Hello there,
I am in the process of finishing up my MBA here in Akron, OH and i am applying for a position in Mountain View, CA...
Does anyone have any tips, opinions, or experiences about the city, and anything else related to living out west?
I should mention that i havent made it out to visit the city yet, but if i do get the second interview, which is in person, i will be flying out there.
Thank you

 

Mountain view is about 20 minutes from where I live.

Usually hotter down there than up in SF, and the bay area "fog" shouldn't be much of an issue.

Tips? Uhhh specify what kind of tips you're looking for.

Transporation? Living? Shopping? etc etc

 

I was wondering about living overall, quality of the area, as well as cost of living and transportation situation. Also, i probably will not be bringing too much stuff, so i will probably need to buy quite a lot of basic things as well. I wont lie, i am looking forward to a road trip across the US with my G when/if i do get hired!

 

cops are *******s, living wise its pretty nice in most areas. still has its ghetto likely every other town.. they hold concerts in moutain view all the time if you are into music

 

i am going to take a wild guess and say that it has to be better than NE Ohio, because the weather here is horrible, and the roads are ruined by salt, so anywhere west is probably much much better.
as for the music, that does sound very interesting. I have researched the area a little bit and from what i've seen I think im going to like it, but i also wanted to get some opinions from people who live there

 

Moved for more help

 

Once you come west, be prepared to pay higher prices for pretty much everything. But the weather is nice, and you won't have to worry about snow because we see little to none. As for the Mtn. View area, it's a pretty nice area with some big cities close by.

 

Mountain View itself is fairly decent with some sketchy areas. If you have any questions on certain neighborhoods within cities, please let us know. one wrong block and you will not want to drive your G around.

 

Don't scare the guy Mountain View is a nice area, even the sketchy areas are nicer than South San Jose

 

But there are areas along the tracks and by Middlefield where vatos like to hang out. A nice car may be a target. The dude needs to know what he is getting into. Haha

 

Those are my homies

 

It's a pretty nice area, and being in the Bay Area, you're looking at maybe as low as $750 a month, but more likely $1000-2500 a month for a condo/apartment, depending on how big, and luxurious of a place you want or need, and location. But if you're working in Mountain View, you can still live in bordering cities like San Jose, Cupertino, etc... and still be able to commute out there just fine. If you want cheap rent, I'd suggest you looking towards Downtown San Jose, which is really just a 10-15 min drive to Mountain View. While some areas can be a bit sketch like some said, realistically, although anything is likely, not too much crime happens to the average Joe in Mtn View. The kind of crimes that happen out here are more like a car getting broken into, maybe wheels getting stolen, etc... And while you will hear about shootings taking place here and there, most of them are targeted and gang related, which means it doesn't have much to do with us.

The Bay Area is a melting pot of all cultures but expect to see a lot of Indians (Hindu) and Asians (Chinese, Korean) in the Mtn View area, Chinese in Cupertino, and Hispanics everywhere! And just to give you an idea of the area, you'll be near Moffet Field, Lockheed Martin, NASA Ames Research Center, and many high tech companies.

You'll be very close to San Jose, with smaller cities such as Sunnyvale and Palo Alto nearby, and when you go out, you can expect a contrasting crowd of geeky, or yuppie more than anything else. San Fransisco is about a 15-20 min drive away depending on where in Mountain View you'll be in, and you will have almost any kind of food you can want nearby.

Although you won't see too many taxis, there are plenty of buses, there's BART and Caltrain, etc... so you should be able to get around without a car just fine, but I would suggest having a car out here for the convenience... although traffic out here can suck especially during traffic hours.

Drivers out here drive pretty aggressively, although they are much more aggressive in LA and San Francisco. If you have a modded car, the cops are only bad if you put yourself out there as a target for them by doing something dumb like speeding excessively, getting Hyphy, etc...

The weather is nice. Although my gf would argue this, it's never really cold out here. Unlike SF, we get lots of sun all the time, and our winters are never too cold. It doesn't snow out here, but Tahoe is only a few hours away, and when it gets hot, the beaches are nearby too. And let's not forget that Napa is only a few hours away too! Although I'm not in Mountain View, it's still part of the neighborhood for me, and if I had to choose a new area to live, I wouldn't change a thing.

 

BTW, Dive Bars tend to be more popular out here although there are clubs, bars, and lounges all over the place, although I never thought any of them were ever that nice. Popular areas to drink would be Santana Row, Downtown San Jose, Downtown Palo Alto, Downtown Campbell, Downtown Los Gatos, or a few areas a bit further out in SF.

 

stay away from the east. east palo alto, east san jose.

i think you meant eastside san jose.

 

Parts of South San Jose borders East San Jose by a few blocks... But yea, stay away from the Easts.

BTW - to the OP - 40k a year is about a low average annual income around here. Expenses are higher around here with even sales tax being close to 10%, so you can get by making that much but you're gonna wish you made more. 50-60k a year average annual pay before taxes is not uncommon here.