time, you know, I'd rather be financially stable with a "real job" first and really focus on getting my novel published while having the money in my pocket, because, you know, I've seen too many movies with struggling writers who didn't have nothing to eat. But it is my passion and everyone who read just bits of it, are amazed at the material, so I don't know. Like one poster said, I'd save up money with computer programming and then really focus on my real passion. That's why I'm choosing between these two cities, because I'm into programming and writing, and by writing, I write scripts too, I won some screenplay contests in my country.

As one who came from Europe, I really got turned off from NYC once I heard that it's more similar to Europe (I hate Europe). So, I don't know if that's true, and if it is, do people mean that buildings and areas are similar or people?

I love sunny weather but I don't care that much about it to decide based on that only.

I am interested in my career but just as a side question, how are the people in California, is it tough to meet new people, women particularly? Are they closed or social like here in Miami?

I've lived in North Miami beach and i've lived in West Hollywood and i would say that there are a lot more ways to meet women in LA. Also, the California girls are incredible, this is the place with the hottest chicks by far, no place ive lived comes close. I know NY has a lot of beautiful chicks, but LA is loaded with them. And, there are a lot of gay men here who arent interested in women, so, its a great spot for a single guy.

The perception is that LA is very 'superficial' and in order to meet a 'hot chick' you have to shower her with diamonds and rubies and whatnut, but i just think that's somewhat true to an extent, but becuase of the large amount of people in LA, there is bound to be quite a few quality women just by sheer numbers.

Im in a committed relationship right now, so i havent been out in the market chasing chicks, but there are no shortage of gorgeous chicks in LA.

When i was single, just from a personal point of view, i had a much easier time meeting chicks in California.

One last thing...your topic thread mentioned NY vs CAL, i wouldnt even consider NY at this point, Calif is where you want to be. California is so big that its almost 2 seperate states...N California is so far away from So Cal that it doesnt even feel like its part of the same area, so, there are lots of great places to move in California. (fwiw i also used to live in San Diego and i love it down there, that's a place i would totally recommend also, i could tell you much more about it if you want, let me know)