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As someone who graduated in 2011, I feel like I really dodged a bullet with San Francisco. I've had managers in job interviews (even living in Boston!) tell me that I was crazy for not moving west, in my position, that you had to be in SF if you wanted to get into tech, do it now while you're young, etc. One person flat out told me I wasn't really serious about tech because I wasn't moving west. Recruiters assume that you'd be willing to relocate to SF, friends are constantly moving there -- there were definitely a few times that I considered it. All said though, I think I've received much better opportunities in Boston, I love being around a more culturally/educationally diverse group of people, and I'm not sure the social pressures in SF would have molded me into a "better" person. Honestly, I'd probably hate "SF me," and I couldn't have asked for (or really wanted) a better early career than the one I'm having. Although I have friends who are regretting their choice to move, and that sucks, I have to admit to a certain amount of schadenfreude, watching everything unfold in the last couple years. I'm sure San Francisco will be a tech hub for years to come, and I'm sure other tech hubs will continue to emerge, but it was a great early lesson for me that moving for a career often isn't the magic bullet that people think it is (or that staying put is a death sentence) -- especially in tech. Certain extreme examples aside (it's hard to be a lumberjack in New Mexico), "career options" should be only one factor in choosing where to set your roots (or whether to set them at all), and, at a certain point, you can only take advantage of so many opportunities in a lifetime, so there is a saturation point at which more of them become meaningless. Also, watch out for terrible advice when you're young :-p |