Ask HN: Why is living in the bay area such a big deal?

I lived in the bay area for a while and moved away. I went to the meetups and didn't get it initially. I used to joke that every person, including their dog, has a lil startup. After a while, I started to "get" the extreme optimism, ideals, etc. Don't get me wrong ... there is a TON of B.S. and lots of posers who end up getting successful. But it is a neat feeling to meet your tech heroes in person, and perhaps get a chance to work with them.

I do think SV is a special place and, if you are in tech, you should experience it at least once. I like to say "Silicon Valley is a state of mind". Once you get it, I think you can live anywhere with the same mindset. Certainly, you don't need to live in the valley to get "it" but it sure helps.

So basically all you're saying is: it's disneyland for techies, but after a while not that fun? Why do still the most successful entrepreneurs stay in the area then? Why did you move away btw?

People tend to stay close to family, friends, beloved hobbies, and work. Once a place feels like home, you are unlikely to leave unless compelled by love or money.

Your gap year might best be used as a scouting trip. Sometimes the place that most captures your imagination turns out to be exactly where you don't want to live. A place that you never had considered may fit so well you never want to leave. You won't know until you visit.

Do you have any suggestions about how I can cover the costs? By the time I enter my gap year I'll just be out of highschool, which means: not a really great skillset on a professional level. That's why I want to work on that for a year and then check the possibilities I have. There won't be any other time I can imagine when I would be able to work on just my skills then a gap year (locked up in my room, maybe)

No knowledge is ever lost. You WILL learn a ton but the balance will likely tip towards soft skills. This is great! Do not become angry with yourself if you are not coding as much as you had hoped as long as you are coding consistently.

HOW TO PAY YOUR WAY If it were me today, I would look for work that offered some degree of physical control over my day and the ability to listen to high-level conversations undetected. Janitorial for interesting companies, non-profits and museums would be my ticket. When it was me, twenty years ago, I did quite a bit of restaurant work supplemented with targeted freelance and internships. Restaurants usually provide a free meal during your shift. (Get friendly with a cook and you can go home with sandwiches to cover your days off as well.) Freelance keeps you from being ground down by the physical exhaustion and constant ego blows of a "low skill" position- and if it makes you some money, well, Yahtzee for you.

LIVING TIPS Shared room situations and furnished sublets will keep you lease-free but be sure you have a way to lock up your stuff while you are at work. Pay your sub-let rent by check or money order to maintain a paper trail. Often the landlord will not know you are there and this covers your butt. Also, even friendly, straight-A student, drug users will "borrow" from you eventually.

HOW TO STAY SANE If not freelance, any structured learning will help buoy you psychologically but be sure to connect with someone who will hold you accountable for turning in something every week. Another option is http://www.straighterline.com/ or some other MOOC program. The added bonus is you can tell your grandparents you are in a distance, college program. Even if the university you eventually attend does not accept your MOOC credits, you can often "challenge" a course and, by proving you have mastered the material, be passed out of it.

TOTALLY DO-ABLE Resourceful people capable of teaching themselves can survive. A resourceful person who knows a portable skill like coding, is single, child free, 17-19 year old, willing to ask for help, and has a middle class background is well equipped for a gap year. You won't starve. Travel lightly and take photos.

When I moved to San Francisco two years ago because I wanted to be around intelligent inspiring people that I could get help from on my journey to becoming a great software engineer. When I got here I saw that there are so my developers per square mile than anywhere I know. This is great for dev meetups and hacker meetups. This is bad when 10-15 people are looking at the same job position available.

I have found it to be pretty expensive to live here if you don't want a roommate or you want a decent place.

All and all, I found the bay area pretty great for anything and everything you want to do. I recently graduated from nerd school by visiting the Computer History Museum.

Its nerd central. Which means that you will come into contact with a lot of people who are like you. It makes the place unique, because there is simply no other place in the world where that happens. Well, maybe in akihabara or the chinese hardware market, but no other place.

It also makes you one dimensional because everyone is like you. This can be bad for your own personal development and coming across ideas in different areas of industry/economy. No wonder you see "herd" startups in SF a lot of times. There is too much noise in SF.