Where should I move to meet interesting tech people?

I think it is cool you want to do this and there's no shame in a job while you do things on the side.

I'm not sure about the idea of moving to a place entirely to be around other tech people. If you have an interest in places like Germany you should go there. You will be able to find tech people nearly everywhere. Your interests outside of tech will be what makes you interesting and binds you with other people. You find more quality dates outside of dating apps and singles nights right? It's the same thing.

Also I would say in a tech hub or not probably isn't THAT important unless you are raising money or going through a tech accelerator. A small group of say 5 dedicated tech people (like I found in Taiwan) was much closer to break into than my group in San Francisco.

Publicly responding is better than DMs at the start, I'm not sure why. People get weird about it. Twitter, Hackernews, Meetups, NomadList, Tech discords and slack groups are all fair game.

San Francisco. No question. Everyone is in tech. You'll meet people everywhere. It's sort of annoying how much everyone is in tech imo, but is exactly what you're looking for.

Austin, or any other "tech hub" is not on the same plane of existence.

Since you talk so casually about travelling the world, please read your contract and local regulations to know what you can and can't do. For example, one can't just move to San Francisco and work from there. If you can, understand the legal (mostly taxes) implications.

The answer used to be exclusively San Francisco. These days, I’d say SF, LA, New York and Seattle are equally desirable for what you’re looking for.

It also seems to me that there’s a noticeably growing tech scene in Philly, Boston and London but I’m less familiar with those communities.

SF or Austin will make you depressed man - people worry there too much about money and tech fame and less so about work life balance. Plus it’s expensive.

You may want to find a place where tech nomads hang out, not the hardcore corporate slavery techies.

From my personal recommendations: Bali (Canggu, Ubud), Mexico City, Portugal, Berlin, London.

Also, Tbilisi, Buenos Aires, Santa Teresa (Costa Rica).

Last three are not very tech-heavy, but very underappreciated from the overall lifestyle perspective.

Edit: also LA and Tel Aviv of course, forgot to mention as these are sort of defaults for me. If I’d pick one, it would be LA.

PS: All these recommendations come from very extensive personal experience!

In terms of physical locations, Bay area still sounds best bet.

As a signal for evaluating other places, maybe looking at the no of tech meetups on Meetup dot com might give you an idea.

But to be honest, my first thought was hacker news, twitter to 'meet' the best people. You could end up disappointed after moving to any city if your motivation is meeting tech people.

I think the US is the place where you'll find the largest amount of technical people doing cutting edge stuff. I said largest amount, i.e. you'll find other places in the world with some amount. Tel Aviv. Barcelona, Berlin, Amsterdam and London in Europe. I get you might also be looking for a nice place not just technical people. I think Barcelona and Tel Aviv are the best of these. Some people are saying Miami. I think it doesn't hold a candle to any of these other options. Source; I've lived there for two years (funny bit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Xud2Gqoxk&t=549s)

In general, no offense to the U.S, I think life, specially remote work life, is better enjoyed in Europe.

These days your tribe will be online.

Any big city will have tech people since so many companies have some kind of tech department.

The most interesting tech people I met consistently was in Berlin, though the high turnover of people (eventually including myself) is something to watch for.

The other issue is Germany is hilariously hostile to certain kinda of remote work, though if you are a citizen I think it is less of a problem.

Lisbon apparently is the current European hotspot for remote, and Bali apparently is still Bali.

I've been warned off HK repeatedly by friends based on the current political situation and cost.

It would be useful to narrow down this question. Along one dimension, what do you want to meet with interesting tech people for: find a life partner, trade stories in a bar, shared travel or other recreation, something else? On the other dimension, are there specific attachments / constraints you have, like an aging relative or a need for specific medical skillset you need to be able to reach quickly, etc.

Any geographic drivers for "travel the world" part? Maybe consider an area where a budget airline can take you to interesting places. I know a person who lives near Frankfurt and loves it. He admits it is not really a fun city, but he has flown on many weekend trips all over Europe for about $50 roundtrip (Friday after work flyout, Sunday night or first thing Monday morning flight home)

You mentioned four sample spots: Bali, Portugal, SF, Austin. Those are very different; try living in each for 2 months and see what rocks your boat.

> Classical 6 figures tech job in AI for bigtech. Fully remote chill work hours you know the deal.

I wish I knew this deal. My big tech job doesn't let me chill out from Bali :)

I'm not sure you'll meet a high concentration of highly qualified tech people in exotic places. On the other hand, If you have the luxury to work from a developing country, it's hard to justify living in the most expensive places in the world (San Francisco, Hong Kong).

Personally, I've met the most interesting people in my company. I don't have any need to go to various meet ups. So maybe it's a solution. Spend some part of your time working in office and build a network there, and travel a few months a year.

I’m in my 50s, have lived in the SF Bay Area since I was 23 because back then this was the place to be. If I was in your shoes today I’d probably fall prey to the paradox of choice.

That said, you could do a lot worse than London.

Any university city with a CS program where people do interesting work.

There are very few people who can relate to your problems, though HN is probably the best place to find people who can.

How casually you say "6 figures in AI for big tech" - you are in the 1% of tech people, its going to be hard to "fit in" no matter where you are.

Bay Area, London, Asia (as broad as that is) - anywhere with a major stock exchange will see you right.

Its all about how much you publish / tweet (and get "fan boys") and who you work with.

Its a lonely world, I cant imagine Einstein worrying to much about it - though maybe he did.

I live close to Stockholm, Sweden and I think the tech scene here is quite good. Lots of local job opportunities for experienced developers. Some big companies here like Klarna, Spotify, King. Northvolt has offices here, Ubisoft too. And lots of startups as well, and other game companies.

It can probably not compare to SF, but when it comes to European cities I believe it’s amongst the best for tech.

Use some of those six figures to go to a tech festival or camp like CCC or Bornhack and you'll find plenty of fun and smart people.

NYC. Go to meet ups. Subscribe to some NYC tech event newsletters. You can go to several events every single night.

Bay Area has to be tried hands down. If you don’t like it try one of the other options like Seattle or NY.

Go to multi day conferences about topics you like.

Many people will be there for the subject AND away from home so they are willing to talk your tech AND have time to spend time with you.

Sooner or later you will find the place that suits your needs, cultural, social and technical.

There is no better place in the world than SF / Bay Area to build a tech network. Not only because of the concentration / network effect, but also because of the open-minded and inclusive 'geek' culture.

come to Miami. it's not all crypto folks here, we just love the city and weather and quality of life (relative to SF/NYC) and lack of state tax.

you do probably still want to stay near the US as it has more density of interesting tech people than any other country (not at all slighting UK, Singapore, Aus as I have met great peeps in all of them). Better to be within 2-6 hr flight of any interesting tech hub than to pick specifically one city since most cities have something to recommend them.

I see some folks recommending SF/NYC, but having done both, i would also say its possible to overdo them. 1-2 weeks of them every 3-6 months is plenty. if youre based in miami, people are generally happy to come visit you :)

Join the army. See the world. Meet a lot of interesting people and kill them.

San Francisco, Oakland/Berkeley, and Silicon Valley (Palo Alto et al) are each independently worth spending time in if you can, based on your description.

In NYC, check out Williamsburg, Ft Greene, Soho/Union Square.

Have fun!

Hi friend, Consider checking out one of these network states: https://thenetworkstate.com/dashboard

If you want to be close to Germany then maybe London? The attitude to remote work and contracting is really nice here.

The real interesting tech people you can meet in the dreamscape, deep meditation, dmt, lsd etc, hanging out in multiple dimensions learning new technology from the advanced sentients!

San Francisco!