[ACTIVITY]: Exploratory Visit to the Bay Area

I would very much like to come do this with you, but I currently work for the IT staff of a community college, so taking vacation time in the month of August is highly frowned upon.

EDIT: OH COME ON. Why was this downvoted? Why was this the ONLY POST IN THE THREAD THAT GOT DOWNVOTED?

Why am I terrible? Someone please tell me, why am I terrible?

Fuck it, I don't care about karma anymore. Downvote me to oblivion. Run me off the site. I don't care.

But please, please, tell me why I'm terrible. Tell me what I did wrong. Tell me how I could change. Please.

Travel around using public transportation. Which places are convenient to get from/to, and which places aren't?

Google Maps is a pretty good simulator for this.

One thing to keep in mind, if you're coming from somewhere with marginally sensible public transit, like New York City or Portland: The Bay Area is not a metropolitan area; it's several metropolitan areas that don't cooperate very well. Bus systems are on the city or county level (Muni, ACTransit, VTA, and SamTrans); there are light rail systems that don't connect (BART and VTA), and a commuter rail line that doesn't reliably sync with the above (Caltrain).

Visit the offices of the major tech companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Twitter. Ask some of their employees how they feel about being a software engineer in Silicon Valley.

Find a current employee to give you a tour. You generally can't wander around people's offices unescorted.

Eat at local restaurants - not so much the fancy/expensive ones, but the ones a person might go to for a typical, everyday lunch outing.

The larger companies have cafeterias; even many startups have catered food.

See some of the sights. Again, the emphasis would be on the things that would affect our everyday lifestyle, should be decide to move, not so much on the tourist attractions. For example, the Golden Gate Bridge is an awesome structure, but I doubt it would improve my everyday life very much. In contrast, living near a good running trail would be a big boost to my lifestyle.

Look up bike trails and such online.

Do some apartment viewing, to get a feel for how much rent a good/medium/student apartment costs in different areas and how good the amenities are.

Expect to be astonished by the prices, and watch out for aggressive HOAs.

Go to some local LW meetups, if there are any scheduled for the time window.

Subscribe to the bayarealesswrong mailing list on Google Groups; meetup announcements are posted there.

Visit the Stanford and UC Berkeley campuses and the surrounding areas.

Go for it. Stanford is huge and Berkeley is hilly, by the way.

Interact with locals and ask them about their experience living in the region

See also mailing list. Also note that the visible populace of a busy town looks very different at different times, based on whether people are at work, whether school is in session, etc.

Visit a number of different neighborhoods, to try to get a sense of the pros and cons of each

You could spend days or weeks doing this in one town. Live near where you work, or find a workplace that's near where you want to live — commuting sucks.

Discuss how to apply Bayesian decision theory to the problem of finding the optimal place to live ;)

Hmm ....

Daniel, did you go ahead with this? Learn anything interesting?

I know this isn't the point, but I object to the quote at the beginning of your post. Maybe it's just because I'm one of "those who don’t live in that place," but what about people who are optimizing for something other than their career? Is that really such a big "exception?" Or am I taking the quote out of context, or does he think those people are optimizing for the wrong things, or what?

Some examples of alternative things one may be optimizing for when selecting where to live:

• A significant other's career (or an area compatible with both people's careers)

• Being near family or friends

• Convenient access to specific hobbies

• The weather

This sounds fun enough to make me wish I were considering moving to the Bay Area.

If you are interested in participating in this activity, either as a visitor to the area or as a local, please comment below and I will PM you details for how to contact me.

I'll be there then (with status in between the two categories you mention) and am definitely interested in participating!

Bay area is a huge place. Where specifically are you thinking about?

For example, the Golden Gate Bridge is an awesome structure, but I doubt it would improve my everyday life very much.

True, unless you live north of it which you won't. The Bay Bridge, on the other hand, will have significant effects on you if you live in SF or Oakland/Berkeley. It is the primary nexus of massive traffic jams during rush hour (and at other times) that you will be contending with if you drive anywhere, and doubly so if you plan to drive over it.