When I scroll through a job board it’s 90% garbage like just another data analytics company or payroll software. Is there a secret underground culture where all the good work is advertised and never made public?
I feel like this is the only valid reason and it’s the only reason why anyone I know has moved there. As someone who has never been to the Bay Area I can’t tell if this is actually the culture or just some bs that people post on Twitter because it helps them make more money. I have met people who think it’s appropriate to ask me to schedule an hour on their Google calendar in 2 weeks to hang out though so I wouldn’t be surprised..
If you struggle with chronic illness or general health issues, you'll be left on read. If you can't hustle the twelve-hour day, even if "most days aren't like that, we're very work-life balanced here", you'll get iced out.
The main lesson to take away is it doesn’t really take that much to get started in SV. you don’t have to be born rich and you don’t have to start with a ton of connections.
Just get over your fear of talking to strangers and ask for 2-5 intros from every person you meet. Tedious, but not really even hard.
There's a reason Databricks is in SF instead of Stockholm, and why Chinese and Indian founders tend to study at Stanford or UCB at some point.
