From: "Ara.T.Howard" Date: 2005-09-21T10:21:54+09:00 Subject: Re: [OT] Places for a programmer to live? On Wed, 21 Sep 2005, Devin Mullins wrote: > While we seem to be rife with OT threads, I thought I'd throw in an OT > question that's been percolating in my mind for quite a while. > > Where do you recommend to live? Feel free to provide just a city name, or to > go into detail. When I say "for a programmer," I'm mainly referring to the > existence of programming jobs, but other aspects, such as the existence of > ?UGs, proximity to nerdy attractions, etc. could play a part. Also feel free > to just tell me some places to look for ideas, and then tell me to Get to > Googlin'. :) > > Obviously, the usual places show up: Silicon Valley, Wash DC (where I am > now), *insert big city here* -- any info you have about why you would or > wouldn't recommend one of these would be appreciated. I'm also looking for > places that are off-the-beaten path (but still accessible, so Fraser, B.C. > is out of the question, sorry) -- Portland, OR and even Bend, OR seem to be > attracting techies, for example. Why? Should I be interested, too? Why or > why not? I have preference towards places in the US, but if you have > hometown pride, you are of course welcome to give it shoutout. :) > > For the short term, I'm stuck here earning a living, and for the medium > term, I'm probably going to go where my long-time friends are, in Calif. > (SF? SB? LA? SD? not sure), but I'm trying to plan ahead a little more than > I have in the past, so am hoping to build an arsenal of info. You guys are > the best group I could think to ask. > > I'll provide a little about DC, in fairness to y'all, and maybe as a > template. 1. The housing market here is ridiculously expensive. I think it > might be going down a *little* soon, but yikes, it's high. 2. It's probably > because high tech jobs are in high supply here. Gov't contracting is the > name of the game, and while you probably won't be using Agile methodologies > to build the Next Big Thing, you'll at least have a fairly well-paying and > steady job. 3. Weather's not fantastic. Temperate climates. Warm for its > latitude because of some sort of wind thing. Generally pretty cloudy during > the Spring/Fall, though, due to its proximity to the water. 4. Traffic > sucks. Combine that with the fact that you can only afford to live in the > boonies and you've got a recipe for un-fun. 5. Entertainment is pretty > decent, if you don't mind the traffic it takes to get there. We've got the > Kennedy Center in DC, Nissan Pavillion out west in Warrenton, VA, all sorts > of jazz, bars, etc. and DC is obviously a pretty popular place for artists > to include as part of a national/regional tour. We've got fantastic museums > and art galleries, many of which are free. 6. There's a very good variety > of decent restaurants, and some very good ones. Of course, for any genre X > of food, there's apparently some city Y that produces better X. Oh well. :) > 7. It's a big, suburban region. You're not going to see any "sense of > belonging" to the DC area, in people. You're not going to find that 'cept > for probably way in the city (where it's urban), or way out (where it's > rural, in which case you'll find the annual Nokesville festival, or > whatever). 8. I may be full of it. > > I shut up now. the view from my office in boulder colorado http://www.colorado.edu/webcam/pan1.html yeah - it's dark now - but check back tomorrow. ;-) -a -- =============================================================================== | email :: ara [dot] t [dot] howard [at] noaa [dot] gov | phone :: 303.497.6469 | Your life dwells amoung the causes of death | Like a lamp standing in a strong breeze. --Nagarjuna ===============================================================================