Unpopular opinion: Ham Radio is mostly full of aging, grouchy boomers who love to shit on neophytes for relatively minor transgressions. It's an incredibly toxic community and I don't miss it one iota.
To be fair, there are a lot of upstart youth clubs in ham radio, and a massive influx of very friendly and informative network YouTube elmers. Everyone involved is very inclusive and welcoming to newcomers.
Just to name a few...
https://youthontheair.org/ (YOTA-America's First ever YOTA Camp is happening next week!)
https://www.remotehamradio.com/youth-network/
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23MNHR
https://hamradioadventures.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/HamRadioClubhouse/
Don't let the few ruin it for all.
I took my amateur test at the Marin Amateur Radio Society and joined the club and the people there were very helpful in helping me to learn how to use my equipment. I did a number of events with them and have had good experiences (mostly providing radio support for events like bike rides and long distance runs)
Though I've pretty much stuck with VHF/UHF comms, haven't really tried anything on HF, maybe that's where the grouchy old timers hang out.
I live far from the bay area now, but still check in to my local area nets once in a while just to make sure my equipment is working and they all seem nice enough.