Life in Silicon Valley is different from Vancouver, Canada

I moved to Silicon Valley from last September.  Almost 5 months till today.

Life in Silicon Valley is very different from my life in Vancouver, Canada.

1. living. There is no life without a car in the US. The public transit is not comparable to Metro Vancouver, where we had skytrain and many bus services. Unless you are living and working close to BART, I heard that the public transit is almost unusable for daily commute. I am renting right now. The rental is expensive than Vancouver and the house is also pricer. However, compare to the income, I'd say the house is a bit more affordable than Vancouver.  A recent report claimed Vancouver ranks #2 in the world in terms of 'in-affordability' and San Jose ranks lower though.  It's not a ranking you want your city get into. :-)

So, the first task for me is to get a car here.  I have posted a detailed blog previously about Canadian buying cars in the US.

However, once you have got a car here, the life is much easier now.  The highway system is very developed and it's easy to driving around a lot of places in 15-20 minutes, excluding the rush hour.


2. working. As I expected, the working culture in Silicon Valley is very different from working in Vancouver.  Everyone is super busy here and the projects are carried over in a fast-pace.  Even though people are working in a big company, you have to work hard like in a start-up.  That's the spirit of the Silicon Valley, as Steve Jobs depicted, 'stay hungry, stay foolish'. Most of the engineers, even engineering managers/directors will work till very late every day and overtime in the weekend.
Albeit I somehow expected this, the hardworking and fast-pace project did surprised me initially.

3. environment and weather. No doubt, SV has one of the best weather in the US, let along Canada. I can enjoy sunshine still December.  From February, the sun is shining again. The temperature is mild in the daytime and a bit chilly at night.  Remember, it is winter here.  I don't know how good it can be in Spring and Summer.  Noted the sun is very intense, although it is not hot here.  I came to Canada in Christmas, and my wife found me darker than before even though I wasn't white at all. No wonder, California is called "the heaven of outdoor". With the fabulous weather and many national parks close-by, it is almost impossible not to go outdoor. It's one of the best features I loved California.

4. social. I met a lot of local people from the hiking/running events. Most of the people here engineers, no wonder. I found more outdoor people here than in Vancouver.  I was talking about Chinese guys. Many local events, like alumni, geek group, hiking group, etc. If you are outgoing and willing to meet new friends, you won't be disappointed.