Confronting Potential Banishment to California

[Chance]

I’ll be graduating at the end of the year (…hopefully), and the search for post-graduation employment has officially begun. It’s an inconvenient truth that the nexus of my field is in California, particularly The Bay Area. I have many issues with California, mostly stupid gun laws and the cost of living, but also because Cali is destined to become a barren dust bowl that eventually falls into the sea.

My original plan to approach this problem was simply not to apply to any companies that are based in California. There are, after all, tech hubs all over the country. It somehow never occurred to me that companies in California could find me.

Now, a company has contacted me, and we’ve set up a technical interview. I’ve no expectation this interview will result in a job offer, and am doing it just to get some interview experience. I have, however, been confronted with the ugly reality that to excel in the tech world may mean having to do a stint behind the Granola Curtain. This would likely be temporary, as California doesn't shoot people that try to flee (...yet).

So, I’d like to ask the members here who have lived / currently live in California: what’s it like to be a fiscally conservative gun owner in the Respublika Kalifornii?

[Paladin]

I'll be honest waited to long to move to Texas! Best advice i can give is to say don't do it.
Rick

[Peally]

I've seen some damn impressive people in the IT industry, and yet I've never met someone that did it in Cali. They're certainly popular but there's also 49 other states with computers too

[Smash]

I think Houston is becoming one of the larger tech hubs in the country as well.

[Dagga Boy]

Hold out for Texas or get real good with a revolver and an 870.

Keep in mind that a lot of he über progressive dope smoking hippy's do not want to live in Texas just like you don't want to live in California. Best bet is to let them have the Cali jobs. If not you will be sitting in California making great money with a high cost of living and taxes to go with it wishing you could be somewhere else. This is from a native California who left after 46 years.....as I like to stay a Texan trapped in a California body.

[okie john]

My original plan to approach this problem was simply not to apply to any companies that are based in California. There are, after all, tech hubs all over the country. It somehow never occurred to me that companies in California could find me.

Look at Washington.

I work in tech advertising/marketing, so feel free to PM me if you have questions. Tons of folks up are here hiring.


Okie John

[RevolverRob]

I will take the realistic approach. Yes not all tech jobs are in California. Are you currently sitting on multiple offers? Do you have a job that can sustain you, if you decline to accept this job? Are you willing to compromise your career, by delaying your professional starting date? These other hubs how many of them are in places worse than California?

No offense to the Seattle/Northwest proponents, it rains 300 days a year there. As a Texan who recently discovered rain and seasons, I'd stab someone to move to The Bay Area, where they have sunshine. You cannot ignore the realities of non-political intangibles.

Play the worst case scenario game here. Worst case if you get the job, you take it, work 3-5 years with the company and then move to a company in a better location for you. You enjoy your work, you enjoy the food and weather of California, ignore the politics (it can be done). Worst case is, you interview, don't get the job, get valuable interview experience and move on.

The worst thing you can do to yourself, is pass up on opportunity. I HATE Chicago, with enough passion to fuel a thousand burning suns. But I could not pass up on the opportunities that being here earned me professionally. Opportunities that are not available elsewhere. You learn to live with it and plot your escape. If you have a good opportunity, don't fuck it up.

-Rob

[Trooper224]

I think Houston is becoming one of the larger tech hubs in the country as well.

This. I have friends in Huston and I'm amazed at the expansion every time I go down there, especially in the aerospace field. Texas is becoming more liberal all the time, Texans just don't want to admit it yet. They're getting a huge influx of immigrants from foreign countries, especially India and California. Their infrastructure is really being strained to the breaking point because of this and their educational system is in the toilet. However, if you don't have children that isn't a concern and it's no worse than Kali, yet. You've got at least 1.5 to 2 decades before Texas becomes the latest state the progressive agenda has ruined. You could get your foot in the tech door down there and leave the land of fruits and nuts in your rear view.

[Haraise]

You've got 49 other states, and lots of Cali jobs offer telecommute. This isn't much of an issue...

[RevolverRob]

To be fair he DOESN'T have 49 other states.

Does he want to move to New Jersey? Mass? Connecticutt? Rhode Island? Maryland? Hell does he even want to move to Washington or Virginia with enough draconian laws on the books to make anyone wince? If he moves to Illinois it will be Chicago. If he moves to Pennsylvania it will be likely be Philidelphia or Pittsburg. It's not an apples to apples comparison here. Tech jobs aren't impossible to find in North Dakota, but they might as well be. And any job found there has minimal career growth potential.

Stop letting your state biases, drive perception of reality. Don't we say the mission drives the gear train? If the goal is to have a successful career in technology, he will be required to "do time" in some set of circumstances he may not like. The question here isn't does California suck. It's whether or not other jobs have the same career potential or meet the same goals that Chance has in mind.

My advice? Don't let politics or anything else stop you from achieving your goals. If you can find jobs that allow you to achieve them without compromise do it. If not, compromise. You may have to suffer. Follow Epicetus and the grand stoic effort, "I believe you are unfortunate, to have never suffered from unfortunate." Or "that which does not kill us makes us stronger".