[givemeethekeys]

Who do you blame if the big industry in town that has been growing for decades is projected to keep growing but the locals decide to not take advantage of it?

The best universities, community colleges, amazing tool libraries to learn the trades, yet.. all these people who move half way around the world to settle with no credit and hardly any savings to start end up buying a home, yet the locals can’t figure it out. Decade after decade.

[reducesuffering]

> all these people who move half way around the world to settle with no credit and hardly any savings to start end up buying a home, yet the locals can’t figure it out.

That's because it's brain drain on the rest of the world. You're importing some of the world's most educated people in and of course they outcompete the locals.

[RandallBrown]

Based on what's going on in Seattle and San Francisco, you blame the big industry.

[eastbound]

Are you saying the unis in Santa Cruz are sufficient to raise yourself to millionaire, and the local high schools sufficient to get into those unis? I’m not from the US, genuinely asking. But I have often seen unis have a far-distance preference, just for the social mix, while letting down the locals.

[dekhn]

I guess it really depends on how you count your monies, but if you apply yourself at UCSC you can definitely do quite well. At least, that was true for my generation- I graduated from there in '95, missed out on the first tech recession by hiding in grad school, and then eventually moved to industry when I felt educated enough. Since my industry is tech, I've generally been paid well, with an especially profitable stint at Google. Nearly all that money got reinvested (not in housing) and continues to grow quite well.

Realistically, though, everything about CS changed and so now, I don't know that somebody could get a degree from UCSC and even afford to be a grad student or junior programmer here unless they're willing to give up a lot of niceties.

[epistasis]

Lots of entrepreneurs got their education at UCSC, but typically they put their companies outside of town (not many employees want to move to town. There are some exceptions...)

Santa Cruz students have no more difficulty getting into UCSC than other parts of the state. But the UC has gotten extremely selective due to the same reason housing is short in Santa Cruz: it's not been properly sized to allow for standard population growth in the US.

[fragmede]

I went to UCSC, the Santa Cruz uni, as a California resident that went to high school 30-40 mins north of Santa Cruz, got a BS in computer engineering, and managed to do a couple of years at Google, so I've some money, though they didn't make me a millionaire. They would have if I'd stayed longer though.

[BobbyJo]

I mean, if you're saying the locals (a population of what? a million?) should be able to compete with the best and brightest from the entire planet (9 billion?) or move, then I have to disagree.

[givemeethekeys]

Most of them are not the best and brightest. The best and brightest get scooped up locally. The people who move are usually just good enough, but they're hungry and willing to work their asses off. That is their edge.

[reducesuffering]

Sources needed. For example, the hottest tech co. paying $1m comp packages, OpenAI. Is leadership from the Bay Area? No, it was the brightest people, from St. Louis, North Dakota, Albania / Canada, Russia / Israel. You can take a look at all the top tech co's and top brass in the Bay Area, it will be like 80% transplants. The brightest didn't start the next best tech co in Missouri or Albania.

[givemeethekeys]

Sources needed as to whether they were the brightest people in their home towns / countries when they left or if they became brighter through hard work and learning after arriving to the Bay Area.

Even if they were the brightest, are the thousands of people working at Bay Area companies the brightest from back home? Having worked with quite a few of them, I assure you that there are plenty of brighter people where they come from.