From: "rpardee@..." <rpardee@...>
Date: 2005-09-22T06:01:42+09:00
Subject: Re: Places for a programmer to live?

Wooaahh now.  You want to stay away from Seattle.  Really.  Complete
hell-scape.

These aren't the 'droids you're looking for.

I'm seriously.

Phil Tomson wrote:
>
> OK, I'm in Portland and you mentioned Portand, so here goes:
> Why are all the techies moving to Portland, OR?  A few reasons:
> 1) Lots of UGs.  UGs for languages (we have a really good one in pdx.rb, see:
> http://pdxruby.org ), UGs for things like Agile programming, etc.  And lots
> of people are active in them.
> 2) OSDL&Linus are here now.  This is a very Open Source friendly place. The
> Governor has even set up some sort of open source booster office in
> Beaverton.  More O'Reilly authors per-capita than any other US city.
> 3) The Weather: yes really.  From about mid-June through about mid-October I
> think this part of the country (and I'll include Seattle in this) has THE
> best weather in the country.  Not too hot.  Not humid.  Especially right now,
> we have 70 to 75 degree sunny days (it might rain 1 day out of 7 in
> September).  OK, from mid-October till mid-June it's gray and gloomy, but hey
> you've got to get some work done sometime, right?  And that's what all the
> coffee shops are for.
> 4) Scenery & stuff to do: Mt. St. Helens is about an hour away, the Columbia
> Gorge is close, Crater Lake is about 4 hours away.   One of the most scenic
> coastlines in the world is 1.5 hours away. Seattle is 3 hours away and
> Vancouver BC is about 6 hours away (by car).
> 5) cost of living (while rising) is still lower than the other major
> West-Coast cities (LA, SF, Seattle).
> 6) Very good public transportation system.  Almost as good as some European
> cities.  Probably one of the best in the US.
>
> ... as far as jobs go, things were pretty terrible back in 2002-2004, but
> much better now.  I'm noticing a trend lately that a lot of people seems to
> be starting their own businesses here (as opposed to working for a company).
> If you are into the big company thing then Intel has a huge presence here
> (15,000 employees - their largest site in the world) and Nike is based here
> as well.