Trying to figure out where to stay for the next decades. Pittsburgh looks very attractive given the low cost of living and low state income tax. However, I get more friends in San Francisco. And probably more career opportunities in San Francisco as well. Which city will you choose? What's your reasoning?
If you don't already have a family or other strong ties in SF area, and aren't terribly allergic to winters, 100% Pittsburgh. It's actually a pretty cool city these days, you can live in a nice house walking/biking distance from work for less than it will cost you to live in a dump and spend hours on the road each day in the Bay, and with CMU there it will always have plenty of tech opportunities.
Agree with you, my concern is that if Uber doesn't go well in the next decade, my options to find a job with similar pay in Pittsburgh will be very limited
From having spent a lot of time in Pittsburgh for work, I think there's more than a handful of options that pay comparable salaries (admittedly nowhere close to the Bay) - there's 3-4 large self driving companies, a handful of other robotics companies, and Google, Apple and Facebook are growing. All of these pay well -- comparable with the Bay, but ridiculous for Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh any day, if you are comfortable with the cold weather. Also poll?
There’s a famous quote that says “friends are the greatest of worldly treasures” 300k is enough to be very comfortable even in SF and you are right about more opportunities
I think if you have a lot of friends in SF, the WFH/vacation policy matters.
Probably be homeless in SF with 300k if that's your sole income.
On $300k you’ll be very well off in Pittsburgh, in SF you will be slightly above average. Depends on the type of lifestyle you are looking for. Something else to consider, one of these two cities has an app to help you report and avoid human feces in public places, and the other has cold winters.
Future opportunities, network, weather+outdoors - bay area Just a very different energy compared to the Midwest
Pittsburgh is NOT Midwest
It’s a different energy for sure. Having personally observed people shitting in public on the sidewalks at least twice, there is not enough opportunity or TC to entice me to live there again.
Pittsburgh because you won’t be shitting on the streets