I just spent 4 days in the bay area and ready to head home to Seattle, specifically in Redmond. 22 Years ago I left my home is Los Gatos, working in Cupertino for Apple to move to Redmond to work for Microsoft. I didn’t know anyone in Seattle or Microsoft in 1992, and figured I would give it a try worse case I move. There are three reasons why I moved - real estate prices, traffic and state income tax. None of that has really changed.
I do come down to the bay area often though as there many companies I chat with, conferences to attend, and to see family and friends.
Chatting with one of my friends who makes the commute from Seattle to the bay area for work last night got me thinking to write this post. One observation is the number of people who commute in to their job an hour or more reminded us of the commutes for NYC. Yet, working in silicon valley doesn’t carry the cachet that NYC does, and being in downtown NYC has many more benefits than being in downtown Mountain View.
I have friends who have lived in the bay area and just rent due to the crazy house prices and their long term plans are to move somewhere else.
Many of the people who commute to silicon valley have chosen to live somewhere else they want to be longer term. Many people who were lucky enough to buy real estate long ago can live closer to work, but the recent hires have a much more difficult time when buyers are paying cash for homes costing over $2 mil.
All of this has an affect on the talent Silicon Valley can attract. At some point there will be a transition to ????