I work at Facebook in Menlo Park and have been living in South Bay for 2 years. I'm in my mid 20s now and I'm finding South Bay quite boring -- not much to do after getting back from work and most of my friends from college live in the city (in SF/Seattle). South Bay is also worse in terms of dating. I'm debating moving to SF vs moving to Seattle. My team is also based in Seattle so they would fine with me moving to Seattle. --- SF Pros: + Close to other tech companies. I'd eventually want to move companies after a few more years so in the long term this would be good. SF Cons: - Commute would be terrible. I'll probably have to spend ~3hrs per day commuting and that would leave me with free time only on weekends. - Rent is going to be expensive. Seattle Pros: + I would be able to afford an apartment close to work. + Save more money because of no state income tax. Seattle Cons: - I like warm/sunny weather so Seattle weather would take a lot of getting used to. - Not many other tech companies to eventually move to. I'll probably have to move back to Bay area after a few years. Please comment if you can think of any other pros/cons! TC: 250k
Dude there is sf office. Just move there if you like the sun. I lived in Seattle for 6 months and I hated the rain so much. It just lowered down my productivity silently. Move to NY or LA even. Why just sf and seattle? And sf nyc seattle have pretty much any tech company you can think of.
Thanks! I too would have liked to work in the sf or NYC office but I can't since I recently switched teams and my team doesn't have anyone in these locations.
Whatever you do, I don't recommend the 3 hr commute, it's soul crushing.
If you are adverse to gloomy weather, Seattle might not be your choice irrespective of TC and savings. However Seattle pretty much have all the big tech companies now like in Bay Area but number of startups are fewer.
I love living in Seattle Skiing can help distract from the rain in the winter, and summers are incredible
The extra saving in Seattle is just not worth it for sacrificing 10 months per year. Days are gloomy, dark and rainy and Seattle freeze is an actual thing
Can totally relate. South Bay is boring. I live in Mountain view, take a bullet caltrain, and then walk to office. The bullet takes 50 mins and walk is 25 mins one way. The commute is brutal but I like walking in the city. And there is a lot of fun stuff going, so you can do whatever you want after office. My friends and fiance are in South Bay so don’t want to move to coty. If you are a fun person, SF would be much better than Seattle.
I'm just worried that the sf-mpk commute will drain me to the point where it wouldn't make a difference where I lived...since I would be too tired during all the weekdays. Weekends would be nice though
I lived in Mountain View for 2 years and just moved to SF. I have to say that despite the shitty commute, life is soo much more fun and I do not regret it one bit. I am actively working on switching to SF office though. Take advantage of working on the bus and doing WFH. It'll help your sanity so much.
I currently live in sf and commute to palo alto everyday. It's taking a toll and I'm trying move my job to the city.