> there are no other places in the world where you can work in sandals while eating M&Ms.
Heh, sure there are! I run a startup here in Austin, and there are plenty of tech jobs, sandals, and free M&Ms here. After living 10 years in the Bay Area, I am also enjoying owning my own house with a yard for far less than I would pay in the Bay Area. And, if you like to cook, Central Market beats the pants off any grocery store in/near SF.
In 1995 I worked for a local internet provider that was in the back of a computer store in Kerney Mesa in San Diego. I worked in the back doing phone support and wore sandles. The number of subscribers doubled in the 6 weeks I worked there.
One day a customer shows up in the computer store with an Internet question. I get called out of the back room to go to the sales floor, and I went onto the floor with my birkenstocks on.
The sales floor manager had a complete conniption fit and I was going to have to dress up like a sales guy to keep working there. There was no way I was going to do that, so I resigned.
It's a culture that's spreading. I just spent the summer at a quantitative finance company in New York, and that's a perfect description of the atmosphere there. Both literally and metaphorically.
Heh, sure there are! I run a startup here in Austin, and there are plenty of tech jobs, sandals, and free M&Ms here. After living 10 years in the Bay Area, I am also enjoying owning my own house with a yard for far less than I would pay in the Bay Area. And, if you like to cook, Central Market beats the pants off any grocery store in/near SF.