San Diego adults with their apartment life (Orange, Merced: fit in, real estate)

[DoctorRain]

I wanted to ask since I read some things here about adults in San Diego who dont have much ambition to do great with their careers and how they like to drink on weekends and live in a 3-4 bedroom apartment and go surfing?
By chance, what percentage of these people would you say are hippies like the types living in Portland? I often wondered what some of the differences are between some of the laid backness in SD (since it isnt LA) vs Portland.
Also, I come from MA. From how SD sounds, it sounds like its like certain places in MA on how some are into material cars and things like that, but also have a down to earthness level in other pockets. San Diego imo sounds like it could be like Boston area with a military presence and more perfect type weather.
Also, how problematic is no rain for SD residents? Do some get depressed from never seeing rain and having all imported water?

[NoUserNamesLeft]

You asked about adults living in apartments in San Diego who only care about surfing, and who lack ambition/career goals. I used to live in San Diego in an apartment, as a professional beginning my career. Here are my observations:

San Diego is generally a terrible place to build a career. The cost of living is astronomical compared to pay levels. I left in 2004 because the only way to advance in rank and pay within my career in SoCal was to go to LA or Orange County. Within two years of my leaving, every professional friend I had made in San Diego had also left because of the utter lack of opportunity there. I am talking about some 10 people. Maybe there are some exceptions to this rule (BioTech? University Research?), but even then they are slim exceptions that would not make a difference for most people.

It was probably different 20 years ago, but if you are Gen-X or below and you have career ambitions, you don't stay in San Diego. The only people I know who are still there are "profesional students" (i.e., perpetual doctoral candidates) with independent incomes, and stay-at-home moms who married military officers. I never ran with the surfer or hippie crowd, but I am sure they are still be there, too.

In short, most ambitious people eventually become disenchanted with getting paid in "sunshine dollars." Those that remain are, well, adults living in apartments who would rather focus on surfing than worry about their careers. But maybe they are the ones who have their priorities straight - life is short.

[DoctorRain]

Yea Im not a surfer, and I cant see myself becoming a professional doctor or professional student.
What does the term sunshine dollars mean? Discounts on certain things ?

I visited Portland OR and loved the place, but when I hear about SD, I hear how its materialistic even if not as much as some other places. Maybe not the best place if you want to shop at thrift stores most of the time or meet more simple mountain type hippies. SD seems like one of those places that look great on paper, but really not a lot better than FL, but Id imagine very very little to no rain could get depressing as well.

[eastcoastbias]

Originally Posted by NoUserNamesLeft

You asked about adults living in apartments in San Diego who only care about surfing, and who lack ambition/career goals. I used to live in San Diego in an apartment, as a professional beginning my career. Here are my observations:

San Diego is generally a terrible place to build a career. The cost of living is astronomical compared to pay levels. I left in 2004 because the only way to advance in rank and pay within my career in SoCal was to go to LA or Orange County. Within two years of my leaving, every professional friend I had made in San Diego had also left because of the utter lack of opportunity there. I am talking about some 10 people. Maybe there are some exceptions to this rule (BioTech? University Research?), but even then they are slim exceptions that would not make a difference for most people.

It was probably different 20 years ago, but if you are Gen-X or below and you have career ambitions, you don't stay in San Diego. The only people I know who are still there are "profesional students" (i.e., perpetual doctoral candidates) with independent incomes, and stay-at-home moms who married military officers. I never ran with the surfer or hippie crowd, but I am sure they are still be there, too.

In short, most ambitious people eventually become disenchanted with getting paid in "sunshine dollars." Those that remain are, well, adults living in apartments who would rather focus on surfing than worry about their careers. But maybe they are the ones who have their priorities straight - life is short.

I echo this post- for a city that is the 7th largest in the country- There are alot of degreed professionals doing whatever they can to make ends meet. This is a niche city built around tourism. The niche is science and some IT stuff (that is crumbling somewhat). If you are a Doctor, lawyer, teacher, accountant, police officer, work in construction and generally do a job you can do anywhere in this country you'll get the sunshined to death.

I constantly remind myself that everyone has a different idea on the standard of living they can deal with. Strangely, many individuals will sacrifice the chance at catapulting a career somewhere else, owning a home and having some breathing room financially to live in great weather and have an abundace of outdoor acitivities at their fingertips.

The apartment craze is pretty simple- pay and real estate is way out of line with each other.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by DoctorRain

Yea Im not a surfer, and I cant see myself becoming a professional doctor or professional student.
What does the term sunshine dollars mean? Discounts on certain things ?

