I'm considering moving from the Bay Area to Seattle, mainly for cost of living reasons. I have a reasonable offer from a local tech company... but I'm worried about the long-term career impact. In short, I'm worried that even if things work out, once I want to move on, I'll have to head back to SF to find new good roles in my field at interesting, smaller companies... particularly since I'm moving for a business role. (I'm not interested in joining Amazon or Microsoft and will miss the vibrancy and diversity of the Bay Area scene.) Put another way, while lots of second offices in the Seattle area for major companies create new opportunities in engineering, it's hard to tell if those same roles exist at scale for non-engineers. Curious if anyone else has moved for the same thing (marketing, strategy, etc.) and whether or not you've found other opportunities that interested you over time.
Btw your assessment of the companies offering engineering roles primarily is very accurate. This was the struggle for me. I could have landed a role but not with career trajectory offered in Bay
What makes you think the cost of living is lower in Seattle? Clearly you have not seen Redfin or Zillow 😎
It's definitely lower by about 20-25%. I lived in SF and now in Seattle. Housing is still 50-60% cost of bay housing and much cheaper if you move further. To your main question, unsure. I think the good opportunities will eventually come to places like SEA and Austin as well due to people leaving the bay
It's so much cheaper in Seattle! You're trolling :)
I. Love. The PNW
Curious... why not Amazon/ Microsoft?
I just prefer smaller companies. I interviewed at one point at Microsoft and was impressed by the team, but there was a definite bureaucracy that you don't see at companies in the smaller sweet spot.
So it would apply to any big company of this size ... including Facebook/ google / Apple correct?
Actually Microsoft Azure is doing great as well. Its growing insanely
What do you business non tech people do at a company like Amazon or Microsoft anyways? Serious question.
Matvey - what do you do at MS?
Well-well look. I already told you: I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?
And the hilarious thing is u say ur good with people.... don't u get it that we could be just as rude... u wrong person
I have debated this same scenario with my friend who is NOT from Bay Area. I moved here from San Francisco and the big appeal was lower cost of living. I regret my decision greatly since the opportunities for non technical roles in all industries can't be beaten in Bay Area. Think real hard about your career goals, etc before you leave. It's hard to return once prices out of Bay. I finally landed right opportunity so I can buy house so we are finally returning.