We spend 33% of day at work and work environment is important. Which place is better? My first choice company made an offer in Bay Area. 2nd and 3rd choice companies gave me offers in Austin. I always lived in San Diego and happy to relocate to cities with more options.
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I would have to agree that Austin is not what it used be. I have been here since 90's when it was enjoyable and affordable. None of that is true right now. Plus most of the tech places are just remote design center sweatshops. If you are in Cali you should stay because the best career opportunities are still there, not in Austin.
@mlz i am khw. I agree with you. I am not white so my experiences may be different than yours. Pretty much no problem inside austin, ever. At best i get the stare down when not in the major cities.
1khw: That incident in San Marcos was isolated. Other than that San Marcos is what Austin used to be thirty years ago, a sleepy college town with a good music scene.
Yes, those types of fringe groups exist but they exist throughout the country. The rural Pennsylvania outside of Philly gets very spooky very fast for example or the countryside in Maryland though they are supposed to be in the enlightened East Coast. I think Texas and the South has a bad rep. but there are huge areas out in the North that are very shall we say, "inward looking".
Some of the very racist threads on this board would have seemed to be originating from those zipcodes had it not been about Qualcomm and San Diego.
@jkf are in Austin? When dotard 45 won where did the KKK pass out flyers? San Marcos. Outside of Austin is full of maga dumb--ses. But inside Austin you are right, vast majority of people are awesome.
Not everything outside of Austin is pure Republican. You have San Marcos which is a thriving college town and growing the fastest in terms of house prices. The Hill Country in the west has distilleries and wineries and has a very prosperous feel to it. Austin is small city but it is densely packed with smart people, companies and other cool stuff. There are at least eight different classical music organizations alone doing interesting stuff. Cali dollars should go far in Austin.
OP, I’ll give you the Austin scoop. Been here 20 years and worked at all except Apple. What is your qcom title? That will set your base pay. All places to work are the same here, less stress and more life balance than bay area, but of course office politics still exist.
Housing has increased here, but if you are selling a san diego house, then dont worry about it.
What companies gave you the offers?
So, to summarize austin... no qcom, intel bad, apple and samsung sweatshop, but there are other places allegedly. Cal snobs hate everything outside 20mi radius, and I'm accused of being poor because house prices shot up 65% in 6 years... which benefits nobody who wants to stay here.
This thread is complete sh--. I'm wondering why anyone reads this site.
Perhaps you should focus your attention on better projects and companies vs compensation in your choice of next companies.
All tech companies in Austin pay prevailing wages.
@cph thanks for your insight. What other companies pay as well as qcom?
Intels a weak site in Austin in compared to other sites from a power point of view. Too many bad atom-based junk ruined Austin’s internal reputation.
Apple and Samsung are tough places to work in Austin if you’re looking for work life balance. Avoid GPU in Samsung.
You should know all of this if you’re even remotely connected in our industry. Plenty of better options than apple and Samsung here.
I am qoi, meant avoid not aboud
@jad thanks
Any insight in why to aboud samsung/apple in austin? I am looking to get out of qcom and they seem like natural places to go.
How is intel there? Good/bad?
I have been in austin since the mid 90s
I also lived in bay area for a couple of years in between.
Austin is pretty liberal, bay area folks will fit in. Outside of austin is filled with the dumbest red necks you can imagine. And boy are these R’s dumb (they are not the money hungry Rs which are tolerable but the dumb racist bible thumping type)
Weather here is awful. Truly awful. And the bugs.
Traffic is getting worse by the month.
Housing has really skyrocketed in past 4-5 years. New homes which used to be $400k are now $800k. I could not afford my house if bought today and I get a bloated qcom salary. On top of that, expect to pay 3% in property taxes.
However, those of us that got in with affordable housing have made a good sum. And in TX you can actualy save for retirement.
Tough chhoice.
Don’t listen to the poor person talking about expensive houses in Austin. It’s cheap in Texas. You are however surrounded by red in all directions.
I was referring to Apple and Samsung in Austin. Avoid.
Please don't move to Austin - too many california transplants are making traffic and house prices unsustainable by non-california standards. It's hot here, allergies are terrible, and you are surrounded by Texas 5 hours in every direction. You're welcome.
Avoid samsung/apple in bay area or austin?
Austin. Much better than Bay Area for work life balance. Avoid Samsung and Apple.