I visited Portland OR and loved the place, but when I hear about SD, I hear how its materialistic even if not as much as some other places. Maybe not the best place if you want to shop at thrift stores most of the time or meet more simple mountain type hippies. SD seems like one of those places that look great on paper, but really not a lot better than FL, but Id imagine very very little to no rain could get depressing as well.

It's not as materialistic as some people make it out to be, that just hasn't been my experiance here. Plenty of thrift shops, last summer when my mom came and visited she noted how much she liked the thrift shopping here b/c that is her thing. You can find mountain hippies types, probably not as much as Portland but they are here. SD isn't as one-dimensional as some people make it out to be.

BUT if you love rain, which it seems like you do, I would not suggest moving here, especially if that is what gets you depressed. I don't know anyone who gets depressed by it, for me it's more like I wish it would rain a little more but I still go out and enjoy a sunny 70 degree winter day anytime.

[djxpress]

Originally Posted by DoctorRain

What does the term sunshine dollars mean? Discounts on certain things ?

The same thing as Sunshine Tax, basically people understanding that the high cost of living compared to pay here is in exchange for having near perfect weather (except for this week ).

[skeke]

My son is a Gen Xer who has spent all but a couple of infant/toddler years living in San Diego. He has thrived. He has a great career and is a home owner (four bedrooms with a pool, nothing huge, but nice) in a lovely neighborhood filled with neat and attractive homes. He loves San Diego and never intends to leave. You do not have to be a person who bought a house years ago to do well in San Diego or in San Diego's housing market. Granted, he took advantage of the slump in the market and bought a house that was a bank repo but there are opportunities like that in abundance around San Diego County.

[NYSD1995]

It really depends on your specific skillset and where you fit into San Diego's economy. Yes, there are many surf bums and generally aimless young people working retail jobs. Some people even make a lifestyle out of it well into adulthood. That is just part of the beach culture of San Diego and while they are many they are not particularly significant to the economy of the region. Anywhere you have a major university you have the academic culture of 40-year old post-docs and research scientist who live like ... well.. college kids.

Lots of federal / state employees and military here. Many of these people earn high salaries and have excellent benefits. The private industry cluster employs a rather small number of highly-paid professionals in very specific niches that are generally difficult-to-impossible to gain entry to without significant experience and/or advanced degrees.

I have spent 10 years building a fairly successful career in San Diego and kick myself in the head for not leaving years ago. It is a bitter pill to swallow to know you are working just as hard as the guy who moved two hours away and now makes 50% more than you do.

I have said this before but if your goal is career success in San Diego, your best bet is to align your skills with what San Diego has to offer. That might mean a stint in the Navy or it might mean a UCSD biology or engineering degree. But if you are a generalist with a generalist's degree, looking for that elusive business administrator or marcomm job, you are fighting a losing battle against the low salaries and high cost-of-living in San Diego and indeed much of California.

[ontheGtrain]

It has rained all week here and I have hated every minute of it. I have never heard of anyone complain that there is no rain. I live here because I like sunshine and walking my dog on the beach and in the mountains. Heck even my dog hates the rain. I have been to Portland and if you like the vibe there, you will not like it here in san diego.

[sdlife619]

Dude, it barely ever rains here so please don't complain. We also need the water due to the fact that we have a serious drought in this state and it's a La Nina year which happens every 5-10 years so it's not like we get this type of weather all the time.

Most guys that are crowding up a small 3 bedroom apartment are probably living near the beach, pay like $500 a month in rent, and go party on the weekends when pay day comes around. You really have to sacrifice a lot when moving to SD, you just have to realize housing is very expensive, and the fact that the majority of jobs are in the service sector, tourism, and retail industry and less of the higher paying ones. I believe most of the wealthier people that do live in SD own their own business, thus allowing them to have more free time to go out and shop and have fun. Because that's one huge thing I notice about this place, you will see a ton of people out in about throughout the day in malls, in stores, hanging out at Starbucks sitting down doing nothing but surfing the web on wack IMacs, then to only hop in their newly acquired $90,000 Mercedes S-Class while sipping a latte only to drive off to pick up their significant other and to go to the beach to wine and in dine in some super fancy restaurant all before noon.

If you move here, please bring a boat load of money, or else prepare to struggle especially if you are single. California is so overly inflated that you have to be semi rich in order to live the American dream.