Been thinking about moving there for some time now. Not into mobile apps or social networking sites, just a very strong backend developer (search engines, machine learning, etc...)
I lived in San Diego for about five years before moving to the Bay Area.
San Diego is home to a number of big name tech companies such as Qualcomm, Intuit, and Teradata. There are also a lot of defense and biomedical companies as well.
I'm not too familiar with the startup scene, but there definitely is one. I've seen some familiar names at many of the events (like Flud) and people routinely try to hold hackathons and other competitions like Startup Weekend.
One of the biggest differences I noticed was how fast and often people in the Bay Area switched jobs. I knew one person who left after a year at this company, and the makeup of my whole team actually has changed significantly over the past year. This probably has to due with how many tech companies and startups there are in the Valley, but in San Diego you'll find most people will stay with a job for a number of years before even considering about moving.
there is work around depending on what you do,but many people arent working "full time"and its expensive to live here. its hard to say which is better the girls or the weather but both are really fine. housing is an issue unless youve got the $$$$$ or know someone----right now i wouldnt be anywhere else.
come on down
