Rails City of the Week: San Francisco
Photo by Edwârd.
Hello Ruby world! Kathy here. Since I recently moved to San Francisco to expand mirRoR’s presence on the West Coast, I was nominated to write this week’s blog post on my new home base: San Francisco!
Based on our experience over the last few years, the San Francisco Bay Area has been (and remains), undoubtedly, the best area to find Rails talent and to land a Rails gig in the country. (Maybe in the world?)
So, before I dive into the amazing weather, scenery, and culture out here, let’s take a look at some of the trends we’ve seen in the Bay Area Ruby on Rails job market over the last few years:
- San Francisco Rails gigs offer the highest compensation (on average) nationwide. Hands-down, top Rails developers in SF consistently bring home the highest salaries for Rails developers in the nation. This has a lot to do with supply and demand. Top Rails developers in SF are in high demand and oftentimes short supply. This situation makes companies that truly need Rails developers willing to pay top-dollar.
- The Bay Area features a preponderance of consumer and social networking ventures. UnlikeBoston (with a preponderance of B2B ventures), San Francisco Rails gigs (particularly startups) are oftentimes consumer-oriented or social ventures involving social networking, social media, or some combination of the two.
- Rails startups in SF have high attrition rates. With a plethora of startups there is a great deal of employee turnover here in the Bay Area. This may be good or bad depending on your outlook. Do you want to stay in one company for a long period of time working with the same team? Or do you prefer having your hands in multiple ventures over the course of a few years with your team changing fairly often?
In terms of the Ruby community in the Bay Area, San Francisco boasts one of the most active Ruby Meetups in the country and some of the most popular Rails conferences. We have worked with more Rails shops and Ruby developers based in the Bay Area than any other single city in the country. We’ve also helped numerous Rails developers looking to relocate find a Rails gig in the Bay Area. (And we’re working with some recently relocated Rails shops looking for great Rails talent in the Bay Area.)
Even outside of the Ruby community, the Bay Area doesn’t disappoint. If you’re into the outdoors, this is a fabulous place to be. Where else can you run/bike/kite board/roller skate/walk/hike/surf alongside the ocean, mountains, and a beautiful bridge practically year-round?
As for the logistics of living in the city, here are my thoughts. From my experience so far, I don’t love theintra-city public transportation system, though the inter-city public transportation is fantastic, providing access to all major cities in the expansive Bay Area.
What is the cost of living like? Wicked high. (My lingo still gives away that I’m from Boston. I won’t be adopting SF lingo anytime soon either!) But really, SF is oftentimes ranked second only to New York City in terms of expensive housing. If you can live outside the city, however, you’ll likely find more affordable housing options.
In general, the culture here is quite a bit more casual than East Coast cities. Office dress codes are much more relaxed and, as everyone says, the people tend to be more laid-back. Work days from 10am-7pm are not odd or unheard of and for some offices, nonstandard hours are the norm.
These are just some of my personal experiences in SF. I’ll admit that I’m still getting to know the city and the surrounding Bay Area. But I have to say… so far, not many complaints! If you’re a Ruby expert, novice, or anywhere in between, SF is chalk full of Ruby opportunities (some listed here) and a great place to land.
If you’re already here or thinking about heading west and want to chat about Rails opportunities, give us a shout. Maybe we can chat over some of that famous SF coffee. See you around the Bay!