'Where ambition goes to die': These tech workers flocked to Austin during the pandemic. Now they're desperate to get out.

Comments

• Fades@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I will never understand why anyone trusted Texas, how bound can you be

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• protist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  “Where ambition goes to die” has been an unofficial motto here in Austin for decades. We’re too busy enjoying our lives to be bothered overworking ourselves. Guys like this dude have been trying hard to ruin the vibe recently, and he’s welcome to return from whence he came so we can keep chiling

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  • _wizard@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Lived there for a decade. Moved to NC this past July. Getting out of the state was the best thing I could have done.

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    • protist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Cool

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  • reddig33@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    He is right about it being scorching hot tho. It’s starting to feel like I’m living in Palm Springs.

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    • protist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      This…this is new

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• Apicnic@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The majority of my friends leaving Austin have done so because of state politics. It’s hard to feel safe when you’re queer in Texas.

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  • scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    That’s exactly what those politics are there to do. Texas is not as deeply red as its reputation. Might suggest, and it has been experiencing an influx of people. They are afraid of losing the balance of power in the voters. They are actively trying to get blue voters to leave / not come. And they think gay voters will be liberals, plus hating gays makes their base feel good. This is the what and why of what’s happening. As a somewhat older LGBT person, I know what it’s like not to feel safe because that used to be virtually everywhere.

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    • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      In terms of political strategy it’s remarkably short sighted. By preserving their supermajority in Texas and Florida, Republicans assure that they will win both states in the electoral college… Which is the base case. There’s no net improvement.

      But to accomplish that, they’ve pissed off people who now have strong incentive to vote against Republicans and driven them away to other states – including swing states. Diehard Republicans from other states are increasingly moving to Texas and Florida however, which further reduces their voter base in swing states. A voter base that is getting smaller by the day due to aging vs their opponent’s base that’s getting larger by the day, and a base that had preventable deaths from COVID had they not believed in conspiracy theories.

      They’re just shooting themselves in the foot to own tech workers and turn them against Republicans. This is one reason why I think Republicans couldn’t win in 2022, and only managed to barely take the House and lose a Senate seat. The factors are piling up against them, to the point that they have a mixed election result, when the economy was rough and inflation was high and Democrats had a trifecta.

      Fingers crossed, I think the crows are finally coming home to roost.

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• LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I’ve never lived in Austin but it was very underwhelming to visit. It’s hard to fathom why people would choose to live there over CA. Just look at the quality of life metrics. And it’s not even affordable to live there.

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  • InverseParallax@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    It’s the world’s largest strip mall.

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    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Perfectly sums up my experience there.

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    • Ejh3k@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      I thought that was Wall Drug in North Dakota?

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  • RalphWaldoEmers0n@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Food - that’s it IMO

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• autotldr@lemmings.world [bot] ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  This is the best summary I could come up with:

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  During the pandemic, Austin became a hot spot for remote workers and coastal tech employees who were in search of more space, favorable tax laws, and a lower cost of living.

  Once you peel back the boldface names who moved to the city and the corporate announcements about flashy new headquarters, the reality of day-to-day living and working in Austin’s tech scene leaves a lot to be desired, according to those Insider spoke with.

  “If I was a 22-year-old founder starting something I’d go to Silicon Valley because it’s going to increase your odds of success,” Gurley said, adding that it is easy for people to get distracted in Austin because they might be having too much fun and not focusing on building their businesses.

  He listed off a few of his displeasures with Austin, including a bad public-transportation system that led to awful traffic, subpar museums, and general overcrowding that makes it hard for any spontaneous activities — they must be booked far in advance, he said.

  Sheharyar Bokhari, a senior economist with Redfin, previously told Insider that Austin is experiencing whiplash after several years of robust buyer demand and price growth.

  Stuck in Austin until interest rates or coastal housing prices fall, Chang has spent the summer scrolling through Instagram, envying the friends he left behind in California.

  ---

  The original article contains 1,672 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 87%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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  • reversebananimals@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Actual headline: “One guy regrests moving to Austin.”

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    • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      It is like a desperate journalist who sees one comment on Twitter and reports “People say ____”

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  • Leakrate@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Doesn’t like Austin because it’s too fun? Sorry but poor excuse to not like a cool city. Very few activities need a reservation or to plan ahead.

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  • serial_crusher@lemmy.basedcount.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Does being in Silicon Valley actually increase a startup founders chance for success? Start a fully remote company.

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    • sundrei@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Silicon Valley is where all the VCs are. They make a lot of their funding decisions based on whether they like hanging around with a founder or not. You’re more likely to get money out of them if you’re fun to drink beers with than if you have a great business plan.

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    • taiyang@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      A friend of mine in that area gets a ton of networking done in person, visiting mixers held by Google and Meta, etc. It hasn’t worked for her mostly because she’s… kinda bad at good ideas, but damn she’s good at getting free tech interns and knowing a guy who knows a guy with endless wealth who will at least hear your pitch deck.

      I’d say that would tip the scales for a tech startup over a remote one, although location alone isn’t going to earn you those tech innovation bucks.

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    • 30mag@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      From the article:

      “If I was a 22-year-old founder starting something I’d go to Silicon Valley because it’s going to increase your odds of success,” Gurley said, adding that it is easy for people to get distracted in Austin because they might be having too much fun and not focusing on building their businesses. “I think there’s a question whether you attract the most determined founders.”

      No fun allowed.

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  • Uncaged_Jay@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    This is just ridiculous. One guy doesn’t like Austin, so it’s a terrible place? As someone who has lived in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona, and Texas, I can tell you I’ve liked Texas the best, and I much prefer Austin and Dallas to pretty much any other city I’ve been to.

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• netburnr@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Pay walled article.

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  • lapommedeterre@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Try this: archive.ph/Mxx54

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  • uis@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Nothing for me. Maybe region-specific?

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    • SmashingSquid@notyour.rodeo ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      None for me either. They might be one of the sites that let you see a certain amount of articles before nagging you. Usually private browsing gets around that.

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• senkora@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Austin is a nice city. With all due respect, and as someone who grew up in Texas but now lives in NYC, it is exactly this kind of condescension that makes a lot of Texans dislike people from the coasts.

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