Is San Francisco apart of the High-Tech/Startup community? (San Jose: job market, neighborhoods)

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by josh u

Tech companies moving to SF? Don't make me laugh. No offense but since we're giving opinions, I'll give mine: Outside of tourism, SF is a ****hole. I go there only to show out-of-town visitors around, otherwise I avoid it like the plague. From the homeless drunks to the horrible taxi drivers, from the cost of parking to the torn-up streets, from the traffic to the anti-business atmosphere, there's no reason for a company to be there. If a company I worked for moved there, I'd quit. That city is a dump.

Is there a single tree in SF, outside of GG Park?

Yes suburban tract homes and few ranch style homes in wealthy suburbs of San Mateo county are definitely nicer than houses in Pacific Heights, Seacliff, St. Francis Woods or West Portal.... Right? After all who can deny the charm of Milpitas??? or the vibrant urban environment of 4 lane streets and freeways without a single person in sight type ambiance of Santa Clara county! Of course the muddy waters and foul smelling marshland of South Bay with power lines running all over them are more scenic than Baker beach, Presidio or the Embarcadero...

And what exactly will you do with the trees? I guess if your suburban office building in Santa Clara has windows (a rare thing) all you can do is stare at trees and freeways! I thought things are spread out in TX...until I saw San Jose and Santa Clara.

[andyadhi01]

Originally Posted by josh u

Is there a single tree in SF, outside of GG Park?

Admittedly SF is too dense to have too many trees outside of the parks...But how about Oakland? Oakland has a great combination of urban charm and endless woods and hills?

The hills around San Jose and Fremont are full of trees...right?

[esmith143]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

Admittedly SF is too dense to have too many trees outside of the parks...But how about Oakland? Oakland has a great combination of urban charm and endless woods and hills?

Ohh yes, Oakland and its famous urban charm.

But I hear that Detroit's and Cleveland's urban charms are quite good too. Also, cheap real estate, big lakes nearby, forests, fishing, hunting, hiking... I sense the coming of the next High-Tech/Startup community there.

[clongirl]

What does any of this have to do with Silicon Valley being the heart of the tech industry??

It's ridiculous to have to read through all the stupid posts on Oakland vs San Francisco vs suburbia.

None of you above posters seem to get out much or know anything about the region at all...no matter where you all are living.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by andyadhi01

I thought things are spread out in TX...until I saw San Jose and Santa Clara.

Not only do easily-referenced density figures prove you incredibly wrong, but the fact that the commercial areas of the valley paint the whole picture for some many people up there says a lot about the influence of SV industry upon the rest of the region.

And for the sake of clarity, don't lump my retort here with this Josh guy and his contempt for stereotypical urban ills.

[Stephen1110]

"I want to prove that San Diego is a part of Silicon Valley...And if you add up San Diego and Los Angeles....So maybe the question we should ask is, "Are San Jose and San Francisco parts of the SoCal hi-tech/startup community?"" - esmith143

San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose are in the same CSA, known as the San Francisco Bay Area, and are part of the same sphere of influence.

As I stated earlier, San Francisco is a part of the Bay Area "Tech Community". I did not say San Francisco was a part of the Silicon Valley "Tech Community"; it's not my argument.

For example:

High-Tech jobs

San Francisco/Oakland MSA = 168,682 high-tech jobs = 43%

Silicon Valley = 225,575 high-tech jobs = 57%

U.S. Cities With the Most Tech Jobs: No. 19 City for Tech Jobs: Oakland - BusinessWeek


Top NanoTech Cities

"areas with the nation’s highest concentration of nanotechnology companies, universities, research laboratories, and organizations"

2. San Francisco
3. San Jose
6. Oakland

New Data Show Nanotechnology-Related Activities in Every U.S. State - The Pew Charitable Trusts


Top Ten U.S. BioTech Clusters

"The study ranked the metropolitan areas using 44 measurements within two broad categories: the biotech innovation pipeline, which includes research and development dollars and the quality of the workforce; and the assessment of impact, or how successful an area has been at bringing ideas to market and creating companies, jobs and products."

4. San Jose = 87.8
8. San Francisco = 75.8
9. Oakland = 74.3

The Top Ten U.S. Biotech Clusters - Forbes.com

[esmith143]

San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose are in the same CSA, known as the San Francisco Bay Area, and are part of the same sphere of influence.

As I stated earlier, San Francisco is a part of the Bay Area "Tech Community". I did not say San Francisco was a part of the Silicon Valley "Tech Community".

What exactly is "Tech Community"? There are small (and not so small) "Tech Communities" in each one of the fifty states. Us tech/science types are commonly ridiculed, if not hated, by most Texans, and yet there are significant concentrations of tech jobs in Austin and Plano. Even in Kansas, the state that is considered most likely to mandate the teaching of creationism in public schools in the foreseeable future, there are, as of this moment, 55 biotech/pharma job openings and 315 IT job openings on Monster. So they must have a tech community too.

But there's only one Silicon Valley. And San Francisco is most definitely not part of it.

[Stephen1110]

"But there's only one Silicon Valley. And San Francisco is most definitely not part of it." -esmith143

Geographically, San Francisco is not a part of Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley is located in the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area.

However, San Francisco is a part of the larger Tech Community of the San Francisco Bay Area, of which Silicon Valley is a part of.

[sandrews1947]

If you look at the spread of startup jobs in the region San Francisco clearly is a hotspot with probably the most startup related jobs for a single city in the bay area. You'll have to click and zoom into to actually see the job map in the bay area here : http://www.maployed.com/#startup. On an unrelated note, while Texas usually has lots of jobs , it clearly lags in the startup/tech sector.

[que.sera]

Originally Posted by Stephen1110

Geographically, San Francisco is not a part of Silicon Valley.
Silicon Valley is located in the southern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area.

However, San Francisco is a part of the larger Tech Community of the San Francisco Bay Area, of which Silicon Valley is a part of.

EXACTLY! What a ridiculous thing to invent distinctions about.

I know people who live in SF who would never work outside the city.
I know people who live in the valley who would never work in SF. They're all doing similar jobs, and some of them even work for the same company and in similar roles.

When the national press says "Silicon Valley", they generally also mean tech businesses that are located in SF. When locals say it, they are aware of the geographical difference and intra-industry variation between the two (big companies like Cisco can't find office space for 25000 people in SF city at any price..and some types of tech businesses require more space than others, so there are more hardware companies in the valley proper, etc).

And all this city/valley bashing crap is senseless. The bay area is lucky to have multiple centers of economy for its primary industry, and widely varied housing/neighborhood options. Glad to hear that you feel strongly about your choices, but that doesn't mean you've found the One True Way to live.