Hacker News Reader

Comment by closure | Hacker News Reader

After 8 years in SF I have been seriously considering moving to NYC, largely over my commute to South Bay, but also for the substantial increase in density which brings with it a manifold increase in cultural opportunities and activities.

The weather is a drawback (in probably 200+ days in NYC over 10 years I can remember a single week of what I would consider nice weather). I have realized that crappy climate is a poor reason to avoid the move.

My one main concern is finding a job with similar pay and interesting work. 90+% of the job listings I see are for Java enterpise-type work paying a third of what my (admittedly more than comfortable) current total pay is.

View on HN

> I have realized that crappy climate is a poor reason to avoid the move.

I'd be interested to hear your reasons. For me, I'm the exact opposite. In the 3 years I've lived in CA, I haven't had bronchitis once, which used to happen almost every year on the east coast. Not having to deal with 14 degree weather and snow is one of the main reasons I moved away. For me, so much happiness flows this simple fact.

All I really mean is that on balance I think it’s worth the trade-off (due to the other pluses). I wouldn’t trade SF for say an inexpensive area with no culture and bad weather, but I think I am willing to put up with the heat & humidity along with cold & snow given all the rest NYC has to offer.

The secret is to move to Chicago first for a couple years, then come to NY like I did. You will feel blessed to live in NY weather.

I don't agree that crappy climate is a poor reason to avoid a move. Ideally it's not your only reason, but the climate in California is definitely a major selling point for just about everyone (myself included) who have come here from the east coast and the primary reason I won't go back. And the surrounding outdoors (if you're into that) is much better in SF than NYC, and really any city I know of in the US. A 30-45 minute drive from SF can get you into Muir Woods, wine country, Half Moon bay, etc. Really beautiful places that are very accessible for a weekend day trip. 45 min from NYC gets you to... Staten Island? Coney Island if you're lucky? It's a no brainer for me on that front.

Yes I understand that and the outdoors activities have no appeal to me.

I’ve lived in Michigan, Texas, Washington, California. The weather in California is dramatically better than the others, but on balance I would much rather give up 3+ hrs of commuting a day for 1hr where some of that is in a humid subway station.

If you haven’t lived in the humid areas of Texas, you don’t know that it’s much worse than NYC/Boston/etc in summer. Rather than 85-90 with 85% humidity, think 104 with 85+% humidity. With virtually zero culture. And continual rain throughout the otherwise mild winter.

“Yeah, you say the 4-month-long Northeast summers are bad, but have you considered it would be a lot worse if you were living ankle-deep in a swamp?

“Yeah, you say the 6-month-long Northeast winters are bad, but have you considered that it would be a lot worse if you were living under a blizzard in far-northern prairie?

“Also, there are 2 nice months every year!”

What kind of work do you do - and what qualifies as interesting work? I assure you a talented software developer can earn as much if not more in NYC than SF.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com