Long story short: I’m moving back to California (this time the Bay Area) on or about July 23rd.
I moved to the Seattle area a bit over twelve years ago from Orange County, CA on a leap of faith for a potential job opportunity. That opportunity fell through but that leap of faith turned out to be the best life choice I have ever made. It was a big risk moving so far away from family and stuff at that age and my lacking job experience or higher education. I had some local friends who helped me get started and the rest is history. I can only hope my move to the Bay Area will bring me an equal number of opportunities (already have a great start and I’m not even there yet).
Being here has been a fun ride, learned such a massive amount I’m still trying to absorb it all, met a lot of awesome people, kept as many as I could as friends (am terrible at keeping in touch thankfully I have LinkedIn to keep that aspect handled).
Now it’s time for another change in my life, this time returning to near where I grew up (which was in Santa Cruz county in California), which I left in 1989 when I moved to live in China then Hawaii, then Thailand.
This time I’ll be in the north part of the bay, just south of San Fransisco, about 1.5 hour drive from where I spent most of my childhood.
I will miss Washington, but at the same time am pretty excited for something new. I don’t doubt I’ll be back at some point in the future.
(ok to be honest I hate Seattle, but I do like the east side, having lived in Bellevue for almost all of my 12 years here).
The company I am working for down there generated more revenue in 2010 than all of my previous companies combined (7 companies over the past 12 years) for any given year, and may very well be the first profitable company I’ve ever worked for, so I’m pretty excited for that aspect as well as the team I’ll be working with.
Random notes: “North Bay” = Marin and Sonoma counties. South of SF – most likely is the “Peninsula” (I’m in the “East Bay”, so I’m not up on all the various region tags across the Bay. And, since I’ve lived in Pennsylvania, it took me a bit to figure out that in the local papers, PA referred to Palo Alto, not Pennsylvania).
And if you want to live in or near San Mateo county, be prepared for some serious sticker shock, even compared to Seattle (or the East Bay).
Anyway, congrats on the move — and keep blogging!
Comment by Tony — June 17, 2011 @ 9:14 am
thanks Tony!
Yeah I’m still trying to adjust to the sticker shock of housing down there, about $800/mo more in rent than I pay now(in a very nice downtown area), for a smaller place(~160 sq feet less). There’s an airport departure path that goes almost directly over me as well at the new place. Though they insulated the place(some apartments have triple paned windows) pretty well I’m sure I’ll get used to the noise after a short time.
Speaking of Palo Alto, I saw a report earlier this morning about the housing market there, the report claimed of 1,200 homes in the city only 50 are on the market, and it’s not uncommon for people to offer from $400,000 – $600,000 *above* asking price in order to buy some of these places. The house I lived at for a year in Palo Alto in the early ’90s which ran for about $1600/mo at the time(3000 square feet), now has an estimated value of $1.2M. Absolutely crazy.
Though an apartment tower opened up recently near me in Bellevue (very high end mind you) with rents starting at over $3000/mo.
I will keep blogging for sure, there hasn’t been too much happening in the tech world recently(that I’ve been drawn to at least) so have been having a hard time finding topics to write about.
Appreciate the readership, always!!
have a good one
Comment by Nate — June 17, 2011 @ 10:56 am
Hey Nate,
Please let me know if I can help in your transition back to the Bay Area. My company helps staff a number of IT, Engineering and Tech Ops groups throughout the area (contract & FTE). Also, I used to live in Foster City and might be able to provide you with information or advise. Anyway, please let me know if I can help…
Best, Ryan
ryan.Jane@vivoinc.com
Comment by Ryan — June 20, 2011 @ 8:12 pm
Nate, sorry to hear that you are leaving us here in Seattle/Bellevue but I have no doubt that you will love Silicone (Silly-con) Valley. Go hit Hwy 9 or Bear Creek Canyon Road for me!
Cheers
D from the Pass
Comment by D — June 21, 2011 @ 1:42 pm
Bear Creek road.. wow yes I plan to hit that road. Though my sister harshly warned me against driving that a few years ago(she did it once but said she wouldn’t do it again unless she had no other choices) when I had a bigger vehicle. I remember being driven up and down that road many times when I was growing up. I haven’t been on it since 1988. With my smaller Juke I will give it a run shortly after I get there.
thanks for reading! thanks more for replying 🙂
Comment by Nate — June 22, 2011 @ 10:55 am
Will do! I will send you an invite request on linkedin. I have a good gig that will last me a while now but always looking to expand my network of contacts! thanks!!
Comment by Nate — June 22, 2011 @ 10:57 am
[…] mentioned in my original post that I don’t like Seattle, I can’t think of a single part of Seattle that I like, I […]
